I am troubled by a feeling inside me that if I perform any good deed in front of people, that deed becomes showing off. For example, when I pray the midday prayer at school, I pray
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : I am troubled by a feeling inside me that if I perform any good deed in front of people, that deed becomes showing off. For example, when I pray the midday prayer at school, I pray the recommended prayers before and after it, and they say, "This woman’s prayer is long." Is this act showing off? I know that I pray the recommended prayers in every place, not just at school. Please guide us, may Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : This feeling of showing off is from Satan, to prevent a person from obeying Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
And Satan, may Allah protect us and you from him, sniffs out the heart. If he finds strength in it for obedience, he shoots it with this arrow, the arrow of showing off, and says, "You are a hypocrite." And if he finds weakness in it regarding obedience, he shoots it with the arrow of negligence and turning away, until it abandons the deed. So a person should have strength and energy, and if it occurs to him that he is praying out of showing off, or giving charity out of showing off, or reciting out of showing off, let him say, "I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan," and let him proceed and not pay attention to it.
The Shaykh : This feeling of showing off is from Satan, to prevent a person from obeying Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
And Satan, may Allah protect us and you from him, sniffs out the heart. If he finds strength in it for obedience, he shoots it with this arrow, the arrow of showing off, and says, "You are a hypocrite." And if he finds weakness in it regarding obedience, he shoots it with the arrow of negligence and turning away, until it abandons the deed. So a person should have strength and energy, and if it occurs to him that he is praying out of showing off, or giving charity out of showing off, or reciting out of showing off, let him say, "I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan," and let him proceed and not pay attention to it.