The Ocean of Light — Page 42
42 with humility etched on his face, but does not hasten to pray and fast with the same degree of humility. He attends gatherings which are full of exultation, jubilation, debauchery and ostentation, even if he has to bear hardships to undertake such journeys, but does not come to offer the Jumu‘ah prayer even at his neighbourhood mosque. If such a one is a clergyman, his own self will testify that he spent his entire life in utter hypocrisy. That whenever he ascended the pulpit to deliver a sermon, render advice or proselytise, or stood in a prominent position, or shed tears and cried in front of a packed congregation, or cried with such anguish like the rolling thunder of rainless clouds, or emerged as a masterful orator among the esteemed scholars, or said Sa lam to the audience at the start of a sermon: on all such occasions his own heart would be full of all kinds of worldly desires, to fulfil which he would exhort the audience to be generous.