Diagnosis: Riyaa'

Bismillah ir Rahman nir Raheem

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Assalamalaikum wa Rehmatullahi wa Barakatuh!

This topic of Riyaa’ is based off of AbdulRehman Murphy’s conference call by the Lone Star council and this blog is basically notes of what he discussed. May Allah bless him and his family with the highest level of Jannah for his efforts!

Riyaa’ is a term that I had, personally, never heard of before so it was very enlightening and is of great importance. Brother Murphy went through this topic, treating it like a condition, with symptoms and possible way to treat it, tips, causes, etc. so our notes will be presented in that way as well.

What is Riyaa’?

We may all have been to the doctor’s office whether for a simple cold or something worse and may have heard that doctor pull all these crazy medical terms and words on us. You, probably like me, were sitting there like -_- uh, say what? This issue of Riyaa’ may be just like that for some of us who have never heard the term before. For this reason, we’re gonna start off with what exactly Riyaa’ is.

Definition of Riyaa’: any action that is meant for Allah but the intention gets swayed and begins to be for the purpose of showing off. It is hidden shirk, and the word shirk enough should convey the severity of it! [Another definition is any external action that is better than the internal intention and is basically done to please people or to show off.]

Who may be affected by Riyaa’?

ANYONE & EVERYONE! Riyaa’ can attack anyone but it is something that is especially dangerous to the activists and speakers. It can affect those of us that are active in our MSA’s or actively involved in our communities.

Many of us, like myself, may notice how when we first become close to our Deen our sincerity seemed to be much stronger. I remember when I first turned my life around and became familiar with the beauty of Islam and changed my old ways, my absolute concentration and dedication was towards aligning myself Islamically; my concentration was not on other people or to please other people. As time went on and I learned more about Islam, began to wear the hijab, became closer to the Quran, I noticed how keeping my intentions aligned and pure became a challenging task sometimes—this may be true for many of us. After some time passes, and we try to increase our deeds in both quality and quantity, Shaitan sees how we are trying to do more than when we initially started and he sees us as a budding enemy, so he plants the seeds of Riyaa’ within us. Our job, thus, is to find our exactly what this is, how to find out if we are falling in that trap and save our self from the dangers that come with Riyaa’.

Why is this disease so dangerous?

Riyaa’ is something that can bankrupt all your good deeds. You’re probably like kjdhgfdg SAY WHAT?! Yes, it’s true which is why understanding it is so important.

One hadith that really paints this picture of deeds being bankrupt is the following:

“Thawbaan narrated that the Prophet said: "Indeed I know a type of people from my nation who would come on the Day of Judgment with good deeds as big as the mountains of Tihaamah, pure, but Allah will turn them into scattered dust." Thawbaan asked in fear: "O Prophet of Allah! Describe them to us, we fear to be amongst them while we do not know." Thereupon, the Prophet said: "Indeed they are your brothers, and they perform acts of worship by night [prayers] in the same way you do, but when they are alone, they transgress the Limits of Allah."”

As you can see, if we act a certain way in front of people or do certain deeds in public only but behind the curtain of our homes, we are completely different, then all our efforts, our mountain of good deeds, will be blown to away to dust on the Day of Judgment. All the time we spent in this world doing those deeds, thinking that oh yeah, hopefully this will save me on the Day of Judgment, all the good work we did, all the effort we put in, will equate to nothing if our intention is not to please Allah. Riyaa’ can bankrupt all our good deeds! Bithnillah, what a scary, shuddering thought! Can you even imagine having your entire deeds blow away and you’re standing there with nothing? May Allah all help us and save us from this disease and allow us to set our intentions for him alone!

Our every intention must be for Allah. A great tip to work on this is when you do an action, link it back to Allah. For example, when you go to work out, ask yourself why am I doing this? You may think, to look good or to stay healthy. Now keep going until you link it to Allah, don’t just stop at the first step! You are trying to stay healthy so you can maintain your salah or fast the entire month of Ramadan, which pleases ALLAH. See, just by keeping it going, you have reached the final link to Allah, and thus set that intention of doing that action for Allah. Our goal should be to decrease the amount of links that it takes us to get to Allah, and so the smaller the chain is the better the action is!

Symptoms of Riyaa’

Some signs and indication that you may be affected by Riyaa’ are the following:

§  >A person who is partaking in Riyaa may be obsessed with doing righteous deeds in public but at home, they don’t have the same quality in deeds.

§  >A person absolutely loves when they are praised, but hates it when they are criticized. You marvel when someone says good things about you, but then when someone gives you advice or corrects you, you get upset.

§  >A person who gives up doing good deeds for the sake of not showing off. This may sound weird at first but this is the reverse of Riyaa’ but is actually considered to be Riyaa’ because you are refraining from good deeds because of people. A person is showing off by not showing off. Don’t refrain from doing good deeds; just make sure your intentions are for Allah, alone!

§  >When you’re in public, you try to act all righteous and say pious things, but behind the public scene your manners are vulgar and your actions are evil.

§  >When pleasing people becomes more important than pleasing Allah.

All of us, including and especially myself, must do a self-analysis every so often to see if we are falling into any of these categories or displaying any of these symptoms. 

Causes of Riyaa’

The following are some of the reasons why one may partake in Riyaa’:

§  >The temporary sense of perfection when you do some action and it pleases people.  At that moment, you may think, “man I’m awesome” or “I’m legit”. It’s a moment where your inner being (your Id) seeks to have perfection.

§  >You’re someone that gets praised a lot. This is a continuation from the first bullet in which when you get praised often, you have that temporary sense of perfection. When this does happen, you can do one of two things: You can either shove the compliment back in their face or redirect that praise to Allah, whom all praise belongs! The first case really devalues the praise-giver’s voice so we should try and go with the second option in which we redirect the praise that is given to us, to Allah!

§  >Another cause of Riyaa is the trap of desiring or valuing the praise/love of the creation. We should not seek the praise of Allah’s creation but instead seek the love of the creation’s creator, Allah, the All mighty!

We should all understand the causes and the signs to identify whether this seed of Riyaa’ is growing within us or not. We should strive to be of the people that seek the love of Allah, alone! Allah judges by intention so it is very important to conquer this and set our intentions straight. Riyaa’ isn’t a light switch that just with the flip of a switch it turns on or off. It is a constant struggle and a constant battle like eeman and a lot of other things. Riyaa’ is a dimmer, in which sometimes we are stronger and are able to ward it off and sometimes we are weaker and let it affect us. It is constant struggle with our self to stay in shape and keep our intentions pure and far from Riyaa’.

Cures and Solutions to Riyaa’

§  >First and foremost, ask for Allah’s help in saving you from falling into the traps of Riyaa’. 

§  >Establish your niyyah. If you are doing it for Allah, say it in your head or say it outloud to yourself that “This is for Allah”.

§  >Do good deeds in private where no one can find out or places where no one can see. This will give you something to poke back at Shaitan because you’re doing good deeds not just in public, but in private when no one is watching.

§  >Remember that everyone deals with this. Don’t think that you’re isolated. Everyone struggles and the closer that you come towards Allah, the harder the struggle may become.

§  >Whenever you get some praise, redirect that praise to Allah.

§  >Whenever you find yourself getting caught up in Riyaa’ or in the temporary moment of pride, zone out and remember that we are just a clump of dirt, created by Allah.

§  >Surround yourself with good moderate people-not too critical and not too praiseworthy.

§  >Do not get caught up in judging others because that can give one a sense of “I’m better than so and so”. A good way to prevent this is to write down or make a list of one’s own flaws and the other person’s good qualities. Also, always assume the best and give your fellow brothers or sisters the benefit of the doubt.

§  >Whenever you feel yourself transitioning to Riyaa, reset your intention. Whenever you are at an event or giving a speech or whatever reset your intentions 3 times. Before the event, ask yourself who am I doing this for? Do the same thing in the middle of the event and after the event. It is difficult to do an act with a strong intention, 100%, throughout an event but always keep asking yourself and resetting your intentions for Allah, alone.

At this point, inshAllah you have gained a greater understanding of Riyaa’ and all the different causes, symptoms, and cures. Let’s all now do a self-analysis and see if we are one of those that partake in Riyaa’ and if so what can we do to stop this?

We thank AbdulRehman Murphy for this extremely insightful talk about such an important matter, May Allah bless him for his efforts! May Allah also keep us away from such a dangerous thing, which has the potential to bankrupt our deeds! May Allah help us and guide us and allow us to set our every intention for him alone! He is the one that deserves all our praise, we are nothing more than flesh made from clay, He is the creator, the All-mighty, the all knowing. Ya Allah, you are perfect and we are not perfect, so please forgive us for our sins and turn our hearts towards obedience! Ameen! 

Jazakallah!

-Razz :)