Chapter on What Breeds Riya'
perhaps the Lord wills, but he made excuse for his breaking fast in a year, claiming that he did not abandon fasting out of laxity, but rather [due to] the right that is incumbent upon him in bringing joy to a brother, or [fulfilling a duty toward] his parents, or [attending] an invitation, or fulfilling a sworn oath, or an ailment in his body.
Chapter on What Gives Rise to Riyā' (ostentation): The Blameworthy Character Traits and Their Explanation
I said: Inform me of that which gives rise to riyā' among the blameworthy character traits in the sight of God, Mighty and Majestic.
He said: What pertains specifically to riyā' and not to other things, for these give rise to [certain] dispositions, among them:
Boasting about public standing and deeds, and vaunting over religion and worldly matters.
Vaunting may also be accompanied by kibr (pride), but vaunting that comes from the direction of riyā' is an anxious distress at being surpassed, and a love to be exalted, and competing in abundance of wealth and other worldly affairs, and in public standing and deeds.
And envying others over public standing and deeds — not out of [legitimate] competition, but out of anxious distress that the one he envies attains a station and praise that he himself does not attain.
And rejecting the truth when it comes from one under his authority or his peer, lest it be said: "He is more knowledgeable than him."
This too may be accompanied by kibr, but [here] it is out of dislike that it be said: "So-and-so overcame him," or "He erred."
Leadership
I said: What is leadership?
He said: Love of self-aggrandizement, subjugating others to servitude, and contempt for them. And nothing of what he says is rejected. If he is exalted in public standing, he does not consider himself equal to anyone else in public standing, and no one else is given precedence over him. If he is advised, he does not accept. If he knows that he has erred, and the people learn of it or admonish him, he does not show repentance. Rather he harshly rejects the one who admonishes him. «And when it is said to him, 'Fear God,' pride seizes him in sin» [2:206].
Al-Mubāhāh (Vainglorious Rivalry)
I said: What is mubāhāh (vainglorious rivalry), and how does it manifest, what does it engender, and to what harm does it lead?
He said: In knowledge and in deeds.
As for knowledge: it is persistence in seeking knowledge, excessive guarding and constant devotion to it, abundance in the number of those one has met among the hadith transmitters, and hastening to answer when he or someone else is asked — he desires thereby to arrive at the truth so that he may be exalted or so that it may be known that he is more knowledgeable than others, and that others may learn that he is more knowledgeable than they. He rushes to mention a hadith so that his companion may know that he is more knowledgeable than him, and if his companion mentions a hadith, he informs him that he already knows it — as vainglorious rivalry to surpass him.
As for vainglorious rivalry in deeds: it is when he and one who remembers God — Exalted and Glorious — or fights in the way of God — Exalted and Glorious — or prays, or performs any deed among the deeds of righteousness, come together.
If the other prays, he rises and prays out of anxious agitation to surpass him, and he dislikes the prayer of the one praying alongside him so that his own superiority may be seen. And if they both pray together, he prolongs the prayer so that his companion may feel abashed and abandon the prayer, whereupon he is elevated above him. He may have already risen in station in the eyes of those who learn of that, or in the eyes of the one who prayed with him, so that the other may belittle himself, and he raises himself above the other in virtue, and the other sees his superiority over him.
Likewise in fighting in battle: he rushes ahead of others and desires that they fall behind while he advances. He drives himself to charge against the enemy with all that he can muster so as to surpass the other, and the other sees his superiority over him. And perhaps he is killed in that state with his reward nullified, and he is not safe from the wrath of God — Exalted and Glorious — upon him.
And likewise in all other deeds.
As for vainglorious rivalry in worldly matters: it is vainglorious rivalry in building. He spends on it what he would not have spent had it been for himself alone, but rather because of someone near him among his neighbors, or among relatives, companions, and peers from the people of his trade and his like.
So he spends more than what he would have intended for the building itself, and he spends for the sake of vainglorious rivalry multiples of that, lest another surpass him, so that he may be the one who is exalted above the other.
And likewise in seeking
and distracting him, just as one might distract him: «striving diligently in seeking the worldly life» [TN: possibly paraphrasing Quranic/ethical language], in the worst of hope, and reminding him of it.
And likewise in service, errands, and other such matters.
Boasting (tafakhur)
I said: And what is boasting?
He said: Boasting may encompass mubahah (vainglory) in most of its meanings, but it has certain causes by which it is distinguished, such as: "Have you heard? And do you know anything well? And what do you say about such-and-such and such-and-such?" He says this to someone other than himself. "And how fine it is! So-and-so has not heard what I have heard, nor has anyone stood in my station" — boasting over him, even if the other does not hear it.
And likewise is boasting through worldly things along with vainglory, as when one says: "You are a poor man with no wealth, and what have you hoped for? And when did you ever possess wealth? And what do you have of blessings? I have more than what you possess, and my master is wealthier than yours."
And likewise in deeds, when one says: "You never stood the stand of horsemen in battle, nor did you ever charge, and indeed I have reaped [the reward], and how well I performed the charge!"
And likewise in disputation and mutual boasting, when one says: "How much hadith do you memorize? And whom have you met among the shaykhs? And whom have you encountered among the notables? So-and-so never used to give you precedence, yet he used to give me precedence over you."
And he says this to someone other than the person concerned, without letting that person hear it — boasting over him. Then ostentation (riya') drives him to display it. And takathur (vying in abundance) may coincide with boasting in some of its meanings, and it adds to it in some of its meanings. It is like his saying: "I have heard such-and-such and such-and-such of hadith, and I have gone on such-and-such and such-and-such military expeditions, and I have made such-and-such and such-and-such pilgrimages, and I have encountered such-and-such of the shaykhs, and I have not broken my fast since such-and-such a time, and who sleeps at the time of sahar (the pre-dawn hours)?"
If he was seeking abundance or boasting proudly — desiring to be praised and not to be blamed — he did not state this openly.
[But] he presented all of that for the sake of obtaining al-mubahah (vainglory), al-mufakharah (boasting), and al-mukathara (rivalry in abundance), without stating it openly.
So they would say: a vainglorious one, a show-off, a boaster, a rival in abundance.
These qualities sometimes combine with one another, yet some exceed others in degree. From here the Book distinguished between the six of them, and that is the saying of God, Exalted and Majestic: «adornment and mutual boasting among yourselves, and rivalry in increase of wealth and children» [57:20].
And the Prophet ﷺ said:
"Whoever seeks the world boastfully and in rivalry" — and he said at the end of the hadith — "as a depleted ruin."
So he distinguished between them.
Envy (hasad)
He said: It is prompted by riya' (ostentation) and other things. As for what stems from ostentation, it is envy and jealous rivalry — that another might attain what he attains. Most of what one attains is status, and most of what one attains from people's praise is praise.
So he wishes that blessings be removed from others, lest anyone rise above them thereby, and they would then be beneath them in the eyes of their brothers — to a time in which one becomes jealous over knowledge as one becomes jealous over women.
I said: How can he reject the truth while he claims it is the truth?
He said: Out of dislike to acknowledge it for him, so that the other would surpass him by being correct. For this reason the People of the Book divided «out of jealous envy among themselves» [2:213; 3:19].
I said: What about the love of prevailing?
He said: The love of prevailing may be afflicted by riya' (ostentation) and other things.
As for what is afflicted by ostentation, it is the dislike that someone should overcome him in debate and rise above him through prevailing, while he loves to prevail so that he is esteemed and praised and people speak well of him in the presence of those who witnessed that, and he is favored with preference over his opponent.
And he is esteemed, while he treats with coldness whoever was on his opponent's side when he was defeated, inclining toward rebuke and admonition only toward the one who prevailed.
And he loves that others err while he himself is correct, and if his opponent is correct, he is grieved by that. That is the disposition of Iblis toward the servants of God — that they should err in the religion of God, Exalted and Glorified, and not be correct, and he is grieved if they are correct.
And he does not comprehend what his debating opponent says; his only concern is rebuttal and disruption.
It is with that quality that God, Exalted and Glorified, described the disbelievers, saying: «And those who disbelieve said: Do not listen to this Quran and speak noisily during it, that perhaps you may prevail.»
I said: And how does he abandon inquiry into what he needs and not ask about it?
He said: That may be afflicted by ostentation and other things.
As for what is afflicted by ostentation, it is the dislike of asking about a matter, saying: "One such as me should not be ignorant of something like this." So he abandons the truth, which is to seek it, and what is forbidden, which is to refrain from asking about it, while he knows that he is in need of it. Then his nafs (self) makes him imagine that this is out of modesty, when in fact it is ostentation. If it were modesty, then he should be more ashamed before God, Exalted and Glorified, than to be ashamed before people by claiming that he seeks the truth so that they would know that he does not know the truth.
All of these traits branch out from 'ujb (self-conceit), kibr (arrogance), and other things. We have only informed you of the more prominent of what is
known from the direction of riya' (ostentation). And indeed the reports have come with prohibition and censure regarding ostentation.
It is narrated from Hudhayfa, may God be pleased with him, from the Prophet, peace be upon him, who said:
Do not seek knowledge in order to boast thereby before the scholars, or to argue thereby with the foolish, or to gain thereby the choicest seats in gatherings. For whoever does that, the Fire, the Fire!
Ka'b said: There shall come upon people a time in which they contend jealously over knowledge as they used to contend jealously over women. And that shall be their only share of it.
Chapter on the Sign of the Ostentatious Person Within Himself
I said: What then is the sign of the ostentatious person within himself?
The answer is: He finds pleasure in praise from other than God, Exalted and Glorified, and detests blame. So he abandons obedience out of fear of blame.
And when he performs a deed — a deed that is done for other than God, Exalted and Glorified, or a deed that is done publicly — while none knows of it except God, his soul is not content in performing it with the awareness of God, Exalted and Glorified, alone — His sight and His hearing — until the seeking of the awareness of others overcomes his heart.
And if people come to know of it, his heart is gladdened by that, and he is delighted by their praise.
The lightest of people upon him is the one who praises him and commends him, and the heaviest of them upon him is the one who withholds commendation and praise of him.