does not attain Heaven. He will be humiliated on the Day of Judgement. Due to showing off, a good deed is rejected, as a result no reward will be given for them, instead the deeds performed to show off, causes Allah’s displeasure.

Hujjat-ul-Islam, Sayyiduna Imam Muhammad Bin Muhammad Bin Muhammad Ghazali رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه has stated on page 890, volume 3 of the 1286-page book Ihya-ul-‘Uloom – published by Maktaba-tul-Madinah, the publishing department of Dawat-e-Islami: Sayyiduna Qatadah رَضِىَ اللهُ تَعَالٰی عَـنْهُ said: When a person commits an act of showing off, Allah عَزَّوَجَلَّ says to the angels, ‘Look, he is making fun with Me.’

For example, if a person stays before the king all day long like a servant in his court, as is the habit of servants, but his aim to stay there is to see a slave of the king, so he gives a false impression to the king because he does not gain the closeness of the king to serve him, but for his slave. Therefore, nothing will be more disrespectful than a person who worships Allah عَزَّوَجَلَّ to show it off to a weak bondman who is not (personally) the owner of any profit and loss.   (Ihya-ul-‘Uloom, vol. 3, pp. 890)

Dear Islamic brothers! Indeed the disease of showing off is extremely destructive. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to refrain from it. Therefore, before performing any good deed, we must contemplate over our intention, otherwise that deed will become useless due to showing off. Let’s listen to the definition of showing off so that we can understand it properly and can easily protect ourselves from it.

Definition of Riya

Shaykh-e-Tareeqat, Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat, the founder of Dawat-e-Islami, ‘Allamah Maulana Abu Bilal Muhammad Ilyas Attar Qadiri Razavi Ziyaee      دَامَـتْ بَـرَكَـاتُـهُـمُ الْـعَـالِـيَـه has written on page 66 of his 616-page book titled Nayki ki Da’wat [Call to Righteousness]: ‘To perform worship with any intention other than the pleasure of Allah عَزَّوَجَلَّ (is showing off).’