Page 236 - A Call For Unity

A Call for Unity

people's notice, such as:
O you who believe! Do not nullify your charity by de-
mands for gratitude or insulting words, like him who
spends his wealth, showing off to people and not be-
lieving in Allah and the Last Day. His likeness is that of
a smooth rock coated with soil, which, when heavy rain
falls on it, is left stripped bare. They have no power over
anything they have earned. Allah does not guide disbe-
lieving people. (Surat Al-Baqara: 264)
So woe to those who perform prayer and are forgetful of
their prayer, those who show off. (Surat Al-Ma'un: 4-6)

The Gospel warns:
Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be
seen by them... (Matthew, 6: 1).
Everything they do is done for men to see... (Matthew, 23: 5)
Their hypocrisy is likened to tombs that are impressive

on the outside but full of filth on the inside:
You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the out-
side but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything
unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as
righteous. But on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wicked-
ness. (Matthew, 23: 27-28)
"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trum-
pets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to
be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their
reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your
left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giv-
ing may be in secret. Then God Who sees what is done in secret,
will reward you. (Matthew, 6: 2-4)

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