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We should never make a display of
our good deeds. Islam attaches great importance to sincerity. This is one of
the reasons why we have been warned against what is called Ar-Riya and Sumrah.
Ar-Riya is commonly called “ostentation”, “vanity” or “doing deeds
to show others.” Sumrah on the other
hand refers to a deed we do for the sole purpose for others to talk about it.
One of the ways the Devil poisons
the sincerity of a believer is by getting him to tell others about his good
deeds, that is to say, to “make it public”. Here are some examples where a
person consciously (or unconsciously) commits Ar-Riya or Sumrah by placing
in his conversation to another person the following sentences:
1. “When I got up at 3 am for
Tahajjud, it was cold.”
2. “Alhamdulillah, through the supererogatory
fasts which I observed I managed to lose a few extra pounds.”
3. “I like to give alms when I get
the chance ...”
4. “Verily Quran reading is a
source of tranquillity. Every day after I finished reading the Quran after the
Maghrib prayer, I feel like a weight off my shoulders...”
In several ahadith, the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) taught us that one
of the qualities of a good believer is that he does not make known his good
deeds in public. He (pbuh) said: “Seven
people will be shaded by Allah on the Day when there will be no shade but His...
a person who spends in charity and conceals it such that his right hand does
not know what his left hand has given...” (Bukhari, Muslim).