What is the difference between modesty and shyness?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Shaykh, may Allah bless you, is the word for modesty and the word for shyness the same in meaning, or are they two different meanings?
The Shaykh : No, there is a precise difference between them. What is in you? Shyness is accompanied by some fear. Some fear, and for this reason you find that a shy person must have something that causes his shyness. It causes it. We will extend Ramadan for you. And modesty is the nature of the person, even if he has not heard something that necessitates shyness or seen something that necessitates shyness.
The questioner : Which of the two is praised, or are both praised?
The Shaykh : His speech is sometimes praised and sometimes painful.
The Shaykh : No, there is a precise difference between them. What is in you? Shyness is accompanied by some fear. Some fear, and for this reason you find that a shy person must have something that causes his shyness. It causes it. We will extend Ramadan for you. And modesty is the nature of the person, even if he has not heard something that necessitates shyness or seen something that necessitates shyness.
The questioner : Which of the two is praised, or are both praised?
The Shaykh : His speech is sometimes praised and sometimes painful.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 250 - 4600 ما الفرق بين الحياء والخجل؟ ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.