Those with sickness in their hearts

ADNAN OKTAR: When people neglect God, God takes away His divine light from their faces. He turns them into animals, basically hampering their mental faculties. This is the reason such people behave abnormally. For example, they tend to be anarchists, terrorists, aggressive, and dissentious. One can come across such absurd inauspicious people who on the street, hypocrites being one such example.

Complacence is the first step that leads Muslims down the path of hypocrisy. Being complacent in prayer, in hygiene, in remembering God, in being vigilant, in preaching and spreading Islam, in showing nice behavior, in being attentive. As a result, God turns them into empty sacks of meat, vile creatures, in other words, huge, reeking beasts. Their heinousness increases in parallel with the degree of their sins. In proportion to the level of their sins, God deteriorates their health, their appearance, their mental faculties, along with all other aspects, but He does so gradually. There is a higher level in hypocrites. There are hypocrites as well as qualified hypocrites. But there is also a transition level to hypocrisy, that is, having a sickness in one's heart. They are quite similar to hypocrites, albeit the sickness that plagues their minds. These people are in a constant quandary. They cannot decide between being a hypocrite or being a Muslim. God says in the verse of the Qur'an; "They belong neither to you nor them." "They vacillate between the two..." They cannot seem to make a decision. They can neither decide on Islam nor on disbelief. However, this vacillation usually ends in separation. Because, such vacillations almost always lead to a point of no return. In a way, it is some sort of coma, a coma that eventually results in death. They rarely recover from this coma and turn to life; most of them end up dead. When the hypocritical coma sets in, such individuals receive full assistance from satan and other evil people. Those with hypocritical natures, with sickness in their heart help other people with similar conditions. For reasons only known to God, they can easily find each other. For example, those with sickness in their hearts find other such people. This support from the people with sickness in their hearts further worsens the disease in the others. They cast more misgivings and doubts in the others', destroy their self-confidence and weaken their faith in God. Upon closer look, one can see that those with sickness in their hearts are in close concert with each other. They form a separate group of companions. They become close friends and rigorously protect each other. Hypocrites protect and watch over one another, but there is a point that slips the notice of Muslims. Muslims overlook the companionship among those with sickness in their hearts. They do not consider them a threat, which is one of the most dangerous oversights. Those with sickness in their hearts give birth to new hypocrites. In time, they give birth to villains and this is a successive process. At first, another hypocrite is born, and then another, and another one after that. They quickly give their true natures away through the way they look and speak. Exhaustion is a common characteristic among them. They suffer from exhaustion that is not caused by any organic disorders. For example, they do not want to perform prayers, fast, praise God, or participate in the meetings held by Muslims. They avoid distributing or receiving books on matters of faith. These are the initial signs of their hypocrisy. They start displaying anti-social behavior and retire into their shells. They usually wear sullen expressions. In the verse of the Qur'an, God says; “He frowned and glowered." They begin to show these signs. Their vile personality reflects on their faces, giving them a repulsive expression. Tendency to cry is the foremost disease among the signs of hypocrisy. Such individuals tend to sink into depression, isolate themselves from the society and cry. Crying is a common characteristic of hypocrites. They cry very frequently even though they are adults. Believers can shed tears of happiness or cry due to unbearable pain to find some sort of comfort. May God forbid, but crying in such situations is acceptable. However, crying for reasons other than these is unacceptable for a Muslim. It is improper. For that reason, Muslims need to be very careful about the basis that would lead up to the vile birth of a hypocrite. In other words, Muslims need to keep an eye on the aggregation of those with sickness in their hearts. If you pay close attention and you will see that such individuals always form groups and become close friends with each other. They trust and confide in one another. They facilitate one another's separation from the believers and joining among hypocrites. When they express their desire to leave, others support them and assist them to facilitate their separation. They keep their secret, telling them "Farewell" or "Why are you leaving? Is it wrong to be ugly? Is it wrong to be weak-willed? Is it wrong to be erratic?" Using such discourse, they further push these individuals. "People might loathe you. You might be a vile person, too. Why are you so afraid that your lack of belief will be noticed?" They use such irrational, maniacal rhetoric to push them over the edge. Then instead of asking whether they bear any love for Muslims, they ask "Do you not bare any love for me?" Using such an insane method, they push these people towards leaving Muslims. We do not have any book on those with sickness in their hearts. We do not have any such work either. However, they are a large group. They live among and closely resemble Muslims. They are not particularly harmful to Muslims; they can be considered as passive Muslims. Their cowardice renders them ineffective. In times of adversity, they talk against Muslims instead of defending them. When there is a conflict of interest, they immediately take a stance against Muslims. They are prone to treacherous behavior. They try to pacify Muslims through their own passivity. For example, they snooze where God is remembered. They pretend to be exhausted or get up and leave when the Qur'an is recited in order to dissuade Muslims from reading the Qur'an. They have yet to fully transition into hypocrisy. But that bloody, vile birth is imminent. They are on that transitional stage. Therefore, one should be heedful of the initial coma stage. Once they fall into collapse, there is no turning back. Once they declare their hypocrisy, it is the point of no return. This is the point of their complete devastation. It is possible to help them step back from this total devastation. As God says in the verse of the Qur'an -I seek refuge in God from satan-; "...the earth became narrow for them, for all its great breadth, and their own selves became constricted for them..." What God describes here is their coming out of their comatose state. However, if left unchecked, their coma would have led to collapse, and ultimately their death. At this stage, they should be offered help.

God says in the 38th verse of Surah at-Tawba; "You who believe! what is the matter with you that when you are told, ‘Go out and fight in the way of God,’..." In other words, when they are invited to participate in the efforts to spread the religion, preach Islam, distribute books or hold conversations on faith topics. "...you sink down heavily to the earth?" like chunks of stone. They are unable to keep standing. They feel drowsy, to the point of passing out from boredom. God states in the Qur'an that this is a sign of hypocrisy. "Are you happier with this world than the hereafter?" asks God. He continues, "Yet, the enjoyment of this world is very small compared to that of the hereafter." Because He points out that this world is severely lacking and warns them against vain desires.

In the 61st verse of Surah an-Nisa', Almighty God addresses hypocrites; "When they are told, ‘Come to what God has sent down and to the Messenger,’" when they are called to follow the Qur'an and the leader of Muslims, "you see the hypocrites turning away from you completely."

Again in the 20th and 21st verse of Surah Muhammad, God says; "you see those with sickness in their hearts," not hypocrites, mind you, "looking at you with the look of someone about to faint from fear of death." They look with a hideous, exhausted, vile expression like that of a dead person. "…looking at you with the look of someone about to faint from fear of death." Their looks completely lack any traces of love, enthusiasm, attention, vigilance arising from faith, or any sign that they are concerned with the religion or faith.  They are effectively dead. They have resigned themselves to satan. "More fitting for them would be obedience and honorable words." (Surah Muhammad, 20-21) Because such people always use negative words such as "I am done for, my life is in ruins, I feel so terrible."

In the 19th verse of Surah al-Ahzab, God says; “Then when fear comes," in other words, when something occurs that conflicts with their interests, or when they receive the news of an attack on Muslims or a hypocrite attack, "you see them looking at you, their eyes rolling like people scared to death." Here, God states that an abnormality occurs in their eyes. "Their looks take on a vile, heinous, repulsive, disturbing, dark appearance. "This is what you will see when they look at you," says God. "But when fear departs," in other words, when they see that Muslims are mighty and triumphant, "they flay you with sharp tongues, grasping for wealth." In other words, they resort to an impertinent, brazen foolish discourse. "Such people do not believe;" says God, explaining the reason behind their sickness. Do you see the miracle here? Look at what their lack of faith costs them. "God will make their actions come to nothing. " In other words, all their actions and efforts are in vain. "That is easy for God," says Almighty God in the 19th verse of Surah al-Ahzab.

In the 86th and 87th verses of Surah at-Tawba, Almighty God again says; "When a surah is sent down," when God sends down a commandment, "saying ‘Believe in God and strive together with His Messenger..." In other words, saying "go out to preach and spread Islam, "those among them with wealth," those with power and means, "will ask you to excuse them, saying, ‘Let us remain with those who stay behind.’" In other words, they do not want to participate in the efforts. They seek to remain behind, in the comfort of their homes for one excuse or another. They come up with something to avoid joining Muslims. "They are pleased to be with those who stay behind." In other words God says that just like hypocrites who wish to stay behind, they, too, follow a similar method. "Their hearts have been stamped so they do not understand." God says that they are stripped of their consciousness. So, they are unable to comprehend. God says that their brains stop working and they are essentially dead. And since they become robots, "they do not understand," says God.

There are numerous signs. First of all, they tend to form groups, just like hypocrites do. They can better communicate with other sick people, and have a hard time communicating with Muslims. They despise faithful, hardworking, pious and level-headed Muslims. They seek those who make compromises on religion, who are reluctant towards Islam, who are lazy, exhausted, deceitful, complacent, indifferent, disgruntled, erratic, and who never remember God. Forming bonds with such people is their priority. This is a give-away. Secondly, they tend to spread negative news. They always have a negative outlook. For example, even if there are countless blessings, they seek out and highlight the one adverse thing. Or when there are a hundred signs to be happy about, they dwell upon the one adverse thing that they fail to understand. Or even though they have a gorgeous physique, they obsess about trivial flaws on their bodies. Is everything about your body gorgeous? It is. So stop obsessing about such trivial issues. They dwell on such insignificant issues. They do not know how to be happy about the whole. They do not know how to appreciate the blessings of God as a whole.  Also, they envy hypocrites. Those with sickness in their hearts always watch the news about hypocrites, follow them, and subconsciously want hypocrites to triumph. However, when they see hypocrites suffer a devastating defeat, they involuntarily turn to Muslims. This is crucial. This is why it is vital that hypocrites are stamped out, to make such individuals realize that hypocrites are soundly defeated. Because that is how it was during the Prophet's (saas) era. Hypocrites were rampant, but when they were utterly defeated, majority of the believers took our Prophet's (saas) side, whereas priorly many would side with hypocrites. Because their views were not based on the Qur'an but the facts of life. There are many people whose world-views are based on the facts of life. This puts hypocrites in an advantageous position.

God may progress their disease. They lie a lot. They have a great tendency towards telling lies. They tell myriad lies in order to avoid taking responsibility. Lying is an essential part of their lives to avoid going somewhere, doing something or dealing with things. For example, in the 10th verse of Surah al-Baqara, Almighty God says; "There is a sickness in their hearts..." They have not become full-fledged hypocrites yet but they are on the verge of being one; they are sick. "And God has increased their sickness." See that they do not recover from their sickness. The disease progresses further. Recovery is quite rare. There is the coma, followed by the collapse, which is the point of no return. "They will have a painful punishment on account of their denial." (Surah al-Baqara, 10) Denial and lying is a common characteristic among them. They tend to be deceitful, their faces reflecting the filth and darkness of deception. People who tend to lie usually have foolish, weird expressions. They have thievish, unlovely appearances. They have a peculiar aura.

In the 52nd verse of Surah al-Ma'ida, God says; "Yet you see those with sickness in their hearts... saying, ‘We fear the wheel of fate may turn against us.’" They always expect things to go downhill, Muslims to disband, to be plagued with starvation, unable to find anything to eat, to become homeless, wars to break out, or coups to take place. Or they expect an attack on Muslims, which would result in Muslims becoming overwhelmed and ending up devastated. They always occupy their minds with such nonsensical, foolish, evil, vile thoughts. This is caused by their sickness. Look, "Yet you see those with sickness in their hearts rushing to them, saying, ‘We fear the wheel of fate may turn against us.’" They expect the wheel of fate to turn against them, not in their favor. They tell this to each other, provoking thoughts such as "Something terrible might happen to us. I am turning more vile, growing older and more feeble by the moment. I am becoming more and more inapt. I am too weak to perform prayers. I am too weak to fast. I am too weak to remember God." This is something that the believers will see. "But it may well be that God will bring about victory or some other contingency…" an authority, a preeminence, a power, "…from Him. Then they will deeply regret their secret thoughts." (Surah al-Ma'ida, 52) This is how it is for the Mahdi movement. In their weary and miserable state, such people do not expect the Mahdi movement to emerge. But when the reign of Islam is established, they regret all their past deeds as all their villainy is now known to all. And since this is witnessed by all Muslims, they cannot ever deny doing so.

Again in the 51st verse of Surah al-Qalam, God says; "Those who disbelieve all but strike you down with their evil looks when they hear the Reminder (the Qur'an)," when they heart the verses of God. They look in such a vile, foul, thievish manner that this is how the Qur'an describes their repulsiveness. God says that their looks are so evil that they can strike people down. God says this in Surah al-Qalam, 51.

In the 53rd verse of Surah al-Hajj, God says; "(It is) so that He can make what Satan insinuates," in other words, satan inspires on the person, "a trial for those with sickness in their hearts and for those whose hearts are hard..." God also mentions those whose hearts are hard. Such people are so thick skinned that the mention of God does not have any effect on them. Talking about religion does not affect them. In fact, this is the main characteristic of the sickness. A heart that lacks sensibility. But God says that there is a sickness in their hearts. And in the second expression, He says, "for those whose hearts are hard..." In other words, such people does not possess any compassion or mercy. They do not have any sense of responsibility. They bear typical animal qualities. They are only concerned with their own, foul, artificial troubles and problems. They are dealing with the image they have created in their own heads. , "...so that He (God) can make a trial for those with sickness in their hearts and those whose hearts are hard." A trial to expose their immorality and depravity. "the wrongdoers are entrenched in hostility." (Surah al-Hajj, 53) God says that these tyrants are away from the reality. They do not know about the truth. In other words, they are unrealistic. They only pursue such foolish, imaginary, foul delusions.

In the 49th verse of Surah al-Anfal, Almighty God says; "And when the hypocrites and those with sickness in their hearts said..." They use the same discourse as well. Both sides base their views on the facts of life and logic. This is why they are never happy. According to the Qur'an, a person cannot reach happiness through this way. They act in line with the facts of life. Because they are of the crooked craftsman mentality. They have a fraudulent mentality. I seek refuge in God from satan, "And when the hypocrites and those with sickness in their hearts said, ”These people have been deluded by their religion.’" Their religion led Muslims astray. They were deluded; the religion has taken away their happiness, beauty, prosperity, well-being along many others. However, it is just the opposite. The religion has  given everything, but in their foolish minds, they see things in the exact opposite way. "But those who put their trust in God..." Those with sickness in their hearts find it irrational to put one's trust in God. Because they believe themselves to be rationalistic. They base their actions on reason and avoid trusting in God. But it is believers who are being rationalistic by putting their trust in God. But according to such people, believers are being irrational. According to hypocrites and those with sickness in their hearts, believers are not rationalistic. Because it contradicts with ‘the facts of life.’ They say, "Troubles are around the corner, yet you talk about trusting God." They have the a wrong approach. "But those who put their trust in God will find God to be Almighty, All-Wise." (Surah al-Anfal, 49) God says that His wisdom is beyond our knowledge. Hypocrites and those who have sickness in their hearts believe in their rotten, deceitful minds that they make rationalistic assessments of all events. They constantly brood over their future and what they will do. Who has taken care of you to this age? God has. Why have you vainly let yourself live in misery? They think doing so is wise. This is why they have a exceedingly crooked expressions.

In the 11th and 12th verse of Surah al-Baqara, God says referring to hypocrites and those with sickness in their hearts, "When they are told, ‘Do not cause corruption on the earth,’ do not cause mischief and strive against Muslims, "they say, ‘We are only putting things right.’" (Surah al-Baqara, 11) In other words, they say "We are only calling you to the right path. First of all, why do you stand united? Go your separate ways and get on with your own lives. Why would Muslims have to be in unity?"

"Islam is practiced on an individual level," they say. When they are asked about the verses, they reply, "But this is also a verse from God" The fools fail to realize that the verse says this because it is the first time the Prophet Abraham (pbuh) receives a commandment from God. "The Prophet Abraham (pbuh) was a community in himself," they cite the verse. But when he told his wife an hour later, the community grew to two, and when he told his servants three hours later, it grew to four. The next day, twenty more learned about the religion. Thus, the number grew more and more. When God said so, He meant about the first moments of his prophethood. Do you see how foolish they are? They interpret the first verse sent down in the first moments of the Prophet Abraham's (pbuh) prophethood as 'this is how Muslims should always be.'