The Meaning of al-Fudayl’s Statement: “Working for the sake of people is shirk (associating partners with Allah), and abandoning work for the sake of people is riya’ (showing off)”

The questioner : Your Eminence the Shaykh! I bear witness to Allah that I love you for the sake of Allah. My question, may Allah reward you, is this: al-Fudayl ibn 'Iyad said, “Working for the sake of people is shirk (associating partners with Allah), and abandoning work for the sake of people is riya’ (showing off).” The difficulty I have is with his statement, “abandoning work for the sake of people is riya’ (showing off).” Sometimes a person needs to abandon charitable work out of fear of riya’ (showing off). Does this fall under that? I ask for a detailed explanation of this issue, and may Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : I say to my brother the questioner, may Allah love him as he has loved us in Him, and we ask Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, to make us all among His loved ones and the awliya (close friends of Allah). As for the first part of al-Fudayl’s (may Allah have mercy on him) statement, it is clear that working for the sake of people is shirk (associating partners with Allah). Working for the sake of people is divided into two categories. First, to worship this person with worship; this is major shirk (major shirk), meaning to bow to him or prostrate to him or the like. This is major shirk (major shirk), because directing any part of worship to other than Allah is major shirk (major shirk). Second, to worship Allah but to want people to praise him for his worship of Allah; this is shirk (associating partners with Allah). And it nullifies the worker’s deed, because he intended by this worship of Allah that people praise him for worshipping Allah.
As for the second sentence of his statement, “abandoning work for the sake of people is riya’ (showing off),” it is because the one who abandons the work shows off to the servants of Allah by his abandonment, meaning he wants people to say, “This man hides worship or abandons worship out of fear of riya’ (showing off)?” So he is praised for that, and it is riya’ (showing off).
There is no difference between the two phrases in terms of what is suspected, but the expression differs. And riya’ (showing off) is known to be shirk (associating partners with Allah). But because this abandoner did not work, al-Fudayl called him a show-off and did not say he is a Muslim. Otherwise, abandoning work so that people say, “This man is far from riya’ (showing off),” is a type of shirk (associating partners with Allah)? It would be riya’ (showing off). This is the meaning of his statement, may Allah have mercy on him.