Another example is that he dispraises himself and attacks himself because he wants people to see him in a humble state, so the riyaa could even occur from this angle. All of this could happen, the shaytan could come to us at every opportunity and flow through our veins like our blood.

THE CURE FOR RIYAA

1. The cure for Riyaa’ is for the person to be aware all the time that he is the servant of Allah and doesn't deserve anything in return for his deeds, not to be like those who Allah (swt) spoke about,

“Those who do good deeds only to be seen (of men),” [EMQ 107:6]

He wants to serve his master without to receive anything in return, it is Ihsaan for Allah, without anything expected in return and anything he gives it is Fadhl, the mercy from Allah (swt).

2. You must also fear from the anger of Allah. This will make you stop the riyaa. And we must always look to our own defections and correct them. The Prophet (saw) warned us from the hidden Shirk, and one of the forms of hidden Shirk is Al Riyaa, the Prophet (saw) said,

"What I fear for you a lot is the small Shirk," they said, "what is the Shirk asghar?" he (saw) said, "Al Riyaa." [Musnad Imam Ahmed]

3. We have to train ourselves to remember death, remember the punishment of the grave, remember the accountability, remember the hellfire; remember that the shaytan is here in the dunya to steal your deen from you and to keep your Ibaadah from you and to mislead you.

We must remember the hereafter and you will start to cure yourself from any disease of riyaa. Umar ibn Khattab used to say,

"Whoever, his niyyah was sincere for the sake of Allah, even if it was speaking about himself, Allah will be sufficient for him between him and the people. And whoever pretends to be something that he is not, Allah will humiliate him."

The Prophet (saw) warned us from that disease, Abu Huraira narrated that the Prophet (saw) said,

"Whoever wants people to hear him, Allah will make all the people hear his defections, whoever wants to show off, Allah will expose them," [Bukhari and Muslim]

It is about time to be free from that disease, all of us may have it from time to time, the shaytan could come at any time and make us think of what people say, he may convince you that you are just showing your ni’mah and that you are not really showing off.

SHIRK AL KHAFIE

Al Riyaa is the lesser Shirk (asghar), we know about the big Shirk, we know how arbitration to taghout is Shirk akbar, we know that worshipping idols is Shirk Akbar. We can recognise these and stay away from them easily but the prophrt (saw) said that he fears for us the hidden Shirk, Shirk Al Asghar.

Allah (swt) informs us that those who commit Shirk is an oppression,

"The Shirk is the greatest oppression"

The Prophet (saw) when asked about the greatest sin, he said that it is,

"To take instead of Allah a partner while He is the one who created you."

Shirk is the greatest sin and Allah (swt) says,

"Verily, Allah does not forgive the Shirk" [EMQ 4:116]

And Allah (swt) informs us that whoever commits Shirk, all of their good deeds will vanish,

“But if they had joined in worship others with Allâh, all that they used to do would have been of no benefit to them.” [EMQ 6: 88]

The Shirk Akbar is well known, that is to offer any of the ritual acts to other than Allah (swt) but the hidden Shirk is very dangerous, the Prophet (saw) was afraid from the hidden Shirk even for his own companions (ra), he gave this special attention and we need to give it special attention as well.

However if anyone was to ask how we know that it is Shirk Asghar, we must appreciate that anytime that the Shirk is mentioned with Alif and lam i.e. Al Shirk, that is the big Shirk and whenever it is mentioned without the AL, it is Shirk Asghar, like in the Hadith,

"Verily, the Ruqa (talismans etc), and charms are a form of Shirk" [Musnad Imam Ahmed]

This is Shirk Asghar, those ‘ta’weez’ etc that people carry or for example those who carry the ayat of the Qur'an around on their body, that is Shirk Asghar. However, it could become Shirk akbar if it is accompanied by certain other things.

The proof that the sahabah understood it to be Shirk Asghar is reported in Musnad Imam Ahmed, the Prophet (saw) said,

"Al Teera is Shirk," [Musnad Imam Ahmed]

Al Teera is fearing for example from catching a disease from someone else, so he will not shake his hand for fear of catching the disease. This is abolished however with the tawakkul in Allah (swt), relying on him all the time.

Also, another example is the pessimism, the Prophet (saw) said,

"(al tashaa’um) Pessimism is Shirk"

And anyone of us could suffer from this, but Al Tashaa'um (pessimism) is Shirk Asghar, Abdullah ibn Mas'oud said,

"Each one of us will have some of this Tashaa'um"

It was a form of a hidden Shirk, Shirk Al Khafi. And another example is narrated in Tirmizi, that the Prophet (saw) said,

"The one who swears by other than Allah has committed Shirk" [Tirmizi]

But that is Shirk khafi not Shirk Al Akbar, Abu Haatib narrated that ibn Abbas said,

"To swear by different than Allah is Shirk Al Khafi and is considered to be lesser Shirk (Asghar), Allah (swt) says, "do not take a partner with Allah and you know." [EMQ 2:22]” Taking andaad is Shirk which is hidden more than the steps of the ant on the flat rock in the dark night. To say, “By Allah and by your life and by my life”, that is Shirk khafi and lesser Shirk"

The hidden Shirk could be the big Shirk as well, it is reported in Musnad Imam Ahmed, from Abu Sa'eed Al Khidri that the Prophet (saw) said,

"Do you want me to tell you what i fear for you more than the Dajjal?" they said, "yes", he said, "the hidden Shirk, like the man who stood to pray and he will perfect his salah more when he starts to see people look to him." [Musnad Imam Ahmed]

Imam Al Haatim reported on the authority of Shadad ibn Aws that,

“We used to consider being seen doing good deeds in the tiem of the Prophet (saw) as Shirk Asghar.”

All of these ahadith indicate to us that there is something that is the hidden Shirk, and that it is Shirk Asghar. However, there could be something that is hidden Shirk and yet it is Shirk Akbar, it is narrated by Mu’awiyah Laythi that the Prophet (saw) said,

"People will be in a time that has dry land (from no rain), then Allah will send upon them some of his rizq, they will wake up mushrik because they will say, "the rain came because of so and so and so and so (e.g. clouds and winds)" [Musnad Imam Ahmed]

That is Kufrun Ni'mah, which is the opposite of shukrun ni'mah i.e. gratefulness for the blessings and that is Kufr Asghar ‘amali. A similar story in narrated about the time of Muhammad (saw), Zaid ibn Khalid narrated that,

"We prayed with the Prophet (saw) the subh prayer in Hudaibiyah, it had rained in the night and there was still some rain from the night left. After we finished He (saw) returned to the people and said, "Do you know what your lord said?" They said, "Allah and his Messenger know best." He said, "This morning, some of you woke up mu'min and some of you woke up kafir" Those who said, ‘we had rain because of Allah and his fadhl and mercy’ believed in me and disbelieved in the stars and those who said, ‘we had rain because of so and so star,’ has disbelieved in me and believed in the stars" [Bukhari and Muslim]

and in another narration from ibn Abbas, the Prophet (saw) said,

“The people woke up in the morning, some of them (shaakir) grateful and some of them kafir (ungrateful), some of them said that is Allah’s mercy and some said it is the expectation of so and so star that came true.”

Another form of hidden Shirk, is the Shirk of Alfaaz, it is Shirk Asghar but we must be very careful not to fall into it. If someone makes an oath or when says something containing Shirk, for example to say, "Because of you i was saved etc” or he says, "I swear by my mother etc". All of this is Shirk, it is hidden Shirk and is Shirk asghar

The difference between this and Shirk Akbar is that the one who does the big Shirk, he will leave the fold of Islam and if he dies in that state, he will go to hellfire and abolish all of his good deeds. The Shirk Asghar however will not abolish your deeds and will not take you out of the fold of Islam.

However there is a dispute, is the Shirk Asghar like the other sins from the Kabaa'ir? i.e. that Allah will forgive or not forgive as he wishes or is it still treated like the greater Shirk that will never be forgiven? Some of the ‘Ulemaa say,

"Allah will never forgive the Shirk Asghar unless you repent." That is because the ayah is general that, "Allah will never forgive Shirk"

Other Ulemaa say that,

"It is sin and does not abolish all other sins, and will be like the other sins that Allah may forgive it if he wishes even if you do not repent."

NAJAASATUL SHIRK

Another form of the Shirk is the one who that involves the impurity of the Shirk. The ulemaa of the salaf never used to use the terms Shirk asghar and Akbar, they used to use the terms, Shrik Jalie and Shirk Khafie, Shirk Akbar used to be known as Shirk Jaleel and Shirk Asghar used to be known as Shirk Daqeeq (minute).

Bearing in mind that the impurity of the Shirk is two types, the greater one, Al Mughallaza and the lesser impurity Al Mukhassassa. Mughallaza is in reference to the big Shirk, Allah says,

"Verily, the mushrikeen are najas…"

This impurity mean that they are not a Muslim, whereas the najasah of Mukhassasah is the lesser one, the Shirk Asghar or riyaa. However, Allah (swt) says,

"…Verily the one who commits Shirk in Allah, Allah forbids upon them jannah and his place is in the hellfire…" [EMQ 5:72]

Despite the fact that some of these actions can be Shirk Asghar, we should know that the one who commits Shirk Asghar with a certain niyyah, it could become Shirk Akbar. We see people nowadays committing Shirk Akbar, start to swear by the grave of Abdul Qaadir Al Jilaani and start to combine it with a certain niyyah that will make it Shirk Akbar.

Shirk Asghar can by Shirk Iraadaat, Shirk Niyyaat, Shirk Al Af’aal wa tasarrafaat, it could be that someone wishes something of Shirk to occur though it never happened. or it could be by Niyyaat, that he meant to show off to the people.

An example of that Shirk is optimism like we mentioned, some people will be optimistic by certain numbers or dates etc, or they may be pessimistic by certain numbers or dates or other things. This is very serious, the Prophet (saw) used to condemn that, at that time, when people used to see a black bird they used to be pessimistic and worried even to leave their home, and so Allah revealed,

"The bird is in the hands of Allah, but they do not know"

The Prophet (saw) warned us from these issues of Al Tashaa'um (pessimism). Islam condemns pessimism, It is narrated in Tirmizi that the Prophet (saw) said, "Al Teera is Shirk" [Abu Dawood and Tirmizi] and ibn Mas'oud commented that,

"it is thinking bad about Allah (swt)"

This is very dangerous, some people will be so pessimistic that they will not leave their home in case they are arrested or robbed or they may lose their money etc. the Prophet (saw) said,

"The one who the pessimism makes him neglects his duties, he has committed Shirk (This is Shirk Asghar)" they asked, "What is the Kaffarah for that?" He (saw) said, "the solution for that is to say, "O Allah, there is no goodness except your goodness, there is no bird except your bird and there is no Ilah besides you."

Like some people will not give da'wah because they are so pessimistic, people are worried from the tawahhush, worried from the jihad, worried from the operations, we must be careful from this kind of pessimism, we cannot be depressed nor feel down, Allah (swt) says,

"Do not be depressed, do not feel down"

Another hidden Shirk is when people start to rely on their own strength, they start to say, we have victory because of our body, our weapons etc. That is incorrect, Allah is the one who gives victory, Allah (swt) says,

"Support Allah, Allah will support you"

We need to train ourselves to stay away from any form of riyaa. Buraydah narrated that the Prophet (saw) said,

“Whoever made oath by the amanah, he is not one of us.” [Abu Dawood]

Abdullah ibn Umar narrated that the Prophet (saw) said,

"Allah forbade you to give oath by your parents, if you want to give oath, give oath by Allah or remain silent."

There used to be common practise to give oath by laat and uzzah at that time among the arab, so the Prophet (saw) said,

"Whoever makes oath by laat or uzzah, say laa ilaaha illallah immediately"

Allah (swt) says,

"Do not associate with Allah any partner"

and this is why we must take a lesson about the Ikhlaas. Another form of Shirk Khafi is one to do with the intention (the niyyah), Ibn Qayyim said,

"The Shirk Asghar is like a big sea that has no boundary, very few people can be saved from it, because it is the Shirk of the iraada or the niyyah, and the Prophet (saw) said, “even a little bit of showing off is a form of Shirk."

The complete showing off is Shirk Akbar and will take you out of the showing off. Ibn khuzaymah narrated that the Prophet (saw) said,

"A man stood to pray and he started to perfect his salah and exhausted effort to perfect it because the people could see him, that is Shirk Al Saraa'ir (hidden)"

The first people to be tested by the Riyaa’, is the ulemaa' and du'aat, the mujahideen and the good worshippers, whereas the non practising people don’t care in the first place, the riyaa affects the practising muslims more than those who do not fear Allah, that is because they are the one’s who do the good deeds and the shaytan will come to them, the sinners are terrified, they know they are doing bad deeds and they will cover it up, they will not show it off. Abu Musa Al Ash'ari narrated that the Prophet (saw) said,

"O people, be careful from this Shirk that is hidden more than the steps of the ants are hidden from you" They said, "how can we be safe from it?" He (saw) said, "say: O Allah, we seek refuge in you from committed any Shirk in you by anything that we know and ask forgiveness for anything we make mistake that we do not know." [Musnad Imam Ahmed]

Allahumma, inna na’udhubika minal Shirki wa minal nifaqi wa minal riyaa’i wa minal fitan maa dhahara minhaa wa maa Batan.

O Allah, we seek refuge in you from committing Shirk, and from Nifaq and from the Riyaa’ and from the fitan whatever you have made apparent and whatever is hidden.