❝I said to Ahmad (r): Say a man enters the mosque and sees that there are people there and as a result he prays in a more proper manner. Is this considered Riyā (show off)?❞ and Ahmad replied, ❝No. That is the (effect of the) barakah of a Muslim upon another Muslim❞ [Al-Furū'; 2/298]

Sh. Walīd al-Manīsī (h) briefly commented on this saying, ❝That's the reply of a jurist (فقيه), not a preacher (واعظ).❞

Meaning, the principle amongst the Fuqahā is that things by default are valid until proven invalid, for instance, an act of worship: A man prays. It's valid until proven invalid. This is interlinked with the Islamic maxim that every Muslim by default is pious until proven otherwise and that we ought to have Husn ad-Dhan towards the believers. So, saying what the man did was Riyā would be tantamount to saying that the Salāh was invalid, as Niyyah - as we learn in Fiqh - is from the necessary prerequisites of Salāh. Thus was the wise response of Imam Ahmad (r), as per the instinct of a natural Faqīh.

On the other hand, the thought process and the role of a preacher is different. He will go ahead and say that doing so is Riyā. His role is to teach us how to make both our inner and outer more complete and closer to perfection. He will say that the Taqwā of Allāh should necessitate that it doesn't make a difference for a believer whether he is amongst people or on his own. So on and so forth.

Allāh knows best.

Source

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