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PRAISE
Arabic
counterpart “medh” is to exalt someone by talking
his deeds or the favors he has. The opposite of it is “zem”
to denigrate.
To praise others is
forbidden by Islam in some cases. Imam Gazali says: “There
are six disasters in praising others. Four of them are for
the one who exalts someone else and two are for the one
who is praised. These are as follows:
1. Praising someone too much
leads the one who praises to lie. Your humble servant says
that poets are caught by this illness. Because time to time
these professionals have said the best and lie words.
Even some of them went to
the point of disbelief because of ignorance and lack of
piety. One of the famous Arab poets Mutenebbi, fell frequently
into this error.
2. To exalt others is a kind
of dissimulation. Because to praise oneself is to
3. Assert a liking. When it’s
not in accord with reality this becomes dissimulation.
4. To speak about the matters which are not possible to
understand and examine. Who knows, if the reality was known
these people would complain of the person on question instead
of praising him. For instance saying: “That person
is ascetic, saint, he abstains from what is sinful”
etc. Because it is difficult to understand the reality of
asceticism and if one has sainthood and abstaining from
sins. It is possible with a special kind of knowledge. But
for example it is proper to say: “I saw that person,
he performed the pray of night or he gave charity.”
Because these are seen and perceived. To avoid false speaking
Our Prophet warned that: “ If it’s too necessary
to praise someone then say ‘According to my guess
it is so and so’ and tell that ‘I praise and
purify nobody against Allah Almighty’
5. To praise a sinner and to make him cheerful and glad.
In an hadith it is declared: “Allah the Most high
becomes wrathful against those who exalt the rebellious
people caught by sins”
In my opinion another
disadvantage of the one who praises is: He falls in degradation.
A believer should abstain himself from degradation. Especially
if the exalt is for worldly benefits. Today generosity,
munificence and benevolence are completely disappeared,
poetic praises are extinguished and listening the one who
exalts gives the feeling of a ruined palace. Today if one
of the rulers sees a poem of praise he becomes infuriated
and when an eloquent person presents his pearl like poems
he feels a great fear about the reaction.
The calamities for the
one who is exalted:
1. Inside of this person the
feelings of haughtiness and self admiration rise. It is
narrated that when one of the notables of Arabs, Carud-i
Abdi came to the meeting of Hadrat Omar some people said,
“This man is the master of Rabia tribe”. When
Carud came closer Hadrat Omar hit him with a stick. Then
the man asked: “O the Commander of the Faithful,what
did I wrong? Hadrat Omar said: “Haven’t you
heard what they said?”. He said: “What is the
wrong with it?” Hadrat Omar declared: “I feared
that haughtiness and self admiration come to you so I degraded
you by this way”
2. When the exalted person hears the praises he will suppose
that he really has these qualities and may give up trying
to get more of it and may become lazy. Because of these
two disadvantages when someone praised another in the presence
of Prophet, He said: “You cut off his head”.
Hadrat Omar also said “ To praise someone is like
slaughtering him”
When he was exalted,
Hadrat Abu Bekr prayed like this because of his piety and
modesty:
“O my Lord, you know me better than I know myself.
I also know myself better than others. O the Lord of the
Universe, give me the goodness and virtues that people suppose
that I have. Forgive the sins that they don’t know
although I have. Protect me from arrogance and pride against
the good qualities they mention.”
Mutarraf said: “I
have never become spiritually low while I didn’t listen
to the praises about me. I became low when I paid attention
to them.
Ziyad b. Ebu Muslim said: “While someone listens to
praises about him no doubt that Satan comes there. But believers
are prepared for those times.”
Then someone who listens
exalts about him should be very cautious. He should free
himself from arrogance and self admiration by considering
his nefs and avoid being lazy and loosing his determination.
Some savants never listened
to the praises. The ones who listened knew its danger and
became cautious against self admiration and dissimulation.
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(1) High Ethics, Kinalizade Ali Efendi
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