[MedicineForUs]

I hope your Ramadan has been blessed for you and your families. I am wondering how one should accept praise. I am VERY bad at this, if someone praises me I usually say the opposite of what they said to try to lower myself but I feel this is not the best approach. For example if someone says I am smart (I'm really not) I will say not I am not smart so and so is smart. If someone would call me pious I would try to stay tight lipped because I would want to say NO way, if you really knew me you wouldn't want to talk to me! In other cases I just say Alhamdulillah and that is it, but if they praise me on something I know which is not true I feel like a hypocrite for not correcting them.

Can anyone advise me on how to accept praise without being so foolish.

[Sheelldaw]

Sometimes (Tawadhu) modesty suggests ingratitude for bounties, indeed, is ingratitude for bounties. Then sometimes recounting bounties is a cause of pride. Both are harmful. The only solution is for it to be neither. To admit to virtues and perfections, but without claiming ownership of them, is to show them to be the works bestowed by the True Bestower (Mun’im al Haqiqi: Allah). For example, suppose someone were to dress you in a robe of honour embroidered and encrusted with jewels and you became very beautiful. The people then said to you: “MashAllah! How beautiful you are! How beautiful you have become!”, but you modestly replied: “(Hasha!) Allah forbid! Don’t say such a thing! What am I? This is nothing!” To do this would be ingratitude for the bounty (kufran al ni'mah) and disrespectful towards skilful crafts man who had dressed you in the garment. While if you were to reply proudly: “Yes, I am very beautiful. Surely there is no one to compare with me!”, that would be conceited pride.

In consequence, to avoid both conceit and ingratitude one should say: “Yes, I have grown beautiful. But the beauty springs from the robe, and thus indirectly from the one who clothed me in it; it is not mine.”

Like this, if my voice were strong enough, I would shout out to the whole earth: “The Words are beautiful; they are truth, they are reality; but they are not mine. They are rays shining out from the truths of the Noble Qur’an.”

Bediuzzaman

[MedicineForUs]

Sometimes (Tawadhu) modesty suggests ingratitude for bounties, indeed, is ingratitude for bounties. Then sometimes recounting bounties is a cause of pride. Both are harmful. The only solution is for it to be neither. To admit to virtues and perfections, but without claiming ownership of them, is to show them to be the works bestowed by the True Bestower (Mun’im al Haqiqi: Allah). For example, suppose someone were to dress you in a robe of honour embroidered and encrusted with jewels and you became very beautiful. The people then said to you: “MashAllah! How beautiful you are! How beautiful you have become!”, but you modestly replied: “(Hasha!) Allah forbid! Don’t say such a thing! What am I? This is nothing!” To do this would be ingratitude for the bounty (kufran al ni'mah) and disrespectful towards skilful crafts man who had dressed you in the garment. While if you were to reply proudly: “Yes, I am very beautiful. Surely there is no one to compare with me!”, that would be conceited pride.

In consequence, to avoid both conceit and ingratitude one should say: “Yes, I have grown beautiful. But the beauty springs from the robe, and thus indirectly from the one who clothed me in it; it is not mine.”

Like this, if my voice were strong enough, I would shout out to the whole earth: “The Words are beautiful; they are truth, they are reality; but they are not mine. They are rays shining out from the truths of the Noble Qur’an.”

Bediuzzaman

for the explanation. However I doubt I can be so masterful with words to properly reply to a certain praise. If someone were to praise intellect and piousness they would require 2 different responses. Is there a general response that would work?

[Kafuuil]

sheik. I never thought about the ingratitude part.

So basically one has to be humble with gratitude. I guess if one is praised, we should redirect it to Allah .

[Sheelldaw]

So basically one has to be humble with gratitude. I guess if one is praised, we should redirect it to Allah .

Exactly! All bounties, without doubt, are from Allah.

[Sheelldaw]

for the explanation. However I doubt I can be so masterful with words to properly reply to a certain praise. If someone were to praise intellect and piousness they would require 2 different responses. Is there a general response that would work?

The point here is actually simple: not reject the Ni'mah, nor claim ownership over it.

Let's say someone praised you in the face (which is disliked and prohibited in the hadith btw): "Br John MashAllah you are such a pious man!" You can answer by saying something like: "All goodness is from Allah, it is not mine." Or you can recite the following verse:



"Any good thing that happens to you comes from Allah. Any bad thing that happens to you comes from yourself."
(An-Nisa, 4:79)

[MedicineForUs]

The point here is actually simple: not reject the Ni'mah, nor claim ownership over it.

Let's say someone praised you in the face (which is disliked and prohibited in the hadith btw): "Br John MashAllah you are such a pious man!" You can answer by saying something like: "All goodness is from Allah, it is not mine." Or you can recite the following verse:



"Any good thing that happens to you comes from Allah. Any bad thing that happens to you comes from yourself."
(An-Nisa, 4:79)

a ton Sheikh, may Allah bless you and your family

[MarlboroCig]

Saying to the praise, I find to be optimal. It's really the state of the heart of a person which matters. If the praise is true, then you must deep down from your heart attribute it to Allah alone that He has blessed you with it and that you are in no position to ever attain such a blessing if it wasn't from Him . If it isn't true, you can just sincerely say 'may Allah make me such or bless with me such'. Don't try to practice an eloquent response. Whatever is in the heart will manifest itself on the tongue, .

Try to memorize this du'aa from the Sunnah for when someone praises you:

http://www.muftisays.com/archive/top...s-praised.html

Allaahumma laa tu'aakhidhnee bimaa yaqooloona, waghfir lee maa laa ya'lamoona [waj'alne khairam-mimmaa yadhunoon

"Oh Allah do not call me to account for what they say & forgive me for what they have no knowledge of and make me better than they imagine"

[MarlboroCig]

The point here is actually simple: not reject the Ni'mah, nor claim ownership over it.

Let's say someone praised you in the face (which is disliked and prohibited in the hadith btw): "Br John MashAllah you are such a pious man!" You can answer by saying something like: "All goodness is from Allah, it is not mine." Or you can recite the following verse:



"Any good thing that happens to you comes from Allah. Any bad thing that happens to you comes from yourself."
(An-Nisa, 4:79)

Beautiful !

[MedicineForUs]

Saying to the praise, I find to be optimal. It's really the state of the heart of a person which matters. If the praise is true, then you must deep down from your heart attribute it to Allah alone that He has blessed you with it and that you are in no position to ever attain such a blessing if it wasn't from Him . If it isn't true, you can just sincerely say 'may Allah make me such or bless with me such'. Don't try to practice an eloquent response. Whatever is in the heart will manifest itself on the tongue, .

Try to memorize this du'aa from the Sunnah for when someone praises you:

http://www.muftisays.com/archive/top...s-praised.html

Allaahumma laa tu'aakhidhnee bimaa yaqooloona, waghfir lee maa laa ya'lamoona [waj'alne khairam-mimmaa yadhunoon]

"Oh Allah do not call me to account for what they say & forgive me for what they have no knowledge of [andersio make me better than they imagine]"

Very beautiful dua. InshaAllah using this and respected brother Verdana's advice is just about perfect, it would sooth my heart about being hypocritical. May Allah bless you and your family

[DoctoNilsonDen]

Salam

i heard in Mufti Abdurrahman ibn Yusuf's series on bidayatul hidayah that Imam Ghazzali says that

obviously if you do something in hopes of praise then obviously that's bad and it's similar to riya, ostentation etc.

BUT if you do somehting purely for the sake of allah and you receive praise from the makhlook then he says basically it's a good sign, that it's "glad tidings" for the akhirah.