the religion—but it is nevertheless perilous.

• Riyāʾ: pronounced with a kasra on the rāʾ and a light yāʾ, lengthened; it comes from ruʾyah (seeing). It is defined as displaying an act of worship so that people may witness it and praise its doer.

What is derived from the ḥadith:

1. Riyāʾ is taken from ruʾyah; the person showing off seeks the gaze of others to gain their esteem. It appears in several forms:
   – Physical: such as feigning thinness and pallor from long night-vigils or frequent fasting;
   – Dress and outward appearance: such as displaying the mark of prostration on the forehead or wearing coarse clothing;
   – Speech: such as ostentatiously expressing anger at wrongdoing, or moving one’s lips in remembrance when people are present.

2. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is most compassionate and merciful toward the believers; he strives to procure every benefit for his community and to repel every harm. He therefore fears for them the pitfalls that wipe away good deeds and bring on sins. Among the most dangerous of those sins is riyāʾ, a form of associating partners with Allah. The grounds for this fear are two:
   First: it enters by hidden avenues and subtle paths; a devout Muslim may fall into it without noticing, for the concealed variety of riyāʾ is what most often befalls worshippers.
   Second: it is shirk, and shirk is the gravest of all sins.

Why it is counted as shirk: when a person worships Allah yet, through that worship, courts the approval of people, he has made those he wishes to impress partners in that act. In doing so he has associated others with Allah—though this is classified as the lesser shirk. Allah the Exalted says, “Indeed, Allah does not forgive that partners be associated with Him” ⦗Qurʾān 4:48⦘.