What is the ruling on showing off (riya') if it occurs during worship, and what is its cure?

The questioner : The person within himself, and does the reward of the deed in which he showed off decrease?

The Shaykh : Showing off (riya') means doing a deed for Allah so that people see it, meaning that a person worships so that people see him and praise him for his worship. There is no doubt that the one who shows off has done the deed for Allah and for other than Allah. He did it for Allah so that Allah the Exalted would see it and reward him for it, and he did it for people so that they would see it and reward him with praise. Thus, the deed is divided between Allah and people, and it becomes null and void, benefiting its owner not, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted in what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) reported from Him: .
And on this basis, every deed done with showing off (riya') is invalid. However, it should be known that the ruling for this matter applies to the one who began the worship as a show-off, being content with the showing off and intending it. As for the one who began the worship sincerely for Allah, and then showing off (riya') occurred to him afterwards, and he resisted it as much as he could, turned away from it, and directed himself to sincerity for Allah, then this showing off (riya') does not harm him, because it is merely a thought that Satan introduced into his heart to corrupt his worship, and he is resisting it and not relying on it. So this does not harm him. But if showing off (riya') occurs during the worship, and the person becomes content with it, submits to it, and considers the people of Allah in his worship of Allah, does that invalidate the beginning of the worship, just as it invalidates the end which it accompanied? It is said in this that there is a distinction. If the worship is such that its end is built upon its beginning, meaning that the validity of its beginning is linked to the validity of its end, then it is invalidated by the shirk (associating partners with Allah) that occurred in it. And if the worship is such that the invalidity of its end does not invalidate its beginning, but some of it is distinct from some, then the invalidity of its end does not necessitate the invalidity of its beginning. An example of the first is prayer: a man entered prayer sincerely for Allah the Exalted. During the prayer, this occurred to him. We say: We say: Your prayer now is entirely invalidated. We say: It is not possible in prayer to have the validity of the fourth [rak'ah] while the first is [invalid].
So the entire prayer is invalid. And an example of the second is a man who intended to give one hundred riyals as charity, so he gave fifty of them sincerely for Allah, and then showing off (riya') occurred to him regarding the remaining fifty. We tell him that the first fifty was valid and brought you closer to Allah, but the remaining fifty was invalid and did not bring you closer to Allah the Exalted.
The summary now is: if showing off (riya') participates in the worship from its origin, then it is invalidated because it is not established with the presence of showing off (riya'). If showing off (riya') occurs during the worship, it has three cases. The first case is that the person resists it and does not rely on it, so this does not affect the worship and does not harm him. The second case is that he relies on it, becomes content with it, and establishes it in his heart, and the worship is not such that its end is built upon its beginning, so the corruption is in its end where the showing off (riya') occurred, while its beginning is valid. The third case is that it occurs during the worship which is such that its end is built upon its beginning, in which case it is all corrupted because it is not possible for it to be partially valid and partially corrupt. The examples of this have been mentioned previously.
As for the cure for showing off (riya'), first, one must know that showing off (riya') is forbidden and shirk (associating partners with Allah), and no believer is pleased to associate partners with Allah the Exalted. Second, one must know that his deed is null and he has nothing from his deed except fatigue and exhaustion, and the sensible person is not pleased to exhaust his body with work or to waste his wealth in a matter that does not benefit him. The third matter that necessitates the removal of showing off (riya') is to believe that people will not benefit him if they praise him for his worship, nor harm him if they say he is not a worshipper, for the One who benefits and harms is Allah the Exalted. So if people do not possess for you any benefit or

The questioner : harm, how do you consider them in what is the specific right of Allah, which is worship? Yes.