“Say: Whether you hide what is in
your hearts or you express it– Allah knows it” (aal- Imran)
DERIVATION:
Riya comes from an Arabic word rou’yat. Rou’yat means to see, dekhna.
Riya is a different form of the same root word; it means to show, to do
something for show, for the sake of others, your niyyat, your motive,
your maqsad behind that is something else.
Riya is often translated in English as ostentation or showing off. There is a
mention in the Quran in Surah Ma’oun:
Allazina hum yuraun
‘Those people who do good deeds to show other people’.
And there is
another verse in Surah Aal Imran:
Whether you hide what is in your
hearts or you express it, Allah Ta’ala knows it.
DEFINITION
Riya’ is
performing acts of obedience and worship solely to obtain a place in the hearts
of other people.
The motivating
factor behind the deed is to show and please other people rather than
Allah(swt).
Significance
of Getting Rid of Riya’
In the light
of Ahadith e Mubarakah:
●“Indeed,
even a little of riya’ is shirk” (Hadith, ibn Majah)
This is a type
of shirk that is often called the lesser shirk, shirk-e-khafi, hidden shirk
In another
hadith the Prophet (s.a.w)said:
● “Whoever prays in order to show others
has indeed done shirk. And, whoever
fasts to show others has done shirk.
And, whoever gives charity to show others has done shirk” (Hadith,
Ahmad)
Another
hadith:
●What I fear most for my ummah is doing things for other than the
sake of Allah.
So this is one
of the fears the Prophet (s.a.w) had for the sake of the ummat, this
hidden shirk, when people do things, good things, but not for the sake
of Allah (swt)rather for other reasons.
Hadith:
●I do not fear that you will worship the sun
or the stars, but I fear that you will worship other ghairullah through riya.
No one does
this very openly and sometimes we may do it subconsciously.
Sometimes a
person may think: ‘what will other people
say/think? Thinking in this manner is a disease in our society, especially
among women and is riya.
We inadvertently teach our
children riya in the name of tarbiat
We tell our
children: ‘what will aunty think and say about this?!’
We do that for
the sake of tarbiat of our children but are teaching them riya by
teaching them: ‘do it for the sake of
these people, do not do it for the sake of Allah.’
TYPES
OF RIYA’
In riya you
usually do something good but the motivation is something other than Allah.
Different ways of showing and manifesting riya are:
1. Bodily
This is acting
in a way to make a person think that you are pious, think that a person is
doing good deeds. This is a type of manifestation of riya.
Example: ‘I’m
feeling so tired since I am fasting‘.
2. Demeanor.
Using your
voice, for example by speaking in a very humble manner, to make that person
think that you are humble. This may be done for showing respect but are you
doing it for the right reason or so that that person thinks good of you?
3. Clothing.
This may be
both ways: wearing good clothes or dressing down (a person can have takkabur
in humility).
Sometimes a
person can do riya in takkabur and sometimes a person can do riya
of their humility.
Hadith:
A man, poorly
dressed, once came to the Prophet (s.a.w)and the Prophet (s.a.w)asked him: ‘do you have any money?’ and he said: ‘yes, I
have this many camels, this may goats…’and the Prophet (s.a.w)said that ‘it should show on you.’
Thus ulema
have said that when a person dresses he should dress in a way in which there is
neither takkabur nor riya: A person should be moderate.
Moderation:
The teaching of our Deen about moderation is that we should be such that
people above us don’t think lowly of us, and people below us shouldn’t think
that we are doing riya’, showing off.
4. Acts and Deeds
Sometimes when
talking, giving someone advice a person may act as though they have a lot of
feeling, although they don’t have those
feelings. (Acting shocked, acting like they are really affected by something
when they are not).
▪Example:
crying in a bayan even when you do not feel like crying because everyone else
is.
It is fine if
you are feeling troubled by the fact that though everyone is crying your heart
is hard and you are not, but to feel that ‘I have to cry because what will people think?’ , this is not right, this
is riya’.
Whenever it comes to mind ‘what will other people think about me’ automatically think: ‘this is riya’’ because you are not thinking ‘what will Allah Ta’Ala think about me?’
When we think
like this, we realize that many things in our life can be riya: good
things, neutral things. But riya is particularly about deeni things.
▪Example: Praying
long prayers in front of people, casually mentioning something about yourself
when talking, (for example ‘when I got up
for tahajjud last night…’) so that people should know about ‘your tahajjud’ is also
a type of riya.
Some scholars
say that if the thought that ‘If people knew
this about me, they would be impressed’ enters your heart then this is also riya, though there is not
complete unanimity among scholars regarding this.
MAJOR
SIGNS OF RIYA’
1)
Laziness and lack of
action for Allah’s Sake when one is alone and out of view of others. But,
driven and energetic when in front of others
Example: you may pray namaz at the maqroo’ time. But when you are in
front of other people, all of a sudden, you are like: ‘oh, it’s time for namaz, lets pray’.
This is a sign
of riya: difference in how do you act when you are alone
and how do you act when you are with other people.
2)
Increasing one’s actions
when praised.Decreasing them in absence of praise
or even criticism
Example: When you are praised, you increase your actions, and when there
is no praise, or even when there is criticism, you decrease it or leave it
altogether.
So this is a
sign; why were you doing it in the first place? If you are doing it for Allah
then it does not matter whether someone praised you or criticized you. If you
are doing it for other people then yes, praise and criticism is really going to
affect you.
A question is
raised here:
Often in
Ramadan people have this question, that ‘I would rather do ibadat myself at home and stay awake at home. I do
not want to come to the masjid because in the masjid everyone is looking, I
feel more self-conscious about praying and chances of getting riya’ are more’
What ends up
happening is that the same girl ends up falling asleep at home, saying that ’I was scared of riya’. Leaving a good deed out of fear of riya
is worse than doing riya itself.
Difference in
riya’ and getting inspired
The whole
purpose of getting together in a group in a Deeni gathering is that a person
feels inspired.
There is a
difference between inspiration and riya.
Being in a
mosque, a certain mehfil, you may feel more inspired to pray more and do good
deeds. This is actually because you feel more inspired.
When a person
feels inspired internally they should do it. They should not leave the
action fearing that it would be riya.
Should one not praise anyone due to its connection
with riya?
Another
question that comes up is: ‘what about
praise? Should we stay away from praise because sometimes due to praise someone
may feel riya’?
Hadith:
When
a believer hears someone praising him, his iman increases.
The important
thing to note here is that his iman increases, not his pride.
The Prophet(s.a.w)
also used to praise people but sometimes he did not do it directly; he would
say it to someone else because he did not want the other person to have this riya
in them.
People like
being praised but one’s reaction to praise should be that it should not
increase their pride, rather it should increase their iman.
And a true
momin ascribes everything to Allah. So any praise is Allah’s naimat. We must acknowledge that any praise is Allah’s
blessing, we don’t deserve it, and it is Allah (swt)’ infinite mercy that He
has covered our faults.
A buzurg
said:
When someone praises yoy, your first thought should be that ‘he is not doing my tareef, rather he is praising my Rabb who has covered
my faults!’
Our reaction
to praise should be to connect it with Allah.
And that is
something you will see in fighting the diseases of the heart, whether it be riya
or any other disease, that you have to connect everything to Allah. If you have
takkabur, how to get rid of it is that ‘if there is any good quality in me then it has been put by Allah, and if
He wants He can take it away’.
When
everything gets connected to Allah then your ego, your anaa, it all ends
by itself. Remembrance of Allah is the
cure of spiritual diseases.
How to
Encourage?
Encouragement through
praise is important. But the key thing is that it should not lead to pride.
How should you
encourage and praise people? When you encourage someone to do something you
should
● somehow
connect
their action to Allah and it should not be ‘empty flattery’.
Example: you
are telling your child not to dress this way, rather than saying ‘what will
people think’, you could say: ‘Allah doesn’t
like this, if you don’t dress this way, Allah will love you!’
Then they will
get praise and encouragement but in a positive way that connects that action to
Allah.
●give the Prophet’s (s.a.w) example
Allah Ta’Ala
is very abstract but if you tell the kids about the Prophet(s.a.w) that ‘The Prophet (s.a.w) didn’t like this’.
Then they
realize that the Prophet (s.a.aw) is their role model and then for them the
Prophet (s.a.aw)does not become a distant prophet. He becomes a person who in
their minds is a living figure and is important.
So in the beginning
of their life they are developing love for Allah and the Prophet as well.
Example of Prophet(s.a.w):
And the
Prophet also had this habit. One time there was a man and the Prophet said:
this person is a good person, but he would be a better one if he prayed tahajjud.
Thus he praised the person and gave extra constructive feedback.
SIGNS
OF RIYA’
Check
Yourselves…
1)
Do you want to be known for your good deeds and
attributes, and are motivated by this desire.
Desire for acceptance by Allah and His pleasure
should be the true motivation.
2)
Do you mention
your private deeds and worship in
a gathering?
3)
Do you yearn
for praise from others for these deeds?
Compliments
are liked but we should not be compliment seekers. If we get a compliment, it
is natural to be happy and to like it and your faith should increase.
This shows a
degree of riya’, when a person is looking for praise for their good
deeds.
ROOT
SOURCES OF RIYA’
1)
The first
level, the least form of riya is: the fear of blame.
When you do a
good deed and the reason you do it is to keep criticism at bay, so that people
do not think badly of you.
Some scholars
will even say that this is jaiz (permissible), that you do a good deed
just so that people are happy with you and don’t criticize you.
This is the
least form of riya, but it is a source of riya.
2)
The second
level of riya is when you desire and love praise
That you seek
and want praise and that is the motivational factor for doing a good deed.
3)
The third level
is the highest and the worst form of riya: when a person does a good
deed and their actual ulterior motive, their desire is worldly benefit.
Ecample: they
act all pious and trustworthy so that people trust them and they get closer to
them so that they can then do some type of fraud.
This is
basically hypocrisy, fraudulent behaviour. This is the worst type of riya
and in a way it is munafiqat and it is haram.
4)
Another source of riya which is actually jaiz
is the fear of harm from people.
You do a good
deed because you are afraid that people are going to actually harm you.
Is this Riya’?
It is Riy’a
¨ If
you do a good deed with bad intention
Whether it is for the sake of praise, whether
it is for the sake of some worldly benefit.
¨ If you do a good deed for worldly motive (wealth, etc)
¨ If you make someone content just so they follow you in deeni matters
Example:
Unfortunately
there are some ulema who give people who are supporting their institution the
fatwa that they desire.
It is NOT Riya’
¨ If
you do a permissible act for the sake of worldly gain
Example: If
you are a business person and you have to do something, act in a certain way,
praise somebody, for the sake of worldly gain. You are not doing it so that the
person thinks you are naik. You are doing it for the sake of your
business, then that is not riya.
So riya is
very much associated with good deeds that are done so that a person thinks you
are a religious person, a deeni person.
¨ If you make someone content to stay away from their mischief and harm
HOW TO
CURE RIYA’?
Spiritual Treatment:
1)
Getting rid of the root sources of riya.
Getting rid of……
● desiring and
wanting praise
● Fear of
blame (To be afraid of being criticized by people)
● desiring
worldly benefit from people
● Fear of harm
from people
By purifying
one’s heart from these root sources of riya, riya is
automatically taken care of.
A person
should want not the praise of makhluq but the praise of the khaliq;
should not fear the blame of the makhluq but should fear the blame of
the khaliq.
Look towards Allah to purify your heart from riya; seek Allah’s help.
2)
Changing the
way we think about praise. Remembering that praise is very temporary.
Make your
heart learn the nature of the world that all this praise and success and worldly
status are temporary.
3)
Nurture
certainty in one’s self of tauheed.
Riya is for people; remember that only
Allah can benefit us and only Allah can harm us: a firm yaqeen and aqeeda
in tauheed counters riya.
There is a Hadith Qudsiya, in which the Prophet
said that:
“Know that if the whole
nation were to gather together to benefit you with anything, it would benefit
you only with something that Allah had already prescribed for you. And if they were to gather together to harm
you, it would harm you only with something that Allah had already prescribed
for you”
Riya is a type of shirk so to get rid of it you have to be a strong Wahid
who believes in tauheed: the stronger your own tauheed is,
the lesser riya’ there will
be (getting rid of the ghairullah in our heart for whom we do things).
4)
Being aware of the harm of riya, both in this
world and in the next world.
In this world sooner or later a person’s riya kaari leads to humiliation.
Meaning of a Hadith e Mubarakah
On the Day of Judgment, an aalim will come to Allah and say that:
‘I learned all this, Allah Ta’la, for
your sake’.
And Allah will say that you did this for the sake of being respected and
admired by people, and this has happened. You have received your reward in the
world and enter jahannum now.
And a shaheed will say: ‘I gave
my life for your sake, Allah’. And Allah will
say to that shaheed that no, you did it so that the people call you
brave; and it has been said about you, people have called you brave in this
world, now you enter jahannum.
And then a person who used to give sadqah will say that: ‘I spent all this money for your sake, ya Allah’. And Allah will say that no, you did this so that people call you
generous. You have already got your reward and now you will have to enter jahannum.
Two types of shirk:
a)
A’itaqadi shirk, shirk that has to do with your thoughts and aqeeda; a person is
openly a kafir (non believer).
b)
hidden shirk which is called amali shirk:
you don’t actually believe in two gods but you act like you do. You are doing
something for Allah, and you are also doing it for other people. You are afraid
of Allah and you are also afraid of other people. Riya’ lies in this category
of shirk!
5)
Thinking of
Allah’s raza in every single act.
This will ensure the purity of
your intentions. And…
Hadith: Inna mal a’maal u bil niyaat.
(Verily,
actions are judged by intentions)
And riya’ is that disease that surfaces again and again. We have
to constantly purge ourselves, constantly clean ourselves, and the way to do it
is to always remember about our intentions.
So every time you do anything, think: ‘Is Allah pleased by such an act?’
OR ‘ Am I doing this for the sake of
Allah?’
You can do this by thinking that: my whole life is for Allah’s raza. My intention will be that ‘everything is for the sake of Allah’. Due to its barakat Allah will put the intention in your heart
for even the mundane and normal things you do without even thinking about why
are you doing them that ‘if I do it for
this reason then I will be doing it for Allah’.
Ulema say that even the sleep of AhlUllah is worship since they sleep in
order to gain more energy to serve the deen and for worship.
By thinking this way then riya kaari does not even enter the
picture since everything is done for the sake of Allah.
6)
Connecting all
praise to Allah
Then that praise will have no effect on you. It will only make your love
for Allah and your iman grow.
And when someone praises you for anything say alhamdulillah, thus
you connecting that thing to Allah and are praising Allah. There are two
benefits of this:
a. You are connecting to Allah, you are freeing your heart from riya.
b. By praising Allah(swt) you are actually doing His shukr and every
time you do shukr, Allah grants you more. It comes in the Quran:
La in shakartum la azidanna-kum
‘If you do shukr of I will certainly Increase you(in that
blessing)’
Hadith:
‘If someone praises you
then these are glad tidings that Allah is giving you in this world.’
And if Allah is giving you glad tidings then you should praise Allah for
this na’imat:
These mental and spiritual exercises help to get rid of riya kaari.
Practical Treatment
1)
Veil your acts from the eyes of people
Not doing your deeds in front of people only but also doing when people
are not watching, and making a habit of this.
Example of Sahaba Karam(ra) and other Aalims, even their families used
to be unaware of their private worship and good deeds.
There is a hadith regarding giving sadaqah, that it should be
done in such a manner that your left hand does not even know what your right
hand is giving. Do it in a way that nobody knows.
Example: there have been such buzurg in the ummah after
whose death people used to come forth and tell that ‘he helped me with this’
This is a quality of the virtuous: they do good deeds in the manner in
which sinners commit sins, hiding them!
Thus, veiling your acts from the eyes of people and making a habit is
one of the ways of countering riya.
2)
Make a habit of doing (nafl)worship in private
Obligatory acts of worship should be done publicly, and nawafil
privately.
Example: farz namaz for men should be prayed in the mosque. Nafl,
tilawat etc should be done at home.
Publicly doing good deeds in order to encourage the community is not riya
There have been instances in the ummah even in the time of the Sahaba Karam(ra)
(example: Abdullah ibn Masud(ra) and Hazrat Abdullah ibn Umar(ra)) that when a
good deed started disappearing, the virtuous people would do it publicly in
order to motivate others to do the same, an example being going to the mosque
for tahajjud prayers. This is not riya since the niyyat is
to encourage good deeds.
Especially faraidh should be done publically to encourage others to
offer their faraidh as well like giving of Zakat etc.
3)
Be conscience of the workings of your heart in doing
good deeds and in hearing praise. Keep a
consistent check of your intentions
Whenever you are doing any good deed, always think about it: ‘why am I doing this?’ Think about
your objective: My objective is to make Allah Raazi with me, to become
closer to Allah, to become a better Muslim.
So whenever you do any good deed you make your niyyat in the
beginning, and any time you hear praise your reaction should be to connect the
praise to Allah.
4)
Read Surah Ikhlas often
This helps build ikhlas in us. A person should be mukhlis and mukhlas. A mukhlis is a person who adopts
ikhlas,sincerity. Mukhlis is ism faa’il. And mukhlas is ism maf’ul, a person
who has been made sincere. Anybody can become mukhlis, Muslim or non Muslim,
they can adopt sincerity. Non Muslims can have lot of sincerity for whatever
cause or work they are doing. But, Scholars have written, only Muslims can
become Mukhlas because the agent for bringing ikhlas in a person is external,
it is passive. Allah Ta’Ala is making that person have ikhlas so this can only
be for Muslims. Allah Ta’Ala is giving ikhlas to that person. So when a person
themselves intend to become mukhlis, have sincerity, with the barakah of this
niyyat Allah Ta’Ala will make one a mukhlas! Allah Ta’Ala will then Himself
give that person purity if intention.
So, this is something, practically if we try ourselves to stay away from
riya’ kaari, Allah Ta’Ala will make riya’ kaari stay away from us.
5)
Recite istighfar after every good deed.
This is actually also the sunnah of Prophet (s.a.w). It was Prophet
(s.a.w)’ s Mubarak habit that anytime he did any good deed, he(s.a.w) did
istighfar.
Now we are opposite, we commit sins and still we don’t do istighfar and
here we have people doing istighfar
after good deeds to seek forgiveness for whatever shortcomings there were in
performing that good deed, if there was any riya’ kaari, doing istighfar for
that. So making sincere istighfar after doing any good deed is another
practical way. We attend a lecture, a dars, we do istighfar after that. So
istighfar is not to be done only after a sin but also after virtuous deeds.
Should deeds be left for the fear of riya’?
Sometimes people are afraid of doing good deeds because they think if we
do it, we will have riya’ in it.
Imam Maulud, a famous Scholar said ‘Abandoning a good deed out of fear
of riya’ is actually worse that engaging in riya’ itself.’
Anytime you leave any good deed for any reason, even if it seems to be a
good reason that lest takabbur or riya’ enters my heart, actually this thought
is from Shaytan. Shaytan is tricking you through your good deeds. So this is an irrational fear due to the
whisperings of Shaytan.
3 Types of
Worshippers
Hazrat Ali (RA): There are three
types of people
1)
Those who worship for the sake of Allah and His
Pleasure (they are like a free person)
2)
Those who worship for attaining reward and Jannah (they
are like a merchant, businessman who works for his profit)
3)
Those who worship out of fear of Jahannum (they are like
a slave)
So, is doing worship for sake of Jannah or out of fear of Jahannum instead
of doing it for the sake of Allah, riya’?
Different Scholars have said different things about this. Imam Malik(ra)
has said that doing ibadah for seeking Jannah or out of fear of Jahannum is
acceptable but the motivation for worship should eventually be for the sake of
Allah (swt). The reason for it being acceptable is that Allah (swt) has Himself
described Jannah in Qur’an, that this is what those doing raghbat should do
raghbat for (desire and work for), this is the real success etc. So Allah
Ta’Ala Himself is encouraging us to pray for Jannah, to work for Jannah, so it
is fine as a motivational force but actually the highest form is to do it for
the sake of Allah Ta’Ala and for sake of fulfilling His commands.
What about the deeds started off with pure intention but impure thoughts
arise later?
Once someone asked Imam Malik (ra) that what about a man who is going to
a mosque and he is going for Allah (swt) but on the way he gets this thought ‘I
hope somebody sees me’ so what do you say about that person? Imam Malik (ra)
replied that this is not harmful but there are 2 conditions.
1)
You have to start off sincere.
You have to be sincere in the beginning.
In the process, when such wasawas
come that ‘hope somebody sees me’, ‘hope somebody praises me’ etc, then….
2)
You have to fight the random impure thoughts actively.
This is where the battle actually lies. The whole remedy of fighting
riya’ kaari is actually a battle, a constant battle. You take out riya’ from
one place and it will come in another thing. We see it often that riya’ in
worldly things may end somehow but riya’ in Deeni matters is even worse.
People naturally want praise, we need positive reinforcement, we are not
that strong. We need someone to encourage us but we should always rectify our
niyyat. Are we doing something for the love and praise of people or are we
doing it for the sake of Allah Ta’Ala.
Consider praise for yourself as an icing on the cake, it’s nice to get
it, it’s a nice push. Like you see in games, sports, people cheering in the
crowd, it does make you feel good, but even if the people are not cheering, in
fact say if people are booing, you still have to play the game to your best
ability. So similarly, here we are fighting a match, fighting a battle, if no
one is cheering for us, if people are booing for us, we still fight it but the
cheering makes it helpful, it makes it more enjoyable, it gives us the extra
encouragement when we need it.
Hence, even when riya’ kaari does enter our heart, we should fight it,
and insha’Allah this fighting itself will be virtuous. To do things despite
this fear of riya’ kaari, this is actually what is more difficult. It is very
easy to sit at home and not do anything except individual ibaadat because of
the fear of riya’, living this life is very easy. But actually going out and
fighting one’s nafs in the process, fighting the battle, this is how one’s
tazkiya(purification) is going to happen. Tazkiya is not going to happen just
by sitting at home! It is actually when you are talking to people, dealing with
people, facing ups and downs of life, this is how tazkiya would happen. Just
like a utensil, if you clean it and put it in the drawer, yes it would stay
clean because no one used it, but that’s not a big deal. But the utensil which
is used, and abused, and eaten from again and again, that is going to be washed
and cleansed again and again, and have its tazkiya done.
May Allah Ta’Ala give us all the taufiq to understand these diseases and
to work to purify ourselves of these!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.