Praise Leads to Delusion

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate

Ibn ‘Ata’illah (may Allah be pleased with him) said:

“People praise you for what they imagine you are, so be sure that you blame yourself for what you know you are.”

Ibn ‘Abbad al-Rundi commented:

“For a servant to blame himself and look at himself with disgust for the faults and defects that he knows he possesses is something that is sought from him because it helps him avoid having delusions about himself, which, in turn, allows him to improve his good deeds and his spiritual states. If he doesn’t look at himself in this manner, people’s praise will cause his deeds and states to wither away.”

…

One of them said, “Whoever rejoices when others praise him has allowed Shaytan to come into him.”

Another said, “If someone tells you, ‘What a wonderful person you are!’ and you love this more than for them to tell you, ‘What an awful person you are!, then by Allah, what an awful person you are!”

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[Taken from Sunnipath.]