The Hypocrite’s Immorality and Ruses (5/7)

Hypocrites want to meet the believers in private so that they can calumniate them

The prophets, messengers and Islamic leaders have always been the primary targets for hypocrites. Therefore, hypocrites’ sinister plans are mostly made against these people and they have directed their slanders and lies towards these people who carry out the most efficient struggle in God’s way.

Hypocrites have always wanted to speak to our Prophet (pbuh) ‘in private, with no witnesses around’ so that they can ‘easily lie and defame him’. The reason for this is to be able to later speak on behalf of the Prophet (pbuh) with words that are not spoken by him and spread lies and thus to put him in a supposedly awkward situation. Nevertheless, hypocrites cannot make false accusations against the believers when there is a witness around, as that witness will also hear lies of hypocrites and see for themselves their immoral character. In this way, they will have no way to slander against Muslims.

Being aware of this, hypocrites always wait for the moment when they will be able to find the believers alone. Even when they are in a crowded atmosphere, hypocrites demand that the believers leave them alone with the Prophet. They want to have a suitable environment to act freely on their filthy, mischievous intentions.

Hence, hypocrites of our Prophet’s (pbuh) era often wanted to see our Prophet (pbuh) alone. However, our Prophet (pbuh) always accepted them when there were sincere believers around him as he was aware of their sinister intentions and dishonorable characters.

Upon their plan, our Lord has sent a verse in order to disclose it: "You who believe! when you consult the Messenger privately precede your private consultation by giving alms ... " (Surat al-Mujadala, 12)

There is much wisdom in God's ordering the believers to spend alms before having a private meeting with the Prophet (pbuh). This is because hypocrites are terrified of 'spending their money’, which they make by way of slyness. When they spend a sum of money contrary to their intentions, they see it as a loss of interest and therefore consider themselves as taken for a fool. Spending sums just to make iniquity before the Prophet's presence drive hypocrites mad and they feel really offended by it. Thus, just for the sake of not spending their money, they agree not to continue with this turpitude and evil plots, which in truth is a reason they live for. As a matter of fact, hypocrites of that time gave up on requesting private meetings with the Prophet (pbuh) right after the revelation of this verse.

There is no doubt that the words of a prophet or any other Muslim is always trustworthy for another believer. Yet, in order to avoid incitement or any possible unrest, God orders the believers to take this precaution while addressing the hypocrites. By doing so, the believers can prevent any possible trick the hypocrites may pull by slandering. Even if hypocrites tell lies to libel, the believers in that atmopshere will be the majority and the false accusations shall immediately render void.

Hypocrites constantly swear oaths in order to conceal their lies and wicked plans

Hypocrites are true actors; they always play drama. They are really spineless and can tell almost any lie. And in order to continue lying, they do not hesitate to act mischieviously. They commit any kind of corruptness; they cry, shout, talk insuniatingly and twist the meaning of words. As a matter of fact, this is what hypocrites do; this is their profession.

Hypocrites do not get shaken at all when their lies are disclosed or when their game plan is interrupted. They go on acting corruptly as they lack wisdom and sense and because their mind and soul have become foul and wicked.

When the Muslims uncover the lies of hypocrites and say "You lied"; hypocrites start telling a new lie to continue their game. They immediately swear before the Presence of God. In Surat at-Tawba, God emphasizes that the hypocrites swear falsely so much that it becomes a habit of lying and He warns the believers against this evil game of the hypocrites:

As for those who have set up a mosque, causing harm and out of disbelief, to create division between the believers, and in readiness for those who previously made war on God and His Messenger, they will swear, ‘We only desired the best.’ But God bears witness that they are truly liars. (Surat at-Tawba, 107)

When hypocrites are reminded that swearing falsely in the name of God has consequences in the Sight of God, hypocrites start crying and say, ‘You do not believe me, you make false accusations against me.’ They immediately pretend as if they are really offended and oppressed. Especially when Muslims talk to hypocrites alone, hypocrites immediately start telling comprehensive lies and they continue to spread these lies among the believers.

Another characteristic of hypocrites is that they have a really strong memory. However, they never remember the kindness, blessings, generosity shown towards them. Instead, they continuously make a record of imaginary evil deeds, delusional acts of brutality and cruelty. Whenever they come across something that is against their interests, they pick up every single detail from their foul memory archive so that they can use them to falsely accuse the believers. And then, they slander by talking about these imaginary material in their schizophrenic mind. Even so, they try to put forward their lies as facts by talking about them in a chronological order just to cite as evidence. For instance; they say, ‘you said so and so to me when we were talking at so and so location on so and so date.’ When believers say ‘no such conversation took place’; in their feeble minds hypocrites make fun of the believers’ memory in an arrogant and impudent way and they insist on their lie. By doing so, they convince themselves that they are superior to the Prophet (pbuh) and other Muslims and that they have attenuated Muslims’ explanation. (The Prophets and the Muslims are beyond that description).

God has uncovered this calumniator, false swearing, crier, skeptic, obsterperous, fearful and paranoid character of hypocrites in many verses in the Qur’an. These verses are great blessings for Muslims to train themselves and thus to avoid any behaviour which might be similar with the hypocrites; and also for identifying hypocrites and for protecting themselves from their wickedness.

Hypocrites try really hard to spread doubt and fear into the hearts of Muslims

One of the most distinct characteristics of hypocrites is that they try to spread doubt and satan's whispers into the hearts of Muslims. They want to plant ideas that are not in the minds of the Muslims and to give them empty illusions with no grounds. Even during a small talk, they always try to impose negative suggestions and put great effort to lure Muslims in satan's trap. Their purpose is to harm Muslims spiritually by ruining their happiness, peace and health. God describes this evil and insidious characteristic of hypocrites in the Qur’an as such:

From the evil of the insidious whisperer who whispers in people’s breasts. (Surat an-Nas, 4-5)

In this verse, God emphasizes that hypocrites commit these acts ‘treacherously’. Indeed, hypocrites really put on sly efforts to spread doubt into the hearts of believers and they make thorough plan for this purpose. Without being noticed, they approach in great secrecy and pretend to have a pretty normal conversation but at the same time they hide threads of negative inculcations in between their sentences with. For instance; they pretend to make a compliment but actually underline a disadvantage of a person. In this way they wish to disturb, humiliate and embarrass that person, in their own feeble minds. For instance, while they are saying how much they admire the height of the person they talk to, they try to imply how weird and extraordinary it is to be such a tall person through an example they give. By doing so, they aim at spreading doubt and worry into that person's heart. They think that a few words sneakily added into the sentence, a few analogy and a cynical mimic in the face will help them spread queries into that person's heart.

Hypocrites use this very same stratagem to give rise to doubts about God, the Qur’an, prophets and Muslims in the hearts of the Muslims. They try to spread satan's whispers in to the believers' hearts and thus to weaken their faith by hiding hypocritical mentality and irreliogiosity under an Islamic tone in their conversations. They want believers to have doubts about God's justice, destiny, blessings God promised, the reality of the hereafter, lawful and unlawful deeds, orders declared in the Qur’an and Muslims’ behaviors. However, they do so in a very sneaky way; in other words, they don’t question these beliefs or make negative comments openly. Through their dark brains and insidious ways, they gradually try to implant their twisted mentality and beliefs peculiar to unbelievers into the minds of people.

However hypocrites are not aware how strong Muslims’ belief, love, trust and commitment to God is. They cannot comprehend that Muslims have absolute faith and trust in God, the Qur’an and the commandments in the Qur’an as well as in destiny, in hereafter and in God’s eternally beautiful morality. Therefore, they never foresee that this strong personality of Muslims cannot ever be shaken by a few hypocritical words. All these devious tactics employed by hypocrites, such as their exhaustive efforts to spread the mischief and speaking words that give rise to doubts in the hearts, make it easy for the Muslims to realize that the person they are dealing with is a hypocrite with a diseased soul and weak faith and under the control of satan. Catching this sneaky side and evil character of theirs is a blessing for the Muslims.

Another quality of hypocrites is that ‘they try to spread fear into the hearts of Muslims’. Hypocrites always report supposedly troublesome news from the unbelievers in order to ‘disturb and agitate the believers in their feeble minds’. They think they can ‘frighten Muslims, upset and discourage them’ considering the unbelievers and their power behind them. Hypocrites try to impose on Muslims the idea that unbelievers are more powerful than Muslims and there will soon be developments against the Muslims. They put an effort to unsettle Muslims by highlighting the endeavours of the unbelievers against the Muslims with fearful, sinister and faithless words such as ‘Oh no!’, ‘We are devastated’, ‘It's all over’; in short hypocrites try to make Muslims uneasy. While doing so, they always try to adopt a tone that is similar to Muslims as if they were religious Muslims themselves, and they scatter evil elements they intends to spread within the threads of their speech.

However, the true belivers never get affected by this malign indoctrination of the hypocrites. Muslims believe in destiny and they believe in our Lord, the Creator of destiny whom they truly devote themselves; and as a result, they fear none but God. God informs us about this truth in one verse:

Those to whom people said, ‘The people have gathered against you, so fear them.’ But that merely increased their belief and they said, ‘God is enough for us and the Best of Guardians.’ (Surah Al ‘Imran, 173)

The hypocrite is fond of showing off

It is very important for hypocrites to show off to the people around them. This is because they live merely for the sake of this world. And ‘showing off’ is considered ‘highly valuable’ and ‘influential to gain respect’ among those who are closely attached to this world. Since hypocrites are always worried about being appreciated, they believe that showing off is a must. God describes that ‘showing off’ is a distinct feature of hypocrites as such:

The hypocrites think they deceive God, but He is deceiving them. When they get up to pray, they get up lazily, showing off to people, and only remembering God a very little. (Surat an-Nisa’, 142)

In another verse, God underlines the low sense of morality these people who look for success not in faith, in God or the love of God, but in the values cherished by the unbelievers as ‘and then went off to his family, swaggering’. (Surat al-Qiyama, 33)

Hypocrites have either poor or sometimes no faith in the hereafter. Hence, the only life they believe they will live and the only life they care about is ‘the life on this earth’. Just as the unbelievers who believe that life only exists in this world and who hold onto this idea; hypocrites are similarly devoted to the life on earth with a great passion and lust. With regards to what they come across with in the life of this world, they always look upto the unbelievers sharing the same opinion with them for guidance.

Muslims consider the blessings around them as the graces God has granted them and therefore, they thank God. Any blessing God rendered lawful is a source of joy for the Muslims. With these blessings, they try to make the life on earth into an atmosphere as beautiful as the heaven and they try hard to live in the most beautiful way under the earth’s conditions. However, ‘Muslims differ from hypocrites in that Muslims never consider this as the true purpose of their lives and they do not get ambitious about it. They never forget to be grateful to our Lord Who has granted them with those blessings’. Muslims adopt a beautiful and grateful attitude not only at times when they are surrounded by blessings, but also at times of trouble and scarcity. Besides, the belivers do not consider being granted any blessings as a sign of either superiority or inferiority. One is superior in the Presence of God only due to his fear of God and good morals. Knowing this very fact, Muslims do not change their attitudes and the way they speak based on what they have or do not have.

The unbelievers and the hypocrites consider having the benefits of this earthly life as the main purpose in their lives and thus they get really ambitious to make the most of them. When they fulfill this purpose and have what they yearn for; they use it as an opportunity to boast themselves, to get the upper hand and to show off among others.

Indeed, this perspective is highly approved among those who share the same opinion with them. The society of unbelievers communicates through ‘a silent and malevolent language typical to the unbelivers’. Among unbelievers those people who do not have similar means in terms of wealth and power feel inferior upon realizing the others’ financial and spiritual strength. And those who possess more of these ‘underestimate’ the ones who own less. And some who have equal level of conditions always ‘compete’ with one another in order to outclass the other.

As desribed above, hypocrites yearn the lives of the unbelivers at all times, and try to spread this corrupted and ignorant moral of theirs among the Muslims. They never consider that these criterias of the ignorant societies have no influence on the believers. Therefore, hypocrites assume that the words and attitudes that usually have an influence upon the unbelivers might help them gain a superior position among the Muslims. Yet, in a Muslim community, this has an adverse effect. This is because the Muslims are influenced not by the criterias put forward by unbelievers, but by one’s fear of God, sincere faith, profound thinking, good morals and righteous love; they only respect someone if he has these qualities. When Muslims realize someone cares a lot about eartly belongings and shows off, they feel irritated and immediately figure out that person is not someone worthy.

On the other hand, hypocrites who do not consider these facts, try to swagger to Muslims by bringing up topics that will supposedly exalt and make themselves superior in society. When dining, hypocrites always talk about what a special meal they tasted at a cafe in a foreign country. When talking about fashion, “they give full details on how close they are with a fashion designer and how well they know his designs”. While watching the scenes from a foreign city on TV, they immediately start telling what they did in that country. In almost any subject mentioned, they make emphasis on ‘they have been in locations that others have never been, and how they have tasted foods no one has ever tasted. They boast how they live as luxuriously as no one has ever lived and they have been friends with people no one has ever met’. While mentioning these, they pay special attention to use ‘fancy and highbrow words and foreign-accentuated tone including terms from foreign languages to give an intellectual impression”.

However, while talking about all these, hypocrites reveal another crucial characteristic of theirs. Hypocrites ‘never feel ashamed or uncomfortable when they are lying and they can tell any of these stories effortlessly’. In general, the stories they tell are not based on any truth. And sometimes they talk about something completely irrelevant by twisting the truth. For instance; they try to show off while telling that ‘they travelled around the world and lived a luxurious life in the US, the UK, France and so on and ate several kinds of food in restaurants and visited many locations’. But in truth, they had been humiliated whereever they went and had spent days in the most difficult conditions to find some money, food and accomodation. However, due to their cunning nature, hypocrites change all the facts with hypothetical details and foolish lies, and talk about them as if they were fancy events with which they could show off.

Of course, Muslims who have sharp minds realize that hypocrites are indeed fond of showing off. Their admiration and fondness for the unbelievers are unearthed when they try to make a name for themselves not through their pious character, fear of God, good morals and faith, but through factors of earthly superiority that are of no importance. And as a result, Muslims realize the failure in the morality and behaviour of these people who live among them but have an aspiration to live among unbelivers.

Hypocrites aspire every aspect of the unbelievers

Despite living together with Muslims, hypocrites secretly admire the lives of unbelievers. As a result, they yearn very much for anything they have in their lives. Hypocrites admire anything that is trending in the world of unbelievers. They try to mimic the lives of the unbelievers by keeping a record of the places they have been and seen, the way they decorate their accomodations, the people they see, the connections they make, the books they read, the shows they watch, the TV series they are fond of, the songs they listen to, the language they use, the snobbish tone they adopt, the clothes they wear, the food they eat, the newspapers they read, the websites they surf and so on.

They closely monitor what the unbelievers share on the well-known and the most popular websites such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and they try to imitate their social media styles. For instance; when there is a "selfie" trend, they try to imitate the way they pose and upload similar photos. When the unbelievers share a picture of their dinner plate at a famous restaurant; hypocrites do the same with a similar pose and share it on their page. If the unbelievers order ‘fried goat tongue’; hypocrites share a photo with a text saying ‘And I ate a Japanese style goat tongue’ in order to look superior than them. Their purpose is not to eat it because of its beautiful taste, but to draw attention and look as if they were their equals.

Surely, people are ‘free to steer their lives as they wish’. They have a right to go anywhere they desire, eat each kind of food, have their photos taken as they wish and share memories and details about their lives with people. However, with all these attitudes, the hypocrites’ aim is very different than irreligious people’s.

For the hypocrites, the important thing is not ‘what is beneficial or what is right’. For them, it is sufficient if ‘the majority practices it’ and if ‘it is accepted showy by the unbelievers’. Apart from that, they don’t do any evaluation by using their intelligence, conscience, sense of delectation, art, and aesthetics. Therefore, their choices about life or posts they share on social media don’t reflect their actual appreciation, taste or thoughts. They practice these just because ‘everyone does likewise’. Their aim is to ‘call the attention of whom they want to impress among irreligious people’. Irreligious people may listen good music, wear elegant clothes or choose really good furniture to decorate their homes. However, while hypocrites imitate these, they listen to that music not because they like it. Or they buy the same furniture the unbelivers buy not because they sincerely like it. They prefer these only ‘to be respected’ in the eyes of people who are considered to be ‘ostentatious’ in irreligious societies. And due to the same point of view, most of the time they prefer extremely tasteless, meaningless, depressing, gloomy and even dreadful music or objects without any hesitation just because irreligious people whom they admire like those things.

To that end, they finely observe each attitude and choice of the people they emulate. For example, they especially determine the figures followed by those they covet, such as authors, politicians, opinion leaders that the unbelievers consider as important and respected. After figuring out the list, hypocrites follow their social media accounts one by one. Hypocrites have actually no interest in the opinions and identities of these people. All they are interested in is to look like one of them and appear to have considered these people important. They want to adopt the image of someone important by following example of these people so that the people who follow their accounts in the social media shall say ‘these are people with a strong background; with great intellectual and general knowledge; someone who is very open-minded with a great vision’.

Actually, the mentality of hypocrites is completely based on the importance of ‘titles’ and ‘what the others say’, which is a habit they cannot let go. For them what the others "say" is the most important matters of all. The hypocrites meticulously plan the impression on people when people visit their social media site even though these are some people he will never meet. Hypocrites never want to present themselves as devout Muslims. On the contrary, they want to give the feeling that ‘they are open to being an unbeliever; they are not committed to the orders in the Qur’an, they don’t share the same opinions and ideals with Muslims; they have no interest in seeing the Islamic morality spread’ when people visit their page. They try really hard to make people sense that ‘they are interested in vain work’, that ‘they admire the unbelievers and they are actually one of them’. By implying visibly their admiration for the unbelievers; they aim to send a hidden message to the unbelievers.

Just like their social media posts, their speech is also full of single details they admire in the life of their unbelieving friends. They try to make sure the eyes are on them by saying ‘I read this book, I visited this city, I know these people, I met these people abroad, I read this magazine and I eat that food’, implying their admiration for unbelief. Yet, in reality, there is not much truth in what they say. They have no knowledge in terms of, say culture of cuisine; they know neither about the people they talk about nor do they know of the ideas they bring forward. Perhaps, they have never once seen the cities, countries, restaurants or streets they mention all the time. They just talk about them because they really admire the lives of unbelievers and want to be seen like one of them.

This "wannabe" character of hypocrites actually suggests how strong an inferiority complex they have and how low they feel. In order to gain a name for themselves among people, they believe they have to ingratiate and make themselves favored by them. However, had they sought for God's blessing instead of the appreciation of unbelievers, God would have made them worthy both in this world and in the hereafter and would have made them feel loved by all. However, hypocrites have chosen to side with the unbelievers; and for that reason their fate both in this world and in the hereafter is humiliation.

Hypocrites try to show off with his travelling around the world

Sometimes, hypocrites travel the countries cherished by the unbelievers so that they can attract unbelievers’ attention and attain a reputation in their eyes. Hence, they will able to show off at any opportunity with sentences like ‘I have been to these countries; I have visited here and there; I have met these well-known people and I have been assigned to these certain tasks’. God emphasizes the hypocrites’ travelling around the world in order to show off, with this particular verse: “Do not let their free movement about the earth deceive you.” (Surah Ghafir, 4) and reminds the believers that this is ‘not something to admire’ with the words “let this not deceive you”.

Another verse in the Qur’an saying, “Do not be deceived by the fact that those who are unbelievers move freely about the earth.” (Surah Al ‘Imran, 196) underlines that hypocrites’ efforts to ‘travel around the world’ gives them no gain ever. Yet, hypocrites regard this as a great gain on their behalf. Since they feel great admiration for what the unbelievers have, they imagine that the Muslims ‘will also admire and envy them just beause they have travelled around the world’.

Therefore, hypocrites use their ‘spirit of being wannabes’ that they use for ingratiating themselves to the unbelievers” also for “pretending to be superior” over the Muslims. All they talk about are sentences like ‘I have been to New York. I ate a New York food at that famous cafe in that famous Street. Have you been there and seen those?’ By doing so, they supposedly emphasize that they do not like Muslims and consider themselves superior over them. However; visiting some places is not a material of superiority. Muslims can also travel around the world as well as unbelievers. It is actually God Who makes people travel somewhere. Superiority can only be true for someone in terms of his great love for God, his belief in God, his devotion to the orders in the Qur’an. Hypocrites are really unwary as their criterias are not the measures of the Qur’an, but the values of unbelievers.

Besides, it is of course nice to visit beautiful places in the world. Benefitting from the blessings and beautifes of this world is something Muslims also love, like and do when they have the time. However; Muslims never prefer to spend their time travelling with no purpose if they ever have to choose ‘whether they should spend their time for their own entertainment or for working hard to end the troubles and oppression in the world’. They always listen to their conscience and make decisions in favor of helping those in need. Since hypocrites know this side of Muslims, they want to emphasize that ‘they are capable of doing something that Muslims cannot spend time for’ as they wish to influence the ones with poor faith among Muslims and get them on their side. On the other hand, they think they are showing off when they say to Muslims “I am travelling around the world whereas you are not able to do so”. They travel miles just to have their “photo” taken somewhere and thus to show off to the Muslims and their followers amongst the unbelievers. They spend too much time to travel but never spare the same amount of time to talk about the words of God, to read the Holy Qur’an and to spread the message of God.

Early in history, the character of hypocrites came to light including all the details. Hypocrites were again wandering around the towns and cities and trying to show off to their supporters and Muslims, saying ‘I have seen even the far-far-away and I have seen so many places that I know them all too well’. They were trying to gain some reputation for themselves by doing so. And even some of them used to write travelogues to boast about.

The hypocrites boast about their travels and they find joy in them as they think they are too smart to do something on behalf of Islam like to be active or vigilant for those in need and trouble, to free them from oppression or to spare time to spread the morality of the Qur’an. They think in their own twisted minds that Muslims are ‘fools’ and they are ‘too smart’ (Muslims are above these expressions). However, God will soon show these people that Muslims are the ones who will benefit from this transaction and they are the ones who are at a great loss. No matter how hard they try, their false reputation which they strive a lot to attain and their show will all soon be ruined. God says in the Qur’an that the hypocrites can have a ‘short-term benefit’ and that they will eventually face ‘hell’.

A brief enjoyment; then their shelter will be hell. What an evil resting-place! (Surah Al ‘Imran, 197)

Hypocrites are similar to “a donkey carrying tomes”

Like all the other beings, hypocrites are powerless creatures under God’s control. If God had desired to do so, He wouldn’t have created hypocrites and there wouldn’t be an element of mischief among Muslims. However, Our Lord, the Possessor of Infinite Wisdom, The Wise, created hypocrites with wisdom and He granted them ‘an evil mind’. This evil mind of hypocrites is sure to lose against the ‘Qur’anic wisdom of the believers’. The hypocritical intellect only helps hypocrites to play little cunning games and gain the admiration of the unbelievers. Hypocrites make use of their intellect to educate themselves in the areas ‘where they can win the unbelievers’ favor.’

As it is very well known, the society of unbelievers cherish one’s ‘education, career, position, popular knowledge, modern life style, quality, foreign languages he speaks, the books he reads, the intellectual movements he is familar with, the places he has been and so on’. Hypocrites, who very much wish to be approved by the unbelievers, try not to miss any of these criterias. By using the opportunities they attained during their time with the believers, they try to improve themselves in the aspects mentioned above and make themselves proper for the ‘model considered ideal for the unbelievers’. Therefore, they really focus on improving their ‘general knowledge’.

They try to learn all kinds of information and world knowledge which might help them to make a name for themselves among the unbelievers. They constantly read piles of books filled with information which will be of no use to them in their lives. By making use of both the means of Muslims and also of the Internet, television channels and books, they try to improve themselves and their knowledge.

There is no doubt that it is nice if someone improves his worldly knowledge and information on every subject. Muslims are also people who are known for their vast knowledge. Yet, Muslims make use of every single bit of information they learn for the benefit of humankind and to uncover what is good. Nevertheless, the hypocrites learn something not because they want to make a similar use, but because ‘they want to show off to unbelievers and to gain reputation among them’. They actually learn details of no use such as, ‘what did the goats eat during the reign of the Sumerians?’, ‘the African antilopes gets poisoned when they eat which plant?’, ‘what tea did the American Indians drink?’ and so on. All of a sudden, they may say, ‘Let me tell you about the number of sheeps in Brazil’. Their purpose is to surprise people who listen to him and make them say: ‘Oh, he really has a great deal of knowledge’. Indeed, unbelievers who listen to them get really impressed when they hear them talk about these.

While Muslims spare their every moment of their lives doing something for the benefit of mankind, they also improve their worldly knowledge. However, the hypocrites sit idly during the day, without doing anything useful. They have no interest, whatsoever, in the salvation of mankind, in spreading Islamic morality throughout the world, in seeing the oppression in the world come to an end. They spend all their free time, which is actually the whole day, reading books and obtaining information which they might use to obtain the admiration of unbelievers. They know all the books on world knowledge by heart. Yet, they have no interest in practicing and preaching what is told in the verses of the Qur’an.

Moreover, a feeling of egocentrism covers the hypocrites’ soul whenever they read a couple of books or learn a few things. They see themselves superior than anyone. They consider themselves ‘a sort of scholar or an innovator’.

No matter how much information a person may have, his efforts will bring him no good as long as something missing is in his soul and heart, and unless he has a reasoning to make a wise use of that information. What makes someone worthy is the beauty in his heart and the values he cherishes in his heart. A person may store all the information he has learnt in his brain; yet, it has no value when he has no ‘art of crafting that knowledge’ in his heart.

Just as he memorizes all the books on world knowledge, hypocrites also know the verses in the Qur’an by heart. History is full of hypocrites who looked like scholars and learned men and who memorized the Qur’an, the Torah and the Gospel. Their speeches contained much knowledge, but their heart had no ‘knowledge of Marifatullah’. The ‘Knowledge of Marifatullah’ (The Gnosis of God) is a knowledge not written in the books but hidden deep in the hearts of those who are close to God. It is the Muslims who can truly comprehend this very knowledge and who can make use of any learned knowledge.

In the Qur’an, God refers to the hypocrites as ‘the donkeys carrying tomes’ as they have ‘their heads is full of knowledge, but their hearts are empty’.

The metaphor of those who were charged with the Torah but then have not upheld it, is that of a donkey loaded with weighty tomes. How evil is the metaphor of those who deny God’s Signs! God does not guide wrongdoing people. (Surat al-Jumua, 5)

Our Prophet (pbuh) said: “Most of the hypocrites in my community will be from among well-educated people” (Ahmad Diya ad-Din al-Kamushkhanawi, Ramuz al-Ahadith, No: 1104), and thus he informed us that the hypocrites are men of intellect and that they are knowledgeable. Every single hypocrite who has ever lived during the course of history has perhaps read hundreds of books on hundreds of subjects. Yet, they could not make practical use of this knowledge. Since they do not have faith in their hearts, the information they have, just helped them transform into a ‘donkey carrying tomes’; and they have driven themselves into failure not only on earth, but also in the hereafter due to their lack of faith.

Hazrat Omar (ra) also describes this feature of the hypocrites as such:

Hazrat Omar (ra) once said “What I fear most about this community are the hypocrites who have knowledge” and thus he mentioned his concerns about the hypocrites. When asked “What is a hypocrite with knowledge?”, he replies as such: “Their knowledge is in their speech but not in their hearts and deeds!” (Ramuz al-Ahadith, Ahmad Diya ad-Din al-Kamushkhanawi, p. 113)

Hypocrites are tactless and disrespectful

Hypocrites are quickly noticed through their ‘mean, tactless, disrespectful and negative attitudes’. Unless they are in expectation of a great positive gain in their favor, hypocrites are hardly seen acting in a respectful manner. Otherwise, they want to disturb Muslims and cause disturbance by reflecting their corrupted morals to their speeches.

Inspired by satan, hypocrites are capable of using their intelligence quite cunningly. They actually know very well how to discern what is disrespectful, tactless and inconvenient. Since their aim is not to behave well, hypocrites never refrain from ill manners or make efforts for better conduct. They talk as carelessly as they wish, wherever and whenever they want considering that action as a display of ‘freedom’. Hypocrites never correct the way they speak as they only consider themselves to be important and worthy and do not care about how their attitudes would make an impact on others. As they really admire their own intellect and regard themselves to be flawless, hypocrites believe their way of speaking is ‘humorous’ as well as, ‘perfect and witty’.

On the other hand, every statement that hypocrites make during daytime is ‘improper, thoughtless and rude’ on every occasion. Instead of explaining a matter through positive wording, they talk about it in the most negative way with the most sarcastic words. During a chat, they always want to speak more than anyone all the time. Although there are no words of wisdom in their speeches and despite the fact they only waste the time of those listening to them with really empty agendas, hypocrites desire everyone to listen to them with great respect and attention.

Yet, when others speak, they ‘do not follow the codes of listening’. They continually interrupt the other person speaking. They speak without waiting for the other party to complete his sentences and start talking about themselves. In almost any speech, they say something cynical and try to imply something that is critical of others. They believe there would be no other person who could speak with more eloquence. Therefore, ‘they always correct the words of others regardless of the addresser, and make an emphasis that others are at fault and cannot make the right pronunciation. In their opinion, they are the ‘only ones who knows the best’ and ‘who realize the mistakes’.

Yet, the hypocrites’ efforts to put themselves under the spotlight and boost their arrogance are all futile. Muslims never feel respect or admiration to ones who do not live by the morality in the Qur’an. No matter how they try to give an impression that they are very eloquent and knowledgeable, Muslims do not get impressed. On the contrary, Muslims notice the tactless, rude and disrespectful behavior of those against believers and become aware of their difference from Muslims, thus they act accordingly.

Hypocrites pretend being smart and know-it-all at every opportunity

In order to praise themselves and give a superior image to themselves than Muslims in their opinion, hypocrites always ‘pretend as if they are really smart and know-it-all types’. In order to gain the admiration of unbelievers, hypocrites incessantly endeavor to increase their knowledge and culture so that they can use this know-how as an element of superiority and arrogance among Muslims. However, Muslims do not care 'who is more intellectual, on the contrary, they only care about who is more religious, who loves God more and who is more devoted in abiding by the morals of the Qur’an'. Yet, hypocrites are unaware of this truth because of their claims of arrogance. They assume they can prove themselves to be superior to Muslims if they have a know-all approach and pretend being smart when they are with believers.

Hypocrites display this lack of morality mainly to the prophets, to the messengers or people who take the responsibility of spiritual leadership of Muslims. This is because Muslims revere these persons by attaching great value to them and consider them as spiritual leaders to whom they trust based on their wisdom and conscience. Hypocrites, however, attempt to present these opinion leaders as ‘weak and lacking knowledge’ to Muslims so that they can break the bonds of trust, respect and devotion entrusted to them. Whereas, God strengthens His prophets, messengers and guiding servants in terms of wisdom and intellect, and grants them a ‘unique prudence and foresight.’ Therefore, no matter how hard hypocrites venture, it is impossible for them to succeed in their perpetrations against God’s messengers. However, hypocrites are ignorant of this very law God has decreed and that is why they persist in their endeavor against Muslims.

Usually hypocrites prefer staying away from Muslims and spending time alone. They never would like to be in the atmosphere of friendship and gathering of believers. On the other hand, they constantly pursuit ways ‘to show them how knowledgeable and superior they are and to accentuate their precedence’. Therefore, whenever they come close to believers, they try to show off as ‘a know-it-all’ person in every sentence and use all means to be a ‘smart aleck’.

It is noteworthy that almost anything they know consists of insignificant details. Their assumption that knowing all this information will make them superior reveals ‘how simple-minded’ hypocrites are.

Hypocrites complain and find fault in everything all day long

Muslims are people who are known for their ‘positive, decent, refreshing qualities’ which is felt in the way they speak and behave. On the other hand, hypocrites are beings releasing ‘negative energy’ in their way of living and conduct. It is possible to encounter this negativity in hypocrites in almost every speech they make throughout the day.

Indeed, the way one speaks reflects the spiritual state of that person in the clearest way. Beautiful words may only come from a beautiful soul and diseased words could only come from a diseased soul. The way of speaking of hypocrites reveals the anomaly in their soul. This is because hypocrites are always unhappy and discontent and they always bear the inferiority and pain of having a diabolical, hypocritical and treacherous character lifelong. This is obvious in their conversations. They never take pleasure out of the beauties God creates, on the contrary, everything they come across seem to give hypocrites trouble. Nothing makes them happy that is why they keep on complaining, grunting out and finding fault in everything.

The common point in all their protestation is that they ‘attempt to bring accusations against Muslims through putting them into difficult positions’. The purpose of hypocrites is to give the impression that Muslims are ‘supposedly bad intentioned, unjust, tactless, ill-minded people with lack of conscience and who are incapable of differentiating the good from the bad’. On the other hand, hypocrites intend for depicting themselves to be ‘conscientious, just, capable of discerning the right from wrong, mindful and perceptive’. In line with their insidious plan, hypocrites devise all sorts of lies, slander and false accusations against Muslims and target them with their faultfinding.

For instance, hypocrites immediately look for flaws in a piece of clothing as soon as they see it. They immediately say, ‘this is not the fabric I want, since I want it to be of higher quality’ for a pair of trousers bought especially for themselves and send it back. Or else, they may say, ‘the color of this shirt has to be slightly darker’ and make others keep on looking for what they want. When they are given a gift; they return, criticizing, ‘This is not to my taste’. If they sit at a dinner table, they make note of what is not on the table, rather than expressing blessings for what is already there. Even though there is variety of dishes on the table, they find something lacking in a flash and say, ‘Why is so and so not here?’ When they go into a perfectly decorated room, instead of praising hundreds of beauties already there, they focus on the imperfections no one would ever notice. There is a strong negativity in words of hypocrites, as they always talk about imperfections whenever they speak. Their words and expressions are full of negativities and disparagement. Seeing the imperfections in every single person, every single venue and every single item is utterly the way of living for hypocrites who complain about almost everything. The only concern for hypocrites is their self-centered entertainment and interests. This continual negative, complainant and criticizing tone of hypocrites who are never satisfied with what they have in their hands is described in the Qur’an:

But do not obey any vile swearer of oaths, any backbiter, slandermonger... (Surat al-Qalam, 10-11)

In another verse, God emphasizes this ungrateful and persistently-discontent attitude of hypocrites who are incapable of appreciating the blessings of God and fault finding at every instance:

And when you said, ‘Moses, we will not put up with just one kind of food so ask your Lord to supply to us some of what the earth produces – its green vegetables, cucumbers, grains, lentils and onions,’ he said, ‘Do you want to replace what is better with what is inferior? Go back to Egypt, then you will have what you are asking for.’ Abasement and destitution were stamped upon them. They brought down anger from God upon themselves. That was because they rejected God’s Signs and killed the Prophets without any right to do so. That was because they rebelled and went beyond the limits. (Surat al-Baqara, 61)

During the time of the Prophet Moses (pbuh), some people who followed him started protesting the lack of cucumbers, garlic, onions and lentils, instead of being grateful for and seeing the good in the blessings God granted them. However, these people were previously living a life of trouble under the oppression of the Pharaoh and the Prophet Moses (pbuh) had saved them from persecution. Instead of being thankful to God about it, they were longing for that environment of tyranny and complaining about their new conditions. They did not show appreciation about what they possessed, and instead of seeing good in everything, they adopted an unsatisfied, ungrateful, discontent and greedy attitude.

In Surat al-Muddassir, God reveals the state of these constantly grumbling discontent people who are not satisfied with what they have:

Leave the person I created on his own to Me alone, him to whom I have given great wealth and sons who stay with him, and whose way I have smoothed. Then he wants Me to add yet more! (Surat al-Muddassir, 11-15)

However, it is for sure that hypocrites do not adopt this morality disorder for nothing. Another reason why evil and disturbing words pour out of their mouth all the time is their ‘anger towards Muslims’. This hatred is never soothed in the soul of hypocrites, for that reason that resentment is exhibited as a nonsensical talk of pessimism all the time. Even if they want to do so, hypocrites can never praise an environment where Muslims are present or appreciate their belongings, beauties and the holy light manifested on them. This is because hypocrites truly suffer real pain when complimenting Muslims or appreciating the beauties they have. Even saying, ‘you are beautiful’ to a Muslim would virtually inflict incredible pain on hypocrites and make them feel like dying. Even though hypocrites have to use flattering words from time to time in order to look sweet to Muslims, they just do so out of obligation since it means a deep state of grief for hypocrites.