The ruling on abandoning good deeds out of fear of showing off
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The last question. The Honorable Shaykh, he says: What is the ruling on one who abandons good deeds, such as the sunnah, out of fear of showing off? And the rest of the question says: Do we stop there and say this is a specific case, or do we issue a ruling? He says: One whose multiple instances are apparent is ruled upon by them.
The Shaykh:
We do not rule based on suspicion. Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) ruled that they were apostates, and He did not say that they did not believe it in their hearts. Rather, He ruled based on two statements and two instances of mockery. Each one:[At-Tawbah 9:65-66] It is great. So disbelief was tied to the mockery, and not to what is in the hearts, because matters of the hearts are with Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He).
The presenter:
May Allah reward you. Honorable Shaykh, what is the ruling on one who abandons good deeds, such as the sunnah, out of fear of showing off?
The Shaykh:
It is not permissible for a person to abandon good deeds out of fear of showing off. This is from Shaytan. He answers him and says: Do not pray, because of the state of people who are known for showing off. To abandon good deeds is worse than that. This is worse. Abandoning good deeds is worse. So he should seek refuge in Allah from Shaytan, do the good deeds, make his intention for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and leave this suspicion.
The last question. The Honorable Shaykh, he says: What is the ruling on one who abandons good deeds, such as the sunnah, out of fear of showing off? And the rest of the question says: Do we stop there and say this is a specific case, or do we issue a ruling? He says: One whose multiple instances are apparent is ruled upon by them.
The Shaykh:
We do not rule based on suspicion. Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) ruled that they were apostates, and He did not say that they did not believe it in their hearts. Rather, He ruled based on two statements and two instances of mockery. Each one:
(65) And if you ask them, they will surely say, "We were only conversing and playing." Say, "Is it Allah and His verses and His Messenger that you were mocking?" (66) Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after your belief. If We pardon one faction of you - We will punish another faction because they were criminals.
أَبِاللَّهِ وَآيَاتِهِ وَرَسُولِهِ كُنتُمْ تَسْتَهْزِئُونَ لَا تَعْتَذِرُوا قَدْThe presenter:
May Allah reward you. Honorable Shaykh, what is the ruling on one who abandons good deeds, such as the sunnah, out of fear of showing off?
The Shaykh:
It is not permissible for a person to abandon good deeds out of fear of showing off. This is from Shaytan. He answers him and says: Do not pray, because of the state of people who are known for showing off. To abandon good deeds is worse than that. This is worse. Abandoning good deeds is worse. So he should seek refuge in Allah from Shaytan, do the good deeds, make his intention for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and leave this suspicion.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، اللقاء الأسبوعي-01 من 32-لفضيلة الشيخ صالح بن فوزان الفوزان -حفظه الله- مشروع كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:12:44)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.