Extreme liking for praise and its remedy


The irresistible desire to be praised, admired or flattered is one of the vulnerable areas of man, where is susceptible to the satanic temptations. The mental mist leads him no where but towards degradation and humiliation. It is a disease, which needs instant and effective treatment; otherwise it is likely to kill our reason to make distinction between right and wrong. There are many among us, irrespective of their gender, love to be praised and loathe to be criticized. Their joy knows no bounds when someone lavishes them with downpour of words praise and admiration. These sweet words are music to their ears, and they feel, and they feel like listening them for hours. They wish their admirers eulogizing them never cease to say what they love to listen. But once they are criticized by some blunt and outspoken people, they turn red in anger and look like a serpent vomiting a fire out of its mouth. For them, it is detestable and loathsome to be apprised of their shortcomings, defects and faults. It is really a mean nature.

The praise-seekers must take stock of the things being said about them. They must try to weigh the veracity of these words spoken either in favor of them or against them. We cannot blink the fact that we are the best judges of own. No body knows us better than ourselves. For instance, if somebody calls us pious, we must search our soul to find the answer if we are really pious people as we are generally considered by our flatterers. If we really possess this quality, we must thank Allah for His favor that He has bestowed us with the strength to do so. But we must never proud or arrogant because the praise-seekers are disliked by God and His Apostle Hazrat Muhammad (Peace be upon him).

Let it be clear that words of insincere praise are like bubbles that appear and soon vanish. Foolish is the person who is delighted to listen his praise just to be deluded later. He knows very well that there is not an atom of truth in it. He deceives no one but himself. He spoils his life just for momentary pleasures and bubble reputation.

In our present era, materialism is conspicuous by its presence. Its tentacles have gripped us firmly, and we feel ourselves helpless to get rid of them. Whenever we do something good, we love to seek its reward from the people, showing our desire to be praised. Instead, we must seek our reward from Allah. Only our Lord can best reward us for our good and pious deeds.

It is strange to note that we have set a criterion for selecting our friends. The yardstick is Praise, and praise only. We loved to be surrounded by flatterers who do nothing but blind us to reality and logic. Those who lag behind in admiring us find no room in our company, and we tend to forget them soon. What a brittle and bad criteria! In our attempt to be praised, we hardly distinguish between sincere and insincere friends.

Words of praise can do wonders for a person provide the people using them are sincere. A single word of encouragement and praise can, sometimes, bring revolution and cause tumults in the placid sea of the lives of people. Therefore, it is important for us to be able to distinguish between flatterers and genuine people who love to encourage and motivate us by their encouraging and inspirational words.


REGARDS