Fame and glory is something that each one of us looks up-to! Everyone wants to be famous, even children at school, when you ask them about what they want in life, one would say, “I would like to be like the famous footballer so and so, or like the famous actor so and so, or like the famous ruler, prince or president.” Everyone wants to be famous.
However, is fame something that is positive or negative?
There are Prophets and Messengers of Allah; they are the most famous among people. There are reformers who are famous, and there are inventors and scientists who are famous. Yet, on the other hand, there are people who are known, but not necessarily famous; they are infamous, such as Hitler, Mussolini and the late Saddam Hussein. Everyone knows these people. However, is it something positive? Everyone knows that Pharaoh was a tyrant, and that he died miserably. Everyone knows this, but does this make him famous? All, for instance, know Satan, the infamous Satan.
What kind of fame are you looking for, what are you pursuing in this life? Are you interested only to be known to people, even if they say bad things about you? If yes, then you have to reconsider. It was reported that a nomad, a Bedouin came in the season of Hajj, the season of Pilgrimage, which, hundreds of thousands of Muslims go to perform in the holy shrines. This man brought with him a quantity of filth and dung, and he wanted to put it on the Ka’bah, the most sacred building to the Muslims. The people managed to get hold of him before he did that, and they took him to the judge. The judge asked him, “What’s wrong with you? Why did you want to put this filth on the Sacred and Holy Ka’bah?” The man said, “I wanted to be remembered by the people even if they cursed me and swear at me.” This man wanted to do something so horrendous, so that people in the future would say that, “That man did such and such, May Allah curse him, may Allah pass His wrath on him, may Allah admit him to Hell!” Its consequences were okay to him as long as he was able to be famous! This shows the illness of those fame seekers.
Why do people dare death, why do they do crazy things, why do people attempt to do the undoable? Why do they do this? They are looking for fame. Yet, even if you manage to get people to recognize you, even if you manage to get scores of people to love you, to adore you; all of this would be in vain, because there will always be a group of people criticizing you. There will always be this portion of people who anticipate your failure. They wait for you to fall and break your neck. This is why we have envious people, paparazzi that go after celebrities, run after them and take their pictures, and they try their level best to publish their scandals and to tarnish their reputation. So, how important is fame? I will give you an example:
If you invite your friends to a wedding, your wedding, and you rent and hire an expensive place and get the best of food and you spend a lot of money, you spend an arm and a leg. When the people come and eat, as you see them going out, you will hear criticism like, ‘the food wasn’t good, it was a little bit salty’, or ‘it didn’t have salt’. ‘The air conditioning was awful, it was hot, and the service was bad.’ Therefore, those whom you are trying to please, at the end of the day, it backfires at you, and they criticize what you had done; hoping to be recognized, hoping to be known and hoping to be famous.
If you look around you, people are worshipping celebrities nowadays; they are actually worshipping them. Are they worthy of being praised? We see singers dying of overdose. We see actresses marrying more than half a dozen men in their lifetimes. We see pop-stars known and famous of being child molesters. We see sex scandals, drug addicts and pop-stars that are in and out of rehab tens of times a year. Are they praiseworthy? People know everything about them, because they are the newsmakers, you will find everything about them on the TV, magazines, newspapers, there are programs that brag everything that they do, and they have a great impact on people’s tastes, their fashions and their moral conduct.
Fame is not an objective that you raise your child to look up to. No one in his sound mind would raise his children to be famous by saying that, “You have to be famous like such and such, or well known as such and such!” Fame is a byproduct, if you have righteous children, if they are good scientists, if they do well for the community, they will be famous. It is a byproduct of what you know and what you do. If you ask people about Messengers, about Prophets, they will give you three or four names, and they are ignorant about the rest. If you ask them about the Companions of the Prophet Salla Allahu Alaihi wa Sallam, they have no idea except one, two, maybe five at most. However, if you ask them about a footballer, or the biography of an actress; you will hear wonders. As individuals, we have to have someone as a role model to look up to. Our role model, as Allah commanded us in the Qur’an, is our Prophet Salla Allahu Alaihi wa Sallam. We follow everything of his actions because he is the ‘Cream’ of humanity. He was the most courageous, the bravest, he was the most generous, the most kind and loving, the best husband, he was the best companion to his friends and he was the best in everything. Now, if you want to be famous, love him more than you love yourself. Not only that, if you want to be prosperous, you want to be happy, you have to love those whom Allah Azza wa Jall loves.
Anas {may Allah be pleased with him} narrated that a man came to the Prophet Salla Allahu Alaihi wa Sallam, and he was sad and in grief. He said to the Prophet Salla Allahu Alaihi wa Sallam, “O Prophet of Allah, a man loves a group of people, but he is unable to catch up”, meaning that they are so righteous, so pious and so high in Paradise that he is unable to catch up with them. Prophet Salla Allahu Alaihi wa Sallam said, “You will be, on the Day of Judgement, with those whom you love!”
So, is it not time for you to shape up and look at whom you love, because, by Allah, you will be with them on the Day of Judgement. Moreover, your love to them depends on their actions and deeds. Therefore, if you love the Prophet Salla Allahu Alaihi wa Sallam, if you love the righteous people, if you love the Companions; by Allah, you will be with them. However, if you love the other side, if you love the dark side of fame, then, I am afraid you will be with them on the Day of Judgement!
The quotations from the Qur’an and Hadiths in this article are a rough translation of the meanings of the original text!
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