Al-Salam ‘Alaykum, this is Syed Ali Imran – and you are listening to the Forties podcast, brought to you by Mizan Institute.
This is episode 41 – The Anger of Allah Against the Show-Off
We have finally reached the narration, the 40th hadith in the chain of narrations that Sayyid Zanjānī is building up for the 4 different relationships between us and Allah (swt) and us and other humans. This is the final narration that concerns Allah’s relationship and expectations from us humans which was that we obey him sincerely.
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ آلِهِ: مَنْ تَزَيَّنَ لِلنَّاسِ بِمَا يُحِبُّ اللَّهُ، وَ بَارَزَ اللَّهَ فِي السِّرِّ بِمَا يَكْرَهُ اللَّهُ، لَقِيَ اللَّهَ وَ هُوَ عَلَيْهِ غَضْبَانٌ، لَهُ مَاقِت.
In Hadith #40 we read: The Prophet (p): One who beautifies themself for people with that which Allah (swt) loves, but fights against Allah (swt) in secret with that which Allah hates, such a person will meet Allah while Allah is angry and disgusted at them.
In this last narration that Sayyid Ahmad Zanjani brings, the Prophet (p) is referring to an individual who on the apparent comes into public with the clothing of piety and taqwa – to show off and gain their praise, but in secret and in private life they are in fact engaging in sin or are fighting against Allah by transgressing His commands, such a person will face the wrath and anger of Allah.
In these 40 narrations, Sayyid Zanjani has elaborated in a lot of detail on that first statement Allah (swt) says to Adam (a) – that if you want goodness in life, one of the aspects that makes up goodness is that you worship Allah and do not associate partners with Him. These 40 narrations elaborated on this in detail, we spoke about the various degrees of sincerity, the problems with showing off, the different scenarios in which an act of worship can be invalided if we are not sincere, how sincerity can play a role in even acts of non-worship and as well as how such people are worthy of Allah’s anger.
Al-Ḥamdulillah, we thank Allah (swt) for having allowed us to get this far in this series. If you recall all the way back in episode 1, in the narration which spoke about Allah’s (swt) revelation to Adam (a), the second thing Allah mentioned as a prerequisite for bliss and goodness, was that Allah (swt) will recompense us for our deeds with a reward that we most need.
From the next episode onwards, we will begin a new set of 40 narrations in which we will elaborate on this specific relationship and see what the Prophet (p) and his Ahl al-Bayt (a) had to say about this.
In the first narration, we will see how Imam Baqir (a) tells us that if we hear about an act for which Allah (swt) will give us a reward for, and this person does the act seeking that reward, Allah will reward them for it, even if what they heard was not ultimately true.
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Sayyid Ali studied in the seminary of Qom from 2012 to 2021, while also concurrently obtaining a M.A in Islamic Studies from the Islamic College of London in 2018. In the seminary he engaged in the study of legal theory, jurisprudence and philosophy, eventually attending the advanced kharij of Usul and Fiqh in 2018. He is currently completing his Masters of Education at the University of Toronto and is the head of a private faith-based school in Toronto, as well as an instructor at the Mizan Institute and Mufid Seminary.
