Islamic Scholar lambast segment of Muslims for Riya in their acts of worship

By Bashir Hassan Abubakar

Renowned International Islamic scholar, Associate Professor Muhammad Sani Umar Rijiyar Lemo has cautioned Muslims to desist from publicizing their acts of worship on social media platforms which he described as “Riya” (an act of worship meant for the public to notice).

The scholar gave the caution during his annual Ramadan Tafseer at the Gwallaga Juma’at Mosque in Bauchi on Saturday evening.

He said for any act of worship publicized for the general public to notice, Allah (SWA) does not reward such acts of worship.

Sheik Lemo, who particularly made references to those Muslims that embarked on Um'ra (lesser hajj) said, “how can someone who embarked on a spiritual journey of Um’ra or Hajj start making selfie at the point of boarding a flight or at arrival, informing social media community about trip.

“Some people even took selfies at the Ka’aba just to let their followers know that they were there.

“Such people should know that any act of worship that has an iota of Riya in it, Allah (SWA) those not reward such acts of worship.

“They posts their pictures for people to know they are there and their followers duly acknowledged that and that is their reward”, the Sheik cautioned.

He also urged social media communities following such people on their pages to always remind them on their actions and to advise them to desist from such acts in the comments sections of the posters.

As usual, the Associate Prof supported his argument with relevant quotations from the Holy Qur’an and Hadiths of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).