Chapter on Is It Permissible to Abandon an Act Because of Riya'?

Chapter: Is it permissible to abandon an act for the sake of riyā' (ostentation)?

I said: Should I abandon an act for the sake of riyā' (ostentation), and would that be more fitting for me?

He said: Yes. The passing thoughts of ostentation are three passing thoughts occurring in three states:

A passing thought before the act, with which the heart does not resolve upon the act for God, Mighty and Glorious. That passing thought is to be resisted, and one does not perform the act upon that basis, unless his heart becomes sincerely devoted to it for God, Mighty and Glorious, and he dispels what [was there before].

And a passing thought before the act accompanied by a resolve for God, Mighty and Glorious — so one enters into that act and dispels the passing thought.

And a passing thought after entering into the act with ikhlāṣ (sincerity) for God, Mighty and Glorious — so one dispels it from the heart, and the servant continues in the act upon what he originally intended.

I said: Are there among acts those which the servant is encouraged to abandon, even if God, Mighty and Glorious, intended [him to perform] them?

He said: Yes. Acts are of two categories:

General acts, such as fasting, prayer, military expeditions, jihād (striving), dhikr (remembrance), commanding the right (maʿrūf), forbidding the wrong (munkar), and the like.

And acts that are specifically for select persons, such as serving as judge, the caliphate, governance, standing forth for the people by calling to God, Mighty and Glorious, and issuing legal opinions (fatwā).

He would say: He is the support of the Muslims — and he also said: This is my father, the master of the reciters — and he had been

That is, Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, may God be pleased with him, who is the one whom God Most High commanded His Messenger to recite the Quran to him.

ʿUmar, may God be pleased with him, would stand delivering admonitions and sermons, then after the people [departed] he would seek worldly gain in order to spend it for the sake of the Hereafter.

So the common people are commanded to abandon all of that, since none could undertake it except the elite among the strong — those whom worldly life does not sway and whom greed does not lure away, for God, exalted and glorified, is more awe-inspiring in their breasts than His creation — and zuhd (renunciation of worldly attachment) therein has settled upon their hearts with the reality of true insight , and through the strength of what God, exalted and glorified, has granted them of resisting their enemy and repelling him.

Whoever errs from the path of those people, the harm that enters upon him through those deeds is greater than the benefit.

Likewise, we have seen them commanding the abandonment of the caliphate and the abandonment of seeking it, and likewise with governance.

Among the evidence for that is the hadith of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Samura, that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said to him:

"O ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, do not ask for authority, for if you are given it through asking, you will be left to it [without assistance], but if you are given it without asking, you will be aided in it."

And he said:

"We do not appoint to this affair of ours anyone who asks for it."

And he had already urged prayer, fasting, military expeditions, and raiding, and the weak among the people and their poor.

A group of people had asked the Prophet, peace be upon him, to equip them for battle, and they wept when they could not find the means to spend, and God, exalted and glorified, praised them for that. So how could the Prophet make governance likewise? He said: "Indeed you are eager for authority, yet it is a source of regret and remorse on the Day of Resurrection, and none is saved except one who takes it rightfully."

And he did not blame them for being eager for prayer, fasting, and military expeditions. And he said: "What an excellent wet-nurse she is, and what a wretched weaning she is!"

And Abū Bakr, may God be pleased with him, said to Rāfi' ibn 'Umayra: "Do not take command over even two persons." Then he was entrusted with the caliphate and he undertook it. Rāfi' said to him: "Did you not say to me, 'Do not take command over even two persons,' and yet you have assumed authority over the community of Muḥammad, peace be upon him?" He said: "Yes, and I still say that to you. Whoever does not act justly therein, upon him is the bahla (curse) of God" — meaning the curse of God, Mighty and Majestic.

And he also said: The Prophet, peace be upon him, did not pass away without seeking my pardon, and my companions did not excuse me. Rāfi' ibn 'Umayra kept apologizing until he accepted his excuse.

And 'Umar, may God be pleased with him, said: "Who will take it from me with what is in it? I would have wished for that" — rather he had already said concerning it that the statement is from me.

"There is no one who assumes authority over ten people except that he will come on the Day of Resurrection with his hands bound to his neck — either justice will release him or tyranny will destroy him."

Ma'qil ibn Yasār narrated this from him.

And 'Umar appointed a man, and a man said to him: "O Commander of the Faithful, advise me." He said: "Sit down, and judge according to [what is right]."

And al-Ḥasan narrated that:

A man whom the Prophet, peace be upon him, had appointed as governor met another man who said to him: "The Prophet, peace be upon him, appointed me to take your place." He said: "Sit down."

And this ḥadīth is narrated from other than al-Ḥasan with a connected chain of transmission, that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said to the man to whom it was said "take my place": "Sit down."

When ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz rose to the pulpit, the vastness of his cloak could not contain his tears, and he wept profusely.

Likewise with judging: people never ceased to fear it and flee from it, on account of what has been transmitted from the Prophet ﷺ, as reported from him by Burayda:

"Judges are three: two in the Fire and one in the Garden."

And his saying, peace be upon him:

"Whoever seeks to be appointed judge has been slaughtered without a knife."

Likewise with worldly matters: they were commanded to adopt the practice of the people — that is, they were prohibited — and they were forbidden from seeking surplus, not because it is unlawful, but rather because none can be safe in the pursuit of worldly things except the courageous ones, the zuhhād (renunciants), the knowers of God, Exalted and Glorious, and of His appointed days.

It has been narrated from al-Ḥasan that he was asked about a man who sought his sustenance [TN: qūt, basic provision] and then held back, and another who sought beyond his sustenance and then gave it in charity. He said: "The one who sits back is better." They do not know due to the scarcity of one's safety in the pursuit of worldly things, and that zuhd (renunciation) only entails abandoning it for the sake of drawing near to God, Exalted and Glorious. They feared that if they pursued it, they would increase in distance from God, Exalted and Glorious, due to its temptation and the preoccupation of the qalb (heart) with it.

Abu al-Darda' said: What pleases me is that I stood at the steps of a mosque and earned fifty dinars every day, giving them in charity. Indeed, I do not say «I make unlawful buying and selling» [TN: cf. al-Baqarah 2:275], but I wish to be among those «whom neither trade nor sale diverts from the remembrance of God» [al-Nur 24:37].

And in another hadith: "lest it distract me from remembrance" — and both meanings are one.

And he said: I was a merchant before God sent the Prophet ﷺ. When I accepted Islam, I desired to combine worship and trade, but they did not come together for me. So I abandoned trade — and he explained that trade was not possible for him without it diverting him and occupying him from the remembrance of God, Mighty and Glorious. He did not say: "I wish to trade and earn fifty dinars every day and give them in charity, and that would not divert me from the remembrance of God, Mighty and Glorious."

The Muslims have unanimously agreed that whoever assumes the caliphate, or governance, or the judiciary, or undertakes calling people to God, Mighty and Glorious, and issuing religious rulings, and does so with excellence — that is more meritorious than all other people. Among the evidence for that is his ﷺ saying:

"A single day of a just leader (imam) is better than the worship of a single man alone for sixty years."

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

"Whoever calls to guidance shall have his reward and the reward of those who follow him."

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

"The first to enter Paradise are three: the just leader (imam al-muqsit) is one of them."

And it is narrated from Abu Hurayra from the Prophet ﷺ that he said:

"Three whose supplication is not rejected: the just leader (imam) —"

One of them:

A just leader (imam): He reported it from him, on his authority, and he said: "The closest of people in station on the Day of Resurrection is a just leader." Al-Khudri [narrated it].

And he said to Mu'adh: "That God should guide a man through you is better for you than the world and all that is in it."

And likewise the judge, if he judges justly and arrives at the truth—as Abu Burayda reported from the Prophet, peace be upon him, that he said: "In Paradise"—meaning the one who judged and arrived at the truth.

There has been disagreement regarding seeking worldly provision beyond sustenance—if one seeks it, fasts, and gives charity from it:

One group said: The one who abandons it is more virtuous and more ascetic (azhad).

Another group said: If he fasts and gives charity from it, then he is more virtuous than the one who abandons it, because he has earned from good works what the one who does not earn cannot acquire. He will be questioned about that just as he is questioned about prayer and fasting, so that he may be rewarded for it. They command him to abandon it out of fear that he may not fast.