By Sheikh Khalid ibn Ali al-Ghamdi – 01 Rabi Al-Thani 1438

His Eminence Sheikh Khalid ibn Ali al-Ghamdi – May Allah protect him – delivered the Friday Khutbah entitled “Characteristics of Hypocrites in the Qur’an and the Sunnah” in which he warned against hypocrisy and hypocrites, and explained that hypocrisy is divided into two categories: major and minor. He cited the most typical characteristics of hypocrites as revealed in the verses of the Clear Book to expose them and disclose their hypocrisy. The Sheikh equally mentioned some defining features of minor hypocrisy lest they gradually develop into major hypocrisy; we seek refuge in Allah from such a characteristic.

Praise be to Allah! We praise Him, seek His assistance, forgiveness, and refuge in Him from our own evils and misdeeds. He whom Allah guides will not be misguided (by anybody else) and he whom Allah misguides will find none to guide him. I bear witness that there is no deity except Allah alone with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger. May Allah send His profuse Salat (Graces, Honours, and Mercy), and Peace upon him, his Family, his Companions, and all those who follow in their footsteps until the Day of Judgement!

Now then,

O Servants of Allah! Do observe Taqwa (fear) vis-à-vis Allah and have a sense of His omnipresence both in inward thoughts and outward expressions. In fact, the real meaning of taqwa is devotion to Allah, truthfulness with Him, fear of disobeying His commands in all circumstances, and refinement of one’s inward thoughts which are the locus of the scrutiny of our Lord –May He be glorified!

Be careful! There are certain people who will come on Doomsday with good deeds as white as Tihama Mountains, but Allah will turn their deeds into tiny dispersed dust particles because they used to violate Allah’s sacred ordinances whenever they found the opportunity to do so. In so doing, they considered Allah as the least venerated witness to their misdeeds:

“They (the Jews, Quraish pagans, idolaters, etc.) did not estimate Allâh with an estimation due to Him…” [Al-An’aam: 91]

O Muslims!

Allah has ordained that this Mohammedan Ummah should in these times be the object of avid contestants swiftly swarming from every mound. They have arranged together for sharing its resources, and jointly worked to dismantle its unity, impede its progress, and delay its development. Fortunately, Allah, the Compassionate, has not left the Ummah bereft of advice and warning against such enemies. He has instead exposed their malicious schemes and wicked machinations. Allah –May He be glorified− has made it clear that the enemies of the Ummah fall into two classes.

First, there are the infidels, who are manifest unbelievers. Their enmity is so obvious and their plotting against Muslims is so clear. This is confirmed by Allah –May He be exalted− in this verse:

“…verily, the disbelievers are ever unto you open enemies.” [Al-Nisaa’: 101]

It means that they are clearly identifiable as enemies. Paradoxically, it has not taken the Ummah so long to uncover them and take precautions against their wrongdoings. This is because they are so conspicuous and their presence is quite unmistakable.

Nonetheless, in dealing with hypocrites, the Ummah has been enduring a series of painful moments since the time of the Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family! This second class of enemies are enemy number one of the Ummah. They are chameleon-like deceivers. They keep stabbing the Ummah with their poisoned knives, targeting its religion, creed, unity, and unanimity. They constantly lie in ambush for the Ummah to get it ensnared in their machinations and to provoke seditious actions and turmoil.

They will remain a constant source of sufferance until the greatest chief of all hypocrites, the one-eyed antichrist accompanied by Jews and hypocrites, appears. Then, Allah will doom them to death at the hands of the genuine Christ of guidance –Issa ibn Maryam (Jesus Christ, the son of Mary) −May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and upon our Prophet!

O Servants of Allah!

During the Makkah era of Islam, at the time of Prophet Muhammad –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family– the emergence of hypocrisy was pointless because unbelievers used to be open enemies. However, hypocrisy first emerged in the aftermath of the great Ghazwah (Battle) of Badr when the Jews, along with those whose hearts were malady-stricken (i.e. sceptics and hypocrites) noticed the first signs of the success of the Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family! In fact, when they realised that the banners of Islam were gaining ground, they started panicking over their own safety. Then, the Jews proposed to their allies the hypocrisy strategy. In this regard, Allah –May He be glorified‒ said:

“And a party of the people of the Scripture say: “Believe in the morning in that which is revealed to the believers (Muslims), and reject it at the end of the day, so that they may turn back.” [Al Imran: 72]

Only then was the first sparkle of hypocrisy triggered, and gradually, it started making inroads into Muslim reality. A malicious Jewish tree, irrigated by the wicked machinations of those whose hearts were malady-stricken, became noticeable. As a result, hypocrisy has served as shelter for deceivers who harboured grudge and extreme hatred against Islam and Muslims, and the umbrella under which they coalesce. Thus, they have become like a sharp thorn pricking the body of the Ummah. Indeed, they represented a much more serious source of hostile threats for the faith and resources of the Ummah than did the manifest unbelievers.

On account of their evil deeds, their malicious inward thoughts, and their premeditated schemes to harm the Ummah, Allah –May He be glorified− has taken it upon Himself to uncover the scandals of such infiltrators. Allah –May He be glorified− has exposed their danger, typical traits, behavioural characteristics, real motives, and the appropriate strategy to deal with them. He explained everything in great, masterful verses which sound like a raging, electrical thunderstorm laying bare the truth of their hidden schemes.

They are such vibrant verses; it sounds as if they were revealed today. They are replete with meaning and life. This, for instance, applies to the first thirteen verses of Surat al-Baqarah as well as the following Surats: Surat Al Imran, Surat al-Nissaa’, al-Anfal, al-Ahzab, Muhammad, al-Fat’h, al-Hadeed, al-Mujadilah, al-Hashr, and al-Munafiqoon. What a marvellous account of the hypocrites’ reality and their personality profile Allah gives in Surat al-Tawbah –also called the Disgracer (i.e. of hypocrites)! Allah –May He be glorified− kept iterating in that Surat the expression “amongst them” until the Prophet’s Companions had the impression that nobody would remain unmentioned.

Prophet Muhammad – May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family– clearly explained many of their typical characteristics and personality traits, and how to deal with them. He did all that in words, deeds, and in his practical seerah (biography) –all of which are comprehensively detailed in his Sunnah. The main rationale behind that –servants of Allah− is to alert Muslims to the imminent perils of hypocrisy and make them aware of the fact that hypocrites are their real enemy. O servants of Allah! Watch out! Beware of their danger! May Allah destroy them, how deluded they are!

O Muslims!

Hypocrisy as condemned by Allah and by His Messenger –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family– is divided into two types, both of which quintessentially refer to some discrepancy and divergence between a person’s inner state and outward behaviour. If this phenomenon is assignable to a discrepancy between a person’s declared adherence to Islam and faith according to prescribed norms in the Islamic creed, on the one hand, and a hidden adherence to unbelief and false creeds, on the other hand, then it is called major hypocrisy of belief. This type of hypocrisy is tantamount to heresy. Hypocrites of this type have only verbally adhered to faith but their hearts are still in a state of unbelief.

These hypocrites show certain characteristics unambiguously explained by Allah. Such typical characteristics become manifest in their tone of voice, their behaviour, and the secrets they confide to their peers and partners in private. The Holy Qur’an has not mentioned hypocrites in person; nor has it cited their names. Alternatively, its description of hypocrites always focuses on outlining their traits and actions. This unique approach of the Qur’an is quite useful because it has a durable psychological impact as well as safer repercussions. After all, hypocrisy and hypocrites are not an isolated historical incident that faded away; they rather represent a recurrent stereotype, independent of time and place.

Such hypocrites are themselves subcategorised into various types. Some of them hate Islam, its rites, and its followers, and they wish to refer legislation to Taghut2 (false divinities).

“And when they are called to Allâh (i.e. His Words, the Qur’ân) and His Messenger (SAW), to judge between them, lo! a party of them refuse (to come) and turn away.” [Al-Noor: 48]

Others disbelieve Allah and His Messenger, either totally or partially. To all appearances, they love Islam and wish to champion its cause, but in reality they have a different truth inside. Such hypocrites are similar to those who took for themselves a mosque3, concealing sheer unbelief, perfidy, betrayal, and aiming to harm Muslims.

Still another subcategory of hypocrites is represented by those who do harm to the Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family− both verbally and physically. They loathe him, mock him, and cast doubt on his Sunnah and guidance. They equally engage in slanderous allegations against those who adhere to his Sunnah and ridicule them, especially the Companions of the Messenger of Allah –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family− including the rightly-guided caliphs, the rest of the Companions, and the Mothers of the Believers (i.e. the Prophet’s wives) −May Allah be pleased with them all!

Amongst hypocrites, there are also those who hate to see Islam and its followers victorious. They do not want Your Lord to bestow bounties upon you. They observe neither the ties of kinship nor the bonds of covenant of protection.4 They rejoice at the defeat of Muslims and gloat at seeing enemies killing, devastating, and displacing them.

“… Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, but what their breasts conceal is far worse…” [Al Imran: 118]

They bite the tips of their fingers out of rage at Muslims.5 Besides, they would have liked to see you among the infidels, just like them, so that you would be in the same boat. If you benefit from something good, they feel grieved; conversely, if some evil befalls you, they rejoice at it.6

Yet another subcategory of hypocrites watch for calamities afflicting Muslims,7 and wish that you would go through ordeals and suffer from seditious acts. They constantly seek to spread a spirit of defeatism among Muslims, destroy their power, revel in their wounds and sufferings, disrupt their unity, devastate their countries and their capital cities. This is what the esoteric groups –the hypocrites of the contemporary era− are doing right now. They are the descendants of ibn al-Alqami8, along with those who cooperated with them among the so-called defenders of the Islamic Caliphate. It is somehow a misnomer to refer to such liars and deceivers, since they propagate sectarianism and pre-Islamic fanaticism, incite rebellion against Muslim rulers, and attempt to cause Muslim leaders and populations to fall into in the quagmire of devastation, annihilation, sabotage, and chaos.

This is similar to the case of earlier hypocrites who used to show obedience to the Messenger of Allah –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family– but once they leave his place –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family– some of them engage in premeditated evil acts and start plotting against the Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family– through disobeying him. For this very reason, they repeatedly attempted to assassinate the Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family– but Allah protected him against their plotting.

It was the hypocrites again who orchestrated sedition against the Caliph Othman ibn Affan ‒May Allah the Almighty be pleased with him− and incited a ragtag throng of subjects to rebel against him. Consequently, he was martyred without losing his composure and trust in divine reward. He actually abided by the advice the Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family– gave him when he said: “O Othman! Allah decreed that you be entrusted with a given mission. Should the hypocrites want to divest you of such divine attire, do not put it off until you meet me [in the hereafter].” [Narrated by Ahmad and al-Tirmithi with an authentic chain of narrators]

There is another subcategory of hypocrites who rarely mention or refer to Allah. They hate reciting the Qur’an. I swear by Allah that carrying rocks is for hypocrites easier than reciting the Qur’an on a regular basis:

“…They have forgotten Allâh. So, He has forgotten them…” [Al-Tawbah: 67]

“And when Allâh Alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who believe not in the Hereafter are filled with disgust (from the Oneness of Allâh … and when those (whom they obey or worship) besides Him [like all false deities other than Allâh, it may be a Messenger like ‘Iesa (Jesus) ­ son of Maryam (Mary), ‘Uzair (Ezra), an angel, a pious man, a jinn, or any other creature even idols, graves of religious people, saints, priests, monks, etc.] are mentioned, behold, they rejoice!” [Al-Zumar: 45]

There are still others who enjoin evil and forbid good. They wish to propagate immorality among the believers in order to spread agitation and misguidance in the Muslim community. When they meet the believers, they say to them: “We are believers,”9 but as soon as they enter privacy, they smite you with sharp tongues.10 They are miserly people who refrain from spending (in the cause of Allah); and even if they happen to spend some money, they do so against their will. When you see them, you will be impressed by their property, progeny, and posture.11 When they speak, you listen to their eloquent speech and ornamented sophistry. However, they are the most cowardly, fearful, and panicky type. They mistake every shout for a yell at them. This is why they hated to be involved in jihad. They are content to be with those who sit behind. Their hearts are sealed up (from all kinds of goodness and right guidance), so they can hardly understand any such thing.12 This is but a sample of the major characteristics of hypocrites about whom Allah said: “…Verily, the hypocrites are the Fâsiqûn (rebellious, disobedient to Allâh). …” [Al-Tawbah: 67]

“Verily, the hyprocrites will be in the lowest depths (grade) of the Fire;…” [Al-Nissaa’: 145]

O Muslim Ummah!

It is this major hypocrisy which was manifest at the time of the Prophet – May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family– and verses of the Holy Qur’an were then revealed to judge such people as unbelievers and doomed to an everlasting dwelling in Hell-fire. Abdullah ibn Ubayy, the then head of the hypocrites, felt hatred towards the Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family– when the latter first set foot in Madinah as immigrant. His advent sent out beams of his ‘prophetic brightness’ across the city causing people to rally around the Messenger of Allah –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family– with utmost jubilation and joy.

The event infuriated ibn Ubayy who was harboring long-lasting enmity vis-à-vis the Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family! Ibn Ubayy, along with a number of Jews and wicked individuals, began plotting against the Prophet ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family– and his Companions. He betrayed the Prophet – May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family– in the Battle of Uhud by pulling out a third of the army, leaving the Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family– an easy target for the polytheists.

Ibn Ubayy and his clan then sought to rally the Confederates in an attempt to lay siege against the Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him and his Family– in Madinah. They were at the head of those traitors and agitators who were trying to dishearten and weaken the Muslims.

It was they who were behind the infamous Ifk13 incident which was set up to insult and malign the pure private life of the Prophet, and ultimately bring down the icon of Islam and Muslims. This incident was but one among a string of numerous plots and intrigues by such a hypocritical clan that has turned out to be a bad example for those concealing infidelity, betrayal, treachery and maliciousness towards Muslims. Allah says:

“Give to the hypocrites the tidings that there is for them a painful torment. Those who take disbelievers for Auliyâ’ (protectors or helpers or friends) instead of believers, do they seek honour, power and glory with them? Verily, then to Allâh belongs all honour, power and glory.” [Al-Nissaa’: 138-139]

May Allah bless you and me with the Great Qur’an, and may He benefit us with the signs and wise sayings it contains! I say this and pray Allah, the Almighty, the Exalted, to forgive you and me and all the Muslims! So pray Him for forgiveness. He is All-Forgiving, All-Merciful!