Who is a Hypocrite?

Hypocrites: The most despicable human character known to man

‘Hypocrite’ is the name given to those who live among a community of believers and appear like believers even though they are not, and who actually are sneaky, insincere, two-faced impostors and liars, since the beginning of time. In every society that came to follow the Prophet Adam (pbuh), along with believers and unbelievers, there were also hypocrites. With their sinister activities, evil schemes and cooperation with unbelievers, hypocrites always strove to ‘dishearten the Muslims -in their own feeble minds- and stealthily worked to make irreligion rule over the world.’

Instead of directly joining the ranks of unbelievers, ‘this malicious group disguised themselves as believers and attempted to do harm to Islam from the inside out.’ While doing so, they also tried to exploit Muslims' material and moral means for personal gain.

However, according to the unchangeable laws of God as stated in the Qur’an, ‘hypocrites are created as defeated right from the beginning.’ They spend all their lives in dark and isolated places, secretly scheming, preparing and telling lies and hatching evil plans. But whilst expecting their actions to harm the Muslims, ‘hypocrites see that Muslims get stronger, become tight-knit and that their wisdom and faith grow even stronger with every evil plan and action of theirs. ’

Hypocrite, -even though he absolutely does want to avoid this- is ultimately a tremendously beneficial being to Muslims. And again, even though he endeavors for exactly the opposite outcome, -as required by God's law- he will help Muslims accomplish goodness and blessings for the rest of his life. Every immoral stratagem he schemes will ultimately cause Muslims to gain more strength and benevolence. In the end, the evil system of hypocrisy will eventually implode and disappear.

Hypocrites are like moles among Muslims

The word ‘hypocrite ( munafiqun)’ comes from the Arabic word ‘an-nafaqu’ which means ‘underground passage or tunnel,’ or the word "an-nafiqatu" which means ‘mole hole.’ The reason spies are called ‘moles’ in colloquial terms originates with this word. Just like a mole enters a tunnel from one side and comes out another, hypocrites act in a similar fashion. Just like a mole, they enter Islam from one side and leave from another. They are undecided as to which way they will go. Any moment, they might lean towards the unbelievers, or blend in among the Muslims. Like a mole, they turn from one side to the other. Wherever their personal interests lie, they prefer that side. Indeed, this word emphasizes hypocrites’ ‘inconsistancy’. In the Qur’an, God draws our attention to this state of the hypocrites, with the verse that reads; “They vacillate between the two — not joining these or joining those…” (Surat An-Nisa’, 143) and warns Muslims against this mole like character of the hypocrites.

Even though Muslims are well aware of the threat of hypocrites and their treachery, immorality and alliance with unbelievers, they invite these people to the moral values of the Qur’an with patience. However, ‘hypocrites persist with their hypocrisy just like an obsessive mental patient’ and seek ways to meet their selfish interests. Similar to the way a mole moves up and down in his tunnel, hypocrites keep moving among the Muslims in search of an opportunity that will serve their personal interests.

The solution to hypocrisy is to make the characteristics of hypocrites crystal clear so that Muslims around the world will be able to identify these insincere people without difficulty. Once the treachery and ignominy of the hypocrites is exposed, they will have no place to perpetrate hypocritical actions in this world.

Just like in agricultural fields, where people pump water from the two sides of a mole’s hole leaving no place for the mole to run, unveiling the hypocrites will result in a situation that they won't be able to ‘find any means for hypocrisy’. But of course, the mole is simply a metaphor here used to better describe the nature of the hypocrites; otherwise moles are very cute animals. Hypocrites on the other hand, are ‘despicable and abhorrent beings’ that bear no further comparison with those animals.

In light of the Qur’an's verses, with Muslims' unmasking of the treacherous tricks hypocrites employ in daily life, ‘hypocrisy will spiritually drown within the holy light of faith.’ When their insincerity and treachery is widely known by everybody, hypocrites will no longer be able to play these schemes and tricks on anyone.

For this reason, hypocrites will eventually have no place to perform their sinister schemes on a global scale, because Muslims will constantly keep the signs of hypocrisy on the agenda, day and night, by helping people memorize their attributes, and putting their evil perfidy in writing and explaining it far and wide. As a result of this, Muslims will live in a world where there is no act of hypocrisy; and an amazing luxury, comfort and plentitude will arise.

It is very important to provide a description of hypocrisy to help the islamic world identify hypocrites

In the Qur’an, the description of hypocrites are clearly defined and explained to the Muslims. However, in addition to this, in order to help people see how the teachings from the verses can be put into practice and how the hypocrites are applying their evil morals into daily life, it is very important to give a ‘description of the hypocrites in everyday life’.

The hypocrites terrorized the Islamic world for 1400 years and caused as much turmoil as they liked within Muslim societies because people ‘didn’t know the full description of the hypocrites’. Since there has never been an in-depth analysis of hypocrites, Muslims have always ‘had difficulty identifying the hypocrites’. Since Muslims had difficulty pinpointing the hypocrites, they were able to infiltrate everywhere, and easily obtained ‘intelligence’. Indeed, throughout history, there have been times when some Muslims in some Islamic countries unknowingly followed the leadership of certain unstable individuals, simply because they were unable to notice the sickness those people had in their faith.

So, in order to eliminate this threat, the entire Muslim world needs to fully comprehend the concept of hypocrisy, and they need to acquire a thorough and perfect understanding of the characteristics of these people. Once they obtain this information, they will be able to designate hypocrites on the spot, and thus they will be able to prevent the damage those people could cause in advance. At the same time, the ‘hypocrites will realize that they can be easily spotted,’ and as a result they will either abandon their hypocrisy, or look for another hideaway.

The most important weapon of hypocrites is their ‘secrecy.’ To this day, the biggest advantage of hypocrites was that they were using an unknown, indescribable system that people haven’t yet recognized until now. Therefore, the hypocrites’ tricks will cease to function as soon as they lose their secrecy. Hypocrites are ‘like bats’. They become miserable under the sun. They immediately start looking for places to escape. So, if Muslims illuminate hypocrites by shedding light on them, hypocrites won't have any place to run. Knowing that they will be spiritually be spotted and caught wherever they go, hypocrites will lose heart and come to a point, where they will no longer be able to scheme secretly.

If the characteristics of hypocrites are not well known, they will be able to infiltrate Muslim communities, take advantage of the blessings of believers and continue living amongst them just like a ‘virus’. Practically like a ‘parasitic and freeloader virus’, they will infiltrate the system of Muslims. On one hand, they appear as Muslims and take advantage of their assets, while on the other hand, they scheme against Islam in a bid to cause harm to Islam. For this reason, the attributes of hypocrites must be clearly known by everyone.

Besides, learning the signs of the hypocrites and being knowledgeable about their sick character will be the means for bringing up high quality and sincere Muslims. Because every Muslim who becomes proficient about this dirty perfidy of satan would condemn his own lower self and, under the light of this advice, correct his behaviors which might resemble those of the hypocrites. As a result of this, ‘high quality Muslim communities that have profound faith and good morality; that are superior in piousness with clear insight and superior wisdom’ will be created.