The ruling on leaving off righteous deeds out of fear of showing off
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The questioner says: Is it permissible to leave off good deeds because of showing off?
The Shaykh:
This is a whisper from Shaytan. Yes, I wanted to point this out to you, but I forgot. Some people abandon good deeds; they abandon standing in night prayer, and they even abandon the congregational prayer. They say, "I am afraid of showing off (riya')." Being afraid of showing off is from Shaytan. Do good deeds, be sincere to Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and seek refuge from Shaytan. As for abandoning good deeds out of fear of showing off, or working for the sake of people, it is said that working for the sake of people is shirk (associating partners with Allah). And abandoning work for the sake of people is also shirk. Do good deeds and seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward me.
The Shaykh:
Do not let fear of charity prevent you from giving charity. If you say, "I am afraid people will accuse them of showing off (riya) or hypocrisy (nifaq)," that is from Shaytan. Leave it. Yes.
The questioner says: Is it permissible to leave off good deeds because of showing off?
The Shaykh:
This is a whisper from Shaytan. Yes, I wanted to point this out to you, but I forgot. Some people abandon good deeds; they abandon standing in night prayer, and they even abandon the congregational prayer. They say, "I am afraid of showing off (riya')." Being afraid of showing off is from Shaytan. Do good deeds, be sincere to Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and seek refuge from Shaytan. As for abandoning good deeds out of fear of showing off, or working for the sake of people, it is said that working for the sake of people is shirk (associating partners with Allah). And abandoning work for the sake of people is also shirk. Do good deeds and seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward me.
The Shaykh:
Do not let fear of charity prevent you from giving charity. If you say, "I am afraid people will accuse them of showing off (riya) or hypocrisy (nifaq)," that is from Shaytan. Leave it. Yes.
Source
وجوب الأمر بالمعروف والنهي عن المنكر، بداية من قول المُصَنِّف : وبين - سبحانه - أن الآمرين بالمعروف والناهين عن المنكر — islamhouse.com (31:22)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.