Humility Over Fame

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يَا وَلِيدٍ رَافِعِ اِسْمَعْ أَقَلِّ لَكَ أَرَاكَ وَاللَّهِ مَثَلِي مَزْجِي الْبِضَاعَةِ

O young man Rafi, listen. I tell you, by God, I see you mixing the merchandise like I do.

قَلِيلُ الْعِلْمِ بِالْصِّنَاعَةِ

He has little knowledge of the craft.

فَلَّاً أَقَلُّ مِنَ الإِقْبَالِ عَلَى الطَّاعَةِ

So at the very least, be eager to obey.

وَلُزُوْمٍ خُمْسُكَ فِي جَمَاعَةٍ

And adhere to your five prayers in congregation.

وَهَلْ شَيْءٌ أَقْبَحُ مِنْ شَابٍّ يَخْدِمُ السُّنَّةَ وَلَا يَعْمَلُ بِهَا

Is there anything more disgraceful than a young man who serves the Sunnah and does not act on it?

نعم آخِرُ يُبالِغُ فِي الطَّلَبِ

Yes; another goes too far in making requests.

وَيُكْتَبُ عَمَّنْ دَرَجٌ وَدُبٍّ

And it will be written about one who walked and crawled,

ثُمَّ لَا يُصَلِّيُ فَلَّاً بَارِّكَ اللَّهُ فِي هَذَا النَّمَطِ

Then he does not pray; may God not bless this kind.

فَإِنَّ هَؤُلاَءِ مَا غَوَّايَتُهُمْ بالحديث إِلَّا كَغَوَّايَةِ الْمُصَارِعِ وَالسَّاعِيِ وَلاَعِبِ الْحَمَّامِ

For indeed these people, their misguidance by hadith is no more than the misguidance of the wrestler, the runner, and the pigeon-player.

بَلَّ أَوْلَاءُ أَعْذَرُ بِالْجَهَالَةِ

On the contrary, those are more excusable because of ignorance.

وَهَذَا الْمُعَثِّرُ يُسْمِعُ الآلَافَ مِنَ الْحُدَّاثِ فِيهَا الْوَعِيدَ وَالْتَّهْدِيدَ

And this one who causes others to stumble makes thousands of youths hear the warning and the threat contained in it.

وَالْعَذَابِ الشَّدِيدِ

And the severe punishment,

وَلَا يَنْزَجِرُ

and he is not deterred.

بَلْ مَا أَظُنُّهُ يَسْمَعُ شَيْئًا

Rather, I do not think he hears anything.

وَلا يَفْهَمُ حَدِيثًا

And he does not understand a hadith,

لِأَنَّهُ إِنْ كَانَ قَارِئًا بِنَفْسِهِ فَبِجَهْدِهِ أَنْ يَتَهَجَّى الأَسْمَاءَ والمُتُونَ

Because if he is reading by his own self, then by his effort that he spell out the names and the texts.

وَيُبَدِّلُ مَا يُشِيرُ إِلَيْهِ

And he replaces what it points to,

وَعَيْنُهُ إلى تَنْبِيهِ الشيخ تَارَةً

And his aim is to alert the sheikh at times,

وَإِلَى أَمْرَدٍ حَاضِرٍ تَارَةً

and sometimes to a bald man who was present,

وَإِلَى إِقَامَةِ الْإِعْرَابِ تَارَةً

And sometimes to preserve the grammatical inflection.

لِئَلا يُخْزَى بَيِّنَ الْحَاضِرِينَ

Lest he be disgraced among those present.

وَإِنْ كَانَ غَيْرُهُ الْقَارِئِ اِسْتَرَاحَ

And if another reciter took a rest,

فَأَنَا كَفِيلٌ لَكَ بِأَنَّهُ مَا يَسْمَعُ غَيْرَ ثَنَا قَالَ ثَنَا

So I guarantee to you that he hears nothing except "narrated to us, he said, narrated to us."

وَصَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسُلَّمَ

And may God bless him and grant him peace.

لِكَثْرَةِ دَوْرِ ذُلِّكِ فَتَرَاهُ إِمَّا يَكْتُبُ الأَسْمَاءَ حَالَ السَّمَاعِ

Because that happens so often, you will then see him either write the names at the moment of hearing.

فَيَبْطَلُ وَيَبْطَلُ

So it becomes null and becomes null,

أَوْ يَنْسَخُ فِي جُزْءٍ

Or he copies them into a section,

أَوْ يَكْتُبُ طباقا

or writes it in duplicate,

أَوْ يَطَالِعُ فِي شَيْءٍ

or consults something,

وَهَذَا أَجْوَدُ أَحْوَالُهُ وَلَا جُودَةٍ فِيهَا أَوْ بِمَكَانٍ

And this is his best state, and there is no goodness in it or in any place.

وَهَذَا الأغلب يُحَدِّثُ جَلِيسَهُ

And this is what most often happens to his companion,

وَيَمْزَحُ مَعَ الصَّبِيَّانِ الْمِلَّاحِ

And he jokes with the handsome boys,

فَمَتَى يَسْمَعُ هَذَا أَوْ يَعْقِلُ أَوْ يَبْصُرُ أَوْ يَعْنِي عَنْهُ الحديث شَيْئًا

So when will this one hear or understand or see, or will the hadith mean anything about him?