The Person Who Desires the Praise of People must Feel Some Pride in Him

Mahmood ibn Labeed (ra) reported that Allah's Messenger (saws) said , "Th thing that I fear most for you is the minor Shirk : Riyaa."

[Musnad Ahmad]

Explanation : Linguistically Riyaa comes from the root "ra'aa" which means to see, to behold, to view. The derived word 'Riyaa' means "eye service, hypocrisy, dissimulation, and dissemblance." From the Sharai point of view, "to perform acts which are pleasing to Allah, with the intention of pleasing other than Allah." Thus Riyaa originates in the heart. The primary cause of Riyaa is weakness in Emaan. When a person does not have strong faith in Allah, he will prefer the admiration of people over the pleasure of Allah.

The person who desires the praise of people must feel some pride in him, for he feels himself worthy of being praised.There is a danger, therefore, of him becoming arrogant and boastful.

If a person covets what other people possess , whether it is rank, money or power, then he will wish them to envy him similarly. For ezample, if he is jealous of a position of a certian person in society, he will try by every possible means to attain the same position. Such desires lead people to spend their lives putting on a show for people so that they will admire their rank, money or power.

Some scholars advised : "Do not differentiate in your worship between the presence of people and their absence , or between their knowledge of your actions and their ignorance. Rather be conscious of the infinite knowledge of Allah alone."

Abu Moosa al-Ash'ari (ra) reported that Allah's Messenger (saws) delivered a sermon to them one day and said "O People ! Fear this Shirk (meaning Riyaa), for it is more inconspicuous than the crawling of an ant." [Authenticated in Sahih al Targheeb wat-Tarheeb]

In another hadith Abu Sa'eed (ra) reported that the Messenger of Allah (saws) came to us while we were talking about Dajjaal and said , "Should I not inform you of that which I fear for you more than the dangers of Dajjaal ? It is the hidden Shirk; a person stands to pray and he beautifies his prayer because he sees the people looking at him." [Ibn Majah]