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Riya (ostentation)

الرياء

Riya in the legal-religious terminology is displaying one's deeds to be seen by people; the Kuwaiti Fiqh Encyclopedia counts it among the forbidden inward acts with malice, envy, pride and self-admiration 1.

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Creed

Overview

Riya is displaying one's deeds to be seen by people; among the forbidden inward acts 1.

In the sources

The encyclopedia counts riya with malice, envy, pride and self-admiration among the forbidden heart-acts 1.

From Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy's lecture series Al Dinu Al Qayem

The Sheikh counts showing off, vanity, envy, arrogance and grudges among the diseases of the heart that must be cleansed 2. He holds, as his own view, that the one who calls to faith must convey it clearly and not for display, since he is a trustee of people's minds and convictions 3.

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Related to
Self-admiration (ujb)

People and things also explored

Self-admiration (ujb)· The people of the qibla and not declaring takfir for sin· The hereafter: the grave, resurrection and reckoning· Islamic eschatology· Reason and heart· The Throne (al-Arsh)· Al-din al-qayyim (the upright religion)· Absolute unseen (al-ghayb al-mutlaq)

Sources

  1. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3)
  2. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Al Dinu Al Qayem, episode 6, at 01:11:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  3. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Al Dinu Al Qayem, episode 5, at 00:44:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  • Asma al-Matalib fi Sirat Ali ibn Abi Talib, vol. 1 — Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Riya (ostentation)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/riya/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-25.

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Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Self-admiration (ujb)

Self-admiration is taking pride in one's own deed, knowledge or opinion. Al-Sallabi quotes Ali: self-admiration is a plague of minds, and cites Ibn Taymiyya that it is the associating of the self, where show is the associating of creatures.