Ostentation (Showing Off)
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that
there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad
(peace be upon him) is His slave
and Messenger.
You mentioned in your question that showing off diminishes the sins, and
it might be that you intended to say that it diminishes the reward. You
should know that there are many forms of showing off and it is difficult
to mention them all. As-San'aani
said:
'You should know that showing off could be in one's physical
appearance by showing slimness and paleness in order to reflect that one
is striving his utmost and is concerned about the matter of his religion
and that he fears the Hereafter[…] Showing off could also be in one's
words, like preaching people and mentioning the stories of the pious
people in order to show that he is very concerned about the stories of
the righteous predecessors and is deeply learned[…] So, showing off by
words is incalculable[…] Showing off could also be in one's keeping
company, friends, followers and students, so that it would be said that
people are the followers of so and so, and he is a good example to
follow that people should imitate him….'
As regards whether or not hiding one's actions from people is a form of
showing off, then the answer is that this may and may not be considered
as showing off. Al-Jawzi
clarified
this very well as he said: 'In regard to abandoning acts of obedience
out of fear of showing off, then if the incentive is not religious, then
this act of worship should not be performed as this is an act of
disobedience. However, if the incentive is religious and that it is only
done for the sake of Allaah Alone, then one should not refrain from
performing these acts of worship as the incentive is religion.
Similarly, if one avoids performing acts of worship out of fear that it
will be said about him that he is showing off, then one should not do
this because this is the lures of the devil.'
Ibraaheem An-Nakha'i
said:
'If the devil whispers to you while you are performing the prayer and
says to you that you are showing off, then prolong your prayer.
Concerning what was reported that some righteous predecessors abandoned
acts of worship out of fear of showing off, then this could be
understood that they felt that the devil is beautifying their acts of
worship for them, so they stopped doing them.' For more benefit,
please refer to Fatwa
89852.
However, if you mean that you do not abandon acts of worship but rather
only perform them in secret so that it is only Allaah Alone Who knows
about them, then there is no doubt that this is not showing off, rather
this is being sincere to Allaah. This is indeed what our righteous and
pious predecessors used to do. As-Safaareeni
said:
'Indeed our righteous predecessors used to endeavour to keep their
worship secret.' Moreover, Al-Hassan
said:
'A man used to have guests and during the night he would wake up to
perform night prayers without his guests feeling it. They used to
earnestly supplicate to Allaah without anyone hearing their voice, and a
man would sleep next to his wife in the same bed and he would cry the
whole night without her knowing it.'
As a matter of fact, Allaah encouraged us to give charity in secret as
He Says (what means):
{If you disclose your Sadaqat (alms-giving), it is well, but if you
conceal it, and give it to the poor, that is better for you. (Allaah)
will forgive you some of your sins. And Allaah is Well-Acquainted with
what you do.}[Quran 2:271].
Furthermore, the Prophet (peace be upon
him) informed us that there are seven kinds of people whom Allaah
would give shade on the Day when there will be no Shade but His…. (Among
whom) is a man who gives in charity so secretly that nobody would notice
how much he has given in charity.
What we mentioned about keeping one's actions secret applies also to
keeping one's characteristics secret if one intends them for the sake of
Allaah Alone. A man is required to be humble and not to pretend to
possess characteristics which do not really exist in him. The Prophet
(peace be upon him) said:
"A person who pretends to be what he really is not, is like a person who
wears two garments of falsehood (i.e. disguises himself as pious in
order to give people a false impression about him)."
Al-Munaawi
in
his interpretation of this narration, said: "This is a person who
cheats people; he wears ascetic and shabby clothes while he is not truly
ascetic.'
Allaah Knows best.
