The scholars and the righteous of this Ummah always feared fame and becoming well-known amongst the people. They would dislike for their name to be mentioned much and you can see one of them fleeing from the people as if they were a fitnah (trial), whilst at other times you can see one get up and leave the circle of knowledge which he was conducting because the numbers became too many.
Below here are some amazing statements from our predecessors that allude to just how much they held onto sincerity and how much they fled from fame and from being spoken about.
Ibn Mas’ood (radhiallahu `anhu):‘(O people!) Be the springs of knowledge and the lamps of guidance! Stick to your homes and be like a light in the night, revivers of hearts, wearing worn-out clothes, you will then be known by the people of the heavens and be hidden among the people of the earth.’
A man said to Bishr:‘Advice me.’ So he said, ‘Let your mention be unknown…’ And Hushib would be found crying saying, ‘My name has reached the Masjid!’
Both Ibrahim al-Nakha’i and al-Hasan used to say, ‘It is enough of an evil that a man should be pointed at in matters of Deen or Dunya (i.e. out of fame), except him whom Allah has protected. Righteousness lies here’ and he’d point to his chest three times.
Ibrahim ibn Adham: ‘A slave who loves fame has not been truthful to Allah.’
‘Aasim:‘If more than four people came and sat around Abul-‘Aaliyah, he would get up and leave.’
Dawud al-Ta’i used to say: ‘Flee from people just like you would flee from a lion.’
Imam Ahmad: ‘Glad tidings be to the one whose mention has been hidden by Allah!’ And he would say, ‘I wish for something that will never be… I wish to be in a place devoid of other people.’
