The Ruling on Abandoning Sin for the Sake of People
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Performing obedience and worship for the sake of people is shirk (associating partners with Allah), but does abandoning sin for the sake of people also fall under shirk?
This is shirk, because obedience is either performing what is commanded or abandoning what is prohibited, as a means of drawing near to Allah. So this is a type of shirk, without doubt.
If a person abandons sin to show off to people, not out of fear of them, because there is a difference between showing off to people to appear as a worshipper and one who abandons sins, and abandoning sin out of fear that people will eat his flesh and violate his honor. The first is shirk, and the second is not shirk, but it is a mistake, because some people adopt asceticism and appear to be ascetics, abandoning sins in front of people, while in secret they commit them and do not care.
This is shirk, because obedience is either performing what is commanded or abandoning what is prohibited, as a means of drawing near to Allah. So this is a type of shirk, without doubt.
If a person abandons sin to show off to people, not out of fear of them, because there is a difference between showing off to people to appear as a worshipper and one who abandons sins, and abandoning sin out of fear that people will eat his flesh and violate his honor. The first is shirk, and the second is not shirk, but it is a mistake, because some people adopt asceticism and appear to be ascetics, abandoning sins in front of people, while in secret they commit them and do not care.