What is the ruling on one who prays only in front of people?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The questioner says: A person does not pray except when he sees people looking at him. Is this act considered major shirk (associating partners with Allah) or minor shirk?
The Shaykh:
If his intention is riya' (showing off in worship) and seeking praise, then it is riya' of minor shirk, and it invalidates the prayer; his prayer is not accepted.
The presenter:
Honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh:
Minor shirk, which is riya', invalidates the act in which it is present. As for major shirk, it invalidates all deeds. Yes.
The questioner says: A person does not pray except when he sees people looking at him. Is this act considered major shirk (associating partners with Allah) or minor shirk?
The Shaykh:
If his intention is riya' (showing off in worship) and seeking praise, then it is riya' of minor shirk, and it invalidates the prayer; his prayer is not accepted.
The presenter:
Honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh:
Minor shirk, which is riya', invalidates the act in which it is present. As for major shirk, it invalidates all deeds. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم من يصلي فقط أمام الناس؟ لمعالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.