43 - Steering away from hypocrisy

Hypocrisy is one of the worst ills that affect individuals and communities alike. Islam gives very strong warnings against hypocrisy. It clearly states the hypocrites’ characteristics so that believers should beware of them, ensuring that none such can be attributed to them.

1. In this hadith the Prophet (peace be upon him) mentions four qualities that must not belong to a Muslim. These are the qualities of hypocrites, and if all four happen to be combined by one person, then that person is a complete hypocrite.

The other type is practical hypocrisy, such as lying and reneging on one’s promises and pledges, as mentioned in the hadith. This type does not take a person out of Islam altogether, but it gives him a quality of hypocrisy, making him similar to the hypocrite and equally liable to suffer God’s punishment. 

2"A person may not possess all four qualities combined, but he may have one or more of them. He, thus, harbours a measure of hypocrisy in proportion to what he has collected of these qualities.

3. The first of these qualities is that of betraying trust. Betrayal means to act unlawfully in respect of what is given to him on trust, such as selling an item, or denying having it, or taking a portion of it, or being careless about keeping it safe. ‘Trust’ refers to everything a person is entrusted with, which may be money or property, honour or a right due to someone else. It may also mean the entire religious message, because God has given this to us in trust so that we should implement it and teach it to others. God describes disobedience to His Book and the

4". The second quality is lying. God commands us to speak the truth.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) warns against the ultimate outcome of lying.

The Prophet saw in his dream a man whose mouth, nostrils and eyes were being slit open right up to his back. He asked about him and he was told that he would tell a lie and it is then reported throughout the world.[2]

5. The third of these qualities is being treacherous. A person may promise and give pledges, but he does not honour that promise. God has forbidden treachery and emphasized its prohibition in several places in the Qur’an.

The last of these four qualities is that when having a quarrel, a person moves away from the truth, makes dishonest responses and tries to take what is not rightfully his. This is particularly true if he is eloquent and argumentative.

God has commanded all His servants to be fair in all matters. He further orders us not to allow our hostility to tempt us to treat our opponents unfairly.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) tells us the ultimate outcome of one who wrongfully takes something that belongs by right to someone else.

These four qualities sum up the essential qualities of hypocrisy. There are other characteristics that may come under these four, such as being untrue to one’s promises. In fact, hypocrisy comprises many characteristics, but all these come under the four main umbrellas outlined in this hadith. It behoves every Muslim to endeavour not to collect any of these qualities or characteristics.

Implementation

1"A distinctive feature of the Prophet’s method of teaching is that he uses all aids to illustrate his meaning. One such aid is the use of numbers. When a person learns that the qualities that are about to be mentioned are four, he will be eager to listen and count, so that he subsequently remembers. Scholars and advocates of Islam should use such aids when they address people and teach their students.

2. Hypocrisy is the worst of all characteristics. Indeed, every part of hypocrisy is evil. A wise and true person will steer away from it, but does not claim immunity from it. Ibn Abi Mulaykah, who belonged to the tābi‘īn generation, said: ‘I met thirty companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Every one of them feared that hypocrisy might creep into him. None of them said that his faith was as strong as that of the Angels Gabriel and Michael’.[4]

3. A Muslim should be a responsible person. He should be careful about whatever is given to him in trust, whether it is given by one’s parents, managers at work, friends, or anyone else. If he fears that he may forget it or forget where he has put it, he should write it down. It is reported that some devout people used to write down anything given them in trust, even if it were nothing more than a pencil or a small sum of money.

4"To be faithful to one’s trust is a quality of good and noble people. Prior to Islam, the people of Makkah gave the Prophet the nickname al-amīn, which means ‘trustworthy’. Being true to one’s trust requires patience, accuracy and care.

5. It is important to train oneself to be always truthful, even in simple and trivial matters. Truthfulness is a very good habit to acquire. One should not justify a lie as a joke, or a pleasantry, etc. Nothing is served by lying. A person may continue to lie until lying becomes a characteristic which he does not even try to avoid. He thus becomes known as a liar. Remember that lying is the worst characteristic. Abu Sufyān was still an unbeliever when he was interviewed by Heraclius about the Prophet. He could have lied, but he felt that it was a disgrace to lie, and he answered truthfully.

6. The Prophet (peace be upon him) ordered Muslims to remain true to their pledges, even when dealing with unbelievers at a time of war. Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān narrated: ‘Noting stopped me from taking part in the Battle of Badr except that my father, Ḥusayl, and I marched, but we were taken by the unbelievers of the Quraysh. They asked us: “Are you going to join Muhammad?” We said: “We are not. We only want to go to Madinah”. They took from us a firm pledge by God that we would go to Madinah and would not fight with him. We went to God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) and told him. He said: “Go home. We honour the pledge given to them and we seek God’s help against them”’.[5] It should be noted that the Prophet did not allow Ḥudhayfah and his father to join him in the battle against unbeliever enemies, honouring the promise that had been given to those very enemies.

7. A treacherous party may achieve some victory or gain through such treachery, but he should not rejoice at this. The ultimate result is a great and shameful exposure.

A treacherous person may be able to manage his affairs so that his treachery remains unknown to people in this life, but where will he hide on the Day of Judgement when a banner is raised over his treachery and beheld by all mankind?

8. It is important not to justify being untrue to trust, lying, treachery or resorting to falsehood in a quarrel on account that someone else has done the same. Do not do any of these to anyone who does it to you. A Muslim heeds God’s commands and does not follow his own desires.