Malfuzat - Volume VIII — Page 281
27 December 1905 281 �ی�اےئ دوں خ مہ دخا وخایہ و مہ د� �ی�ال اتس و احمل اتس و ونجں خ یں � � ا You desire to win the world and God simultaneously; Such thinking is mere imagination, impossibility, and madness. Acting Ostentatiously There was, in fact, no evil in the nature of man, nor is anything evil; however, its misuse makes it evil. For example, take osten- tation—it is actually not bad because if a person does some- thing only for the sake of God Almighty and does it so that others are also motivated to do the good deed, then this osten- tation is a virtue as well. There are two types of ostentation. One for the world. For example, a person is leading the Prayer, and an influential man comes and joins the Prayer service behind him, so he starts to prolong the Prayer out of regard for this influential man. Some men feel so much awe on such an occasion that they begin to consider themselves very great. This is also a type of ostentation that is not apparent all the time but makes its appearance at its own time, like the desire to eat bread arises when hungry or the desire to drink water arises when thirsty. But contrary to this, the person who offers the Prayer with every care and attention to detail only for the sake of Allah the Exalted is not guilty of ostentation. Rather, it is a means of attaining God’s pleasure. Therefore, ostentation also has appro- priate occasions [for its display]. And man is the kind of animal that disregards committing faults on inappropriate occasions. For example, an individual walking alone along a path con- siders himself very pure and righteous. On the way, he finds a bag of jewels lying there. He sees it and regards it as something not to interfere with. No one will notice if he swoops down upon it at that moment, but he realizes that it is someone else’s rightful