STORY OF UMAR radhiyallahu anhu

Hazrat Umar radhiyallahu anhu had a habit of going around checking on his subjects every evening to see what they were doing. So one day while passing through a certain suburb he overheard the people saying, “Umar is a very great person,” Now it is natural for a person to feel elated when being praised by people. So for that split second Hazrat Umar radhiyallahu anhu felt good to himself. He went home to fetch a leather water-bag and a bowl. He then went to the marketplace and started giving people water to drink. Somebody saw him and said, “Oh Ameerul-Mumineen! you are the ruler, what are you doing in the marketplace distributing water to people?” He replied: “I am disciplining my Nafs because people praised me saying that I am a great person; pride crept into my Nafs and I felt good to myself, so I wanted to discipline my Nafs. I say to my nafs that ‘you are only fit for walking through the market place and feeding people, other than that you are worthless.’ Now if the Nafs was not important then why did he go to that great extreme to look after the Nafs and control it? This will show us that by not having control over the Nafs it will be extremely difficult spiritually to develop and get close to RABBUL IZZAT.