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Fatwa CenterA Believer Who Fears Yielding To Temptation
Question
An Individual may have correct faith, offer Salah 5 times everyday, sometimes missing Fajr and inwardly or outwardly is not against any Laws of Allah's religion. This individual (slave) does not have control over his soul when he is alone and gets excited as electronic media provides many things to excite him and he falls into sinful activities (not of extreme kind which involves punishment), but causes fear of committing such acts before relatives/parents/friends as he has a reputation for being a religious person, having a beard and offering Salah. Is such an act by a religious person an act of Shirk al-Khauf (partners in fears)? Or Riyaa or Is he a liar or a truly Munafiq (hypocrite) person? Will such a person deserve a greater punishment? Will his deeds be in vain? Why so, as he offers Salah and has correct faith (Saheeh Aqeedah)? What is the difference between such a individual and an individual not offering Salah or busy with worldly life?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Human beings are certainly prone to evil as the Prophet said: “Every son of Aadam commits sins, but the best of them is the one who repents to Allah.” [Al-Tirmithi, Ibn Maajah and others]
Abu Hurayrah 
narrated that the Prophet said: “If you were not to commit sins, Allah would have swept you out of existence and would have replaced you by another people who have committed sins, and then asked forgiveness from Allah, and He would have granted them pardon.” [Muslim]
There are many other texts proving this meaning. However, a Muslim is obliged not to take sins as an easy matter or to commit them. He does not know if Allah will forgive him, or if he will be blessed by repentance.
Therefore, one should avoid all kinds of sins whether they are minor or major. If one commits sins he should hasten to repent sincerely without any delay; the door of repentance is always open and Allah accepts repentance. One should ask forgiveness from Allah as soon as possible since he does not know when he will breathe his last.
Allah Ordered us to perform good deeds after committing sins. Allah Says (what means): {And establish prayer at the two ends of the day and at the approach of the night. Indeed, good deeds do away with misdeeds. That is a reminder for those who remember. } [Quran 11: 114]
The sins are of two kinds: Minor sins and major sins.
Minor sins have many expiations such as five obligatory prayers, one Friday prayer to the next Friday prayer, fasting in one Ramadan to another Ramadan, steps taken going to the mosque and giving alms, etc.
As for major sins one has to make sincere repentance fulfilling its conditions, such as feeling sorry for what happened, taking a firm decision not to return to that sin and giving up the sin.
If a person commits a sin he should cover himself and should not inform others. The Prophet said: “All the sins of my followers will be forgiven except those who commit sins openly or disclose their sins to the people. An example of such disclosure is that a person commits a sin by night and though Allah screened it from the public, then he comes in the morning, and says, "O so-and-so, I did such-and-such (evil) deed yesterday'; though he spent his night screened by his Lord (none knowing about his sin) and in the morning he removes Allah's screen from himself.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
For the above reason, concealing sin and disliking it to be known by people is neither hypocrisy nor Shirk (making partner in worship). But insisting on this practice might end in those results.
'Riya' means showing off one's actions such as lengthening one's prayer or making a pleasant tone while reciting the Quran etc, in the presence of someone.
Know that the difference between such a person and the one who neglects prayers is great; there is no comparison between them.
For more benefit on the ruling on abandoning the prayer or delaying it, please refer to Fataawa 384457, 377344, 81555, 88016, 84178, 83565, 87587, 90926, 88690 and 84403.
Allah knows best.
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