Question: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. Does riya' (showing off in worship) divide into two categories: major shirk (associating partners with Allah) if the riya' is in worship and one begins it for the sake of people, and minor shirk, which is everything else? Answer: Riya' divides into two categories: the riya' of the hypocrites, and there is no doubt that this is shirk (associating partners with Allah), the riya' of the hypocrites, and may Allah protect us from it, يُرَاءُونَ النَّاسَ وَلَا يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا showing [themselves to] the people and not remembering Allah except a little, [An-Nisa 4:142] This is major shirk. As for the lesser riya', it may come from the people of faith, and it is minor shirk. Yes. So the riya' of the hypocrites is major shirk and never comes from the people of faith. As for the riya' that is not the riya' of the hypocrites, this comes from some of the believers, but one must repent from it and be cautious of it. Yes.

Types of Riya'

Shaykh Salih ibn Fawzan al-Fawzan

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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. Does riya' (showing off in worship) divide into two categories: major shirk (associating partners with Allah) if the riya' is in worship and one begins it for the sake of people, and minor shirk, which is everything else?

Answer:
Riya' divides into two categories: the riya' of the hypocrites, and there is no doubt that this is shirk (associating partners with Allah), the riya' of the hypocrites, and may Allah protect us from it,

showing [themselves to] the people and not remembering Allah except a little,

يُرَاءُونَ النَّاسَ وَلَا يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا

[An-Nisa 4:142]

This is major shirk. As for the lesser riya', it may come from the people of faith, and it is minor shirk. Yes. So the riya' of the hypocrites is major shirk and never comes from the people of faith. As for the riya' that is not the riya' of the hypocrites, this comes from some of the believers, but one must repent from it and be cautious of it. Yes.

Source قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 108- أقسام الرياء - صالح الفوزان — youtube.com

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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