The thought “I will become famous” comes from a disease in the heart. To be famous, fame and glory — means…

The thought “I will become famous” comes from a disease in the heart. To be famous, fame and glory — means many people knowing one person. Of course, if they know him for good qualities, it is even more pleasant: very smart, learned, hardworking, handsome, strong and so on. We all love to hear good words about ourselves, especially when they are said where we are not present; when many people mention our name with honor, we are beside ourselves with joy. No one likes bad words — usually, true words. More often than the slanders about us, it is the plain truths about us that throw us into a frenzy. And if people talk behind our back, we quickly become enemies with the one who talked. We had started talking about being famous. According to our books written a thousand years ago — for example, as is known from Hazrat Rabghuzi's “History of the Prophets” — God says: “I was a treasure and I wished to be known, so I created man.” God's will was to make Himself known. Without going deep into the matter, let us turn our attention to a meaning found in the book of Hazrat Imam Ghazali: “Man has the attributes of lordliness, animality, satanism and mercifulness.” Here we must explain lordliness (rububiyya), because it is more closely related to our topic — a person likening himself to God is lordliness. God praises Himself, commands that He be praised, loves those who praise Him, and commands that He be known. If a person, too, praises himself, loves to be praised and tries to make himself known, this is the manifestation of the desire to be God. By scraping this desire completely out of himself, a person becomes beloved to God. That is another matter; what we wanted to say was about being famous, and we have mentioned its root; in Arabic this is also called “hubb uz-zuhur” — the love of appearing. Being well known belongs to God. Every servant is obliged to know God. If he does not, he wrongs himself. If a person abandons this and busies himself with making himself known, he gradually falls into the clutches of misery. The greater a person's craving for fame, the greater his ego. “How can I become known?” — with this pain a person puts himself through all sorts of things. What he writes, what he says, his dignified appearance — all of it is aimed at becoming known. Inside the work presented as creativity, it is not an idea but the claim “I” that rings out. People hungry for fame and glory measure the value of others, too, by the amount of their fame and glory. Being famous is a danger. First of all, a person falls into arrogance and conceit. If he is left unnoticed — that is, if no one follows him anymore — he gets upset. Today he suffers from a lack of likes and of various kinds of recognition. Then, to regain the throne of fame and glory, he puts himself through all sorts of things. Thus moral breakdown begins in a person — the stage of humiliating and disgracing himself. The wine of fame and glory is so strong that the one dependent on it never gets enough of it; he draws strength from this wine and, drunk, keeps striving, keeps working. The one who thinks he will rise above others through fame ends up a slave to people's eyes and words. Drunk on people's applause, he behaves in a very ridiculous and pitiful way. His mind diminishes. But humankind just needs a spectacle. A very large part of people look at celebrities for entertainment. So as not to be bored. If tomorrow this celebrity is forgotten, they become enamored of another. Just hungry eyes and aimless words. Nothing else. People of heart and mind are few. Those who value true knowledge, possessors of gnosis and enlightenment, devotion and sincerity, are extremely few. If they consider someone a scholar, they listen to him in the desire to benefit. The common folk, however, listen to this talk in order to retell it, to find its flaws, to praise or to insult. That is why a preacher pours out his soul, while the listeners do not look at the essence of the idea; they disperse, gossiping about the speaker and his speech.

The goal is not achieved through people's attention or their large numbers. The goal is attained by finding genuine people, people of genuine heart, and sharing secrets with them. Just as four grams of gold come out of forty tons of soil, so genuine souls are found among millions of people. In truth, the call is addressed to them. It also seems better for the common folk to listen to an enlightening word than to be busy with idle talk. It seems the words have multiplied and the goal has been left aside. The conclusion I want to state is this: do not come out into the open before you are ripe. Do not cry out before your wings have grown. When you have come to understand the truths, you will not have the strength to keep silent. And after that, you will not have the strength to speak. Wanting to explain everything to everyone is a waste. True truth crushes a person and leaves him speechless. That is, those who keep silent are the strongest. Moreover, though a true word is weighty, it brings the one who speaks it not pleasure but only torment. A sentence that causes not even a little pain and is very pleasing is very likely to be an outright lie.

Akrom MALIK