The Causes of Riya'

The primary cause of riya' is a weakness in man. When a person does not have strong faith in Allah, he will prefer the admiration of people over the pleasure of Allah. This weakness in iman causes a person to ignore the blessings and rewards of the Hereafter, and increases a person's desire for fame and prestige in this world. This desire causes a person to fall into riya'. There are three symptoms that are indicative of riya', and it is essential that a believer avoid all of them.[1]

1) The Love Of Praise

This symptom is mentioned in the previously mentioned hadith concerning the first three people to be thrown into the fire of Hell: the scholar, the martyr and the person who gave his money in charity.

All three of these people desired the praise of people, over and above the pleasure of Allah. The person who desires the praise of people must feel some pride in himself, for he feels himself worthy of being praised. There is a danger, therefore, of him becoming arrogant and boastful.

Abu Hurayrah quoted Allah's Messenger (Peace be upon him) as saying:

"Allah - Most Great and Glorious - said: Pride is My cloak, and greatness my Robe, so whoever competes with Me, with respect to either of them, I shall cast him into Hell."[2]

In another hadith Abu Hurayrah quoted Allah's Messenger's (Peace be upon him) warning about a person's adoration of himself:

"There are three destructful things: desires that are followed, greediness that is obeyed, and a person's self-admiration and conceit: and this is the worst of the three!"[3]

Allah also warned against falling into the category of those Christians and Jews whom the Qur'an mentions:

"Do not assume that those who rejoice in what they have done, and love to be praised for what they have not done, - think not that they are absolved from punishment, (but rather) for them is a painful torment."[4]     

This is why the Prophet's Companions, may Allah's pleasure be on all of them, feared greatly to even be put in a situation where they would be praised.

'Abdur-Rahman ibn Abi Layli[5] reported:

"I met over one hundred and twenty of the Prophet's Companions from among the Ansar. Whenever any of them was asked for a religious verdict, he wished that someone else would answer it for him."[6]

Their reluctance to give religious rulings was also due to their great fear of saying something incorrect about the religion.

2) TheFear Of Criticism

No one likes to be criticised. The dislike of criticism regarding religious practises may be divided into two categories.

A. The first category is that of a person who neglects a commandment of Allah in order to avoid the criticism of his peers. He prefers to disobey Allah rather than be unpopular among people. For example, some men do not wish to keep beards, and some women do not wear the proper Hijab because they fear the criticism of their peers. This, obviously, is something prohibited (haram). but does not fall under the heading of riya'. The believers are described in the Qur'an as follows:

"... (They) do not fear the criticism of those who criticize. And this is the blessing of Allah; He gives it to whomsoever He wishes. Verily, Allah is Self-Sufficeint, All-Knowing."[7]

The true believer realizes that the criticism by created beings is nothing in comparison to criticism by the Creator.

B. The second category is that of a person who obeys certain commandments of lslam, not for the sake of Allah, but because he fears people will look down on him and criticise him if he does not do it. For example, a man may make his formal prayers in the mosque because he does not want people to criticise him for praying at home, or to think that he is not praying at all. Or, a lady may wear the Islamic outer-garment and scarf when attending religious gatherings because she does not want her religious friends or the lecturer to think bad of her. This category falls under the general topic of riya'.

3) Greed ForPeople's Possession

If a person covets what other people possess, whether it is rank, money or power, then he will wish them to envy him similarly. For example, if he is jealous of the position of a certain person in society, he will try by every possible means to attain the same position. Such desires lead people to spend their lives putting on a show for other people so that they will admire their rank, money or power. Religious acts will likely be incorporated into the show leading inevitably to the major sin of riya'. These three categories are implied in the following statement of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him): Abu Musa related that a person came to the Prophet and asked:

"A person fights to defend his honour (i.e. to avoid criticism), another to prove his bravery (i.e. to be praised for it), and a third to show off (i.e. so that his position can be seen): of these three, which one fights in the way of Allah?"He (Peace be upon him) answered: ''Whoever fights to make the Word of Allah prevalent [i.e. to bring honor to Islam, and to establish it in the land], he is the one who fights in the way of Allah."[8]