But if some people do not take leadership...

But if some people do not take leadership, the others do not pay heed to the time of prayer and to being in the mosque and/or if they pay heed [at all], do not firmly decide to undertake fulfilling it. This is an expression of that same spiritual and psychological truth which has been called yielding to role models.

If man performs works secretly for the sake of not getting contaminated by sanctimony, his works are good and praiseworthy, but if a person openly performs a good work in order to encourage others, not only is his action free from blame, but very valuable and productive because he discharges his duties not with the intention of showing off but of motivating others. In this regard, Allah states: ... وَأَنْفَقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ سِرًّا وَعَلاَنِيَةً...

“…and spend benevolently out of what we have given them secretly and openly…” [^4] Some people have said that the purpose of spending secretly in the way of Allah is for man to keep afar from hypocrisy and the purpose of spending openly is for inspiring others, therefore there is goodness in every aspect. The work of both the one who prays secretly for the purpose of keeping afar from sanctimony and that of one who prays openly in the mosque in order to encourage others is good.

In addition to that, a person who takes the lead in going to the mosque with a sincere intention and far from hypocrisy and [his action] results in inspiring them, his reward is twice as much and he will be the standard-bearer on the Day of Resurrection because his action has opened the way to the mosque. The late Ayatullah Mar‘ashi Najafi, may he reside in Allah’s garden of eternal bliss, was bound to going to the Holy Shrine [of Qum] early in the morning before the call to prayer [ adhan ].

During the early days of our religious education, we sometimes used to succeed at going to the Shrine early in the morning. Sometimes, snow used to fall and with complete wonder we used to see the late Ayatullah Mar‘ashi sitting behind the door with his cloak pulled over his head. This was one of his high and eminent qualities. How much does such conduct encourage others to do the same?

When the religious students used to see a religious legal authority sitting behind the door of the mosque early in the morning, they used to get encouraged to be present in the Shrine early in the morning.

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