The Meaning of al-Fudayl's Statement: Whoever Works for the Sake of People Has Committed Shirk
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
This questioner, may Allah preserve you, says: He asks about the statement of al-Fudayl ibn 'Iyad (may Allah have mercy on him): "Whoever works for the sake of people has committed shirk (associating partners with Allah), and whoever leaves off work for the sake of people has seen."
Answer:
Is this absolute? Yes, this is a correct principle. The one who considers people and looks to people in his good deeds, doing them so that they will praise him, or leaving them off out of fear of riya' (showing off in worship), as some of those afflicted with obsessive doubts say, all of this is not permissible. A person works for Allah the Exalted, whether people praise him or criticize him; he does not pay attention to that. He persists in the obedience of Allah the Exalted and does not look to the praise and commendation of people, or their speech about him. The one who leaves off good work, good work, in order to avoid riya' (showing off in worship) in his claim, or does good deeds for the sake of praise and commendation for himself, is blameworthy in both cases, because a person works for Allah the Exalted, sincere to Him in his religion, and does not look to people. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
This questioner, may Allah preserve you, says: He asks about the statement of al-Fudayl ibn 'Iyad (may Allah have mercy on him): "Whoever works for the sake of people has committed shirk (associating partners with Allah), and whoever leaves off work for the sake of people has seen."
Answer:
Is this absolute? Yes, this is a correct principle. The one who considers people and looks to people in his good deeds, doing them so that they will praise him, or leaving them off out of fear of riya' (showing off in worship), as some of those afflicted with obsessive doubts say, all of this is not permissible. A person works for Allah the Exalted, whether people praise him or criticize him; he does not pay attention to that. He persists in the obedience of Allah the Exalted and does not look to the praise and commendation of people, or their speech about him. The one who leaves off good work, good work, in order to avoid riya' (showing off in worship) in his claim, or does good deeds for the sake of praise and commendation for himself, is blameworthy in both cases, because a person works for Allah the Exalted, sincere to Him in his religion, and does not look to people. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 03/199 — archive.org (3:16)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.