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Are worldly deeds such as being "a doctor, an engineer, a businessman" considered hypocrisy (riya') if the intention behind them is to please parents and people?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Hypocrisy (Riya') is when a person performs acts of worship to Allah for the sake of others. Hypocrisy does not enter into ordinary worldly matters like medicine or engineering, for performing them to earn people's praise is not considered hypocrisy. Scholars have agreed that customs do not require an intention, and hypocrisy is specific to righteous deeds. Therefore, if someone beautifies their home or vehicle to be praised by people, this is not hypocrisy. This is supported by what Imam Ahmad narrated in the hadith of Shaddad ibn Aws, that hypocrisy occurs in prayer, fasting, and charity. Thus, a person's work as a doctor, engineer, or businessman for the sake of parents or people's praise is not considered hypocrisy.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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