The word · The heart
الرِّيَاء
Riya'
Performing worship so that people will see it, which empties the act of its reward.
Also written · Riya · Riyaa · Riaa · Ria · Riyaa' · Showing off · Show off in worship · Sumah · Sum'ah · Ostentation · Hypocrisy in worship · Doing good for attention
The meaning
What Riya' means in Islam
The word comes from seeing, and its close cousin sum'ah is doing something so that people will hear of it. The Qur'an condemns those who pray only to be seen (Qur'an 107:6), and the Prophet peace be upon him called showing off the lesser shirk, in a report from Imam Ahmad. Being pleased that someone noticed a good deed is not riya. Riya is when being noticed was the reason you did it.
Evidence · Qur’an · Stated directly in the Qur’an
Read beside it
Rooms that name it
Words that sit beside it
- IkhlasDoing an act for Allah alone, with no eye on who else is watching.الإِخْلَاص
- Shirk AsgharMinor shirk: acts like showing off in worship, which damage sincerity without putting a person outside Islam.الشِّرْكُ الأَصْغَر
- 'UjbSelf-admiration: being impressed by your own good deed as though you produced it alone.العُجْب
- NifaqHypocrisy: showing belief outwardly while concealing disbelief, or acting against the faith one claims.النِّفَاق
More from The heart
- 'AfwPardon: dropping a wrong you are owed, without the other person having to earn it.العَفْو
- GhaflahHeedlessness: not the denial of the truth, but the habit of never getting round to it.الغَفْلَة
- Kaba'irMajor sins: the ones the texts single out with a punishment, a curse, or a warning of the Fire.الكَبَائِر
- MuraqabahLiving with the awareness that Allah sees you, at the moment you are acting.المُرَاقَبَة
- SabrHolding yourself steady under what is hard, without complaint to creation and without giving up.الصَّبْر
- TabarrukSeeking blessing through a person, place or object, which scholars permit narrowly and dispute widely.التَّبَرُّك