The Humilty of Abū ‘Uthmān Al-Ḥiyarī رحمه الله
Imām Ibn Al-Jawzī رحمه الله writes in his Ṣifat-Aṣ-Ṣafwah:
Abū ‘Amr ibn Maṭar رحمه الله narrates:
I attended the gathering of Abū ‘Uthmān Al-Ḥiyarī. He arrived and sat on the usual place he would sit on when imparting advice, and remained silent for a lengthy period. A man called out to him, “Are you going to say something in this silence of yours?”
He replied with a couplet:
وغير تقي يأمر الناس بالتقى***طبيب يداوي والطبيب مريض
‘An impious person instructing others to adopt piety…[is like] a doctor treating while he himself is ill.’
Upon this, the sound level of weeping from the audience began rising.[1]
Despite being a great accepted personality, he remained humble and did not deem himself to be pious or god-fearing. This is a characteristic of the pious people; they sincerely believe they are impious and sinful despite doing abundant good, because they are always worried about their sins. Their condition is in stark contrast to ours; we rejoice and feel content at the little good we do, disregarding the sins we commit regularly, without bothering to repent and change our sinful ways.
May Allāh grant us all the ability to repent sincerely for all our sins, and keep us steadfast on piety. Āmīn.
[1] روى الإمام ابن الجوزي في صفة الصفوة:
أبو عمرو بن مطر قال: حضرت مجلس أبي عثمان الخيري فخرج ثم قعد على موضعه الذي كان يقعد فيه للتذكير، فسكت حتى طال سكوته فناداه رجل: ترى أن تقول في سكوتك شيئاً؟ فأنشا يقول:
وغير تقي يأمر الناس بالتقى ... طبيب يداوي والطبيب مريض
فارتفعت الأصوات بالبكاء والضجيج.
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