This is the 63rd. surah of the Qur’an.
It is a very short surah, it’s only 11 ayat.
These 11 ayat are a comprehensive overview of what hypocrisy is all about.
Get to Know a Surah of the Quran is a series of videos brother Nouman Ali Khan presented in 2016 during the month of Ramadan.
The following is a summary of some of the most important points and reflections brother Nouman mentioned in this fifteenth episode.
Introduction
It is a scary thing: No one feels secure from hypocrisy except a hypocrite and no one is afraid of hypocrisy except a sincere believer.
May Allah (SWT) make us all sincere, and keep us vigilant about this sneaky disease that can enter into our system from anywhere.
Allah describes the scary criticism of the hypocrites in these ayat and it begins with those who tried to impress the Prophet, peace be upon him, and impose on him how sincerely and genuinely they believed.
Faith is something that is in the heart. You don’t have to proclaim it and talk to people about how strongly you believe.
That is actually in itself an indication of a guilty conscience.
{When the hypocrites come to you, [O Muhammad], they say, “We testify that you are the Messenger of Allah.” And Allah knows that you are His Messenger, and Allah testifies that the hypocrites are liars.} (63:1)
Fake Testimony
Why does Allah testify that hypocrites are lying, if they testified that you are the Messenger of Allah?
Isn’t that the truth?
That’s a true statement, so how can they be lying if they are saying something that is actually true?
That’s why the word nash-hadu (we testify) is important.
It is not the fact that the Prophet is the Messenger of Allah is not what’s not a lie.
But it’s the fact that they are testifying…
Their testimony is a lie.
Allah says that their testimony is fake.
It is not a representation of what you have in your hearts.
{They have taken their oaths as a cover, so they averted [people] from the way of Allah. Indeed, it was evil that they were doing.} (63:2)
They’ve taken their oaths as a shield, and they’ve used this oath as a shield, in other words now Muslims can’t say anything to them because they are fellow Muslims.
And under that guise, they reek whatever havoc they can, they create whatever chaos they can, because they are not the enemies of Islam…
They are Muslims themselves. They obstruct from the path of Allah. You know this phrase, they obstruct themselves, and they obstruct others from the path of Allah.
This is the phraseology used in the Qur’an for disbelievers.
Now Allah uses it for hypocrites.
He uses it for people who are Muslims and use their Islam as a means by which they can destroy Islam from within it, and hurt the community from within, and hurt fellow believers from within.
What a horrible decision they’ve made. What a horrible behavior (Indeed, it was evil that they were doing)
How Did They Get There?
Then Allah describe how did they get there …
Really scary ayah:
{That is because they believed, and then they disbelieved; so their hearts were sealed over, and they do not understand.} (63:3)
They originally had faith, but it deteriorated into disbelief.
It’s not like they were bad all along.
They did have faith at some point. But it deteriorated.
They did not preserve this thing that they were supposed to preserve.
What we are learning in the Qur’an is that there are people who think they still have faith on the outside, because everybody says “wa alaikum as-salam” when they say “as-salamo alaikom” …
They look like Muslims … They act like Muslims …
But to Allah their hearts have already disbelieved.
They’ve already walked away from this faith.
They’ve let it deteriorate.
And that’s not something that anybody can decide from the outside, as it is only known from the inside.
And they don’t even realize.
They don’t have an understanding of what they’ve done.
So this first passage is an overview. These people are not in the inside what they are on the outside.
As far as Allah is concerned, He will raise them as disbelievers on Judgment Day, may Allah not make us from them.
By the way, hypocrites are described with more intense punishment in the Qur’an than disbelievers.
They are in the lowest pit of the Hell Fire…
May Allah protect us from hypocrisy.
Instructions to the Prophet
The second passage is instructions to the Prophet:
When you see them coming to Islam, their physical presence impresses you, at least we have more numbers now. It’s not like Makkah when we had few believers.
Now that we have a lot more people, Allah says you will see on the outside that there are a lot more people, and you just get impressed. You shouldn’t be:
{And when you see them, their forms please you, and if they speak, you listen to their speech. [They are] as if they were pieces of wood propped up – they think that every shout is against them. They are the enemy, so beware of them. May Allah destroy them; how are they deluded?} (63:4)
And when they come and try to get your attention and they speak to you, you actually listen to them, because you are genuinely giving benefit of the doubt, and this is actually not a criticism but actually a compliment to the Prophet peace be upon him. He does not hold suspicion against these people.
Even when hypocrites come, only Allah knows they have hypocrisy in their hearts, when they come and speak to you, you actually give them an ear.
Allah describes them as leaning planks of wood. It looks like it is a pretty solid plank, but it can’t stand on its own, it has to lean on something.
And that’s the image of a hypocrite, leaning on their credibility by coming and talking to the Prophet…
I will tell you something about that.
What they are really good at is PR.
They don’t come and talk to the Prophet, peace be upon him, because they are interested in learning from the Prophet.
They come and talk to the Prophet, peace be upon him, so that other people see that man was talking to the Prophet … He must be really close to him.
And that’s how he becomes legitimate.
And that’s how they lean on the credibility of the Prophet, peace be upon him, by just coming and talking to him.
This is how Allah exposes these hypocrites in this surah, May Allah not make us from them.
To find out more reflections and details on this surah explained by brother Nouman and how the Surah concludes, and to watch the full episode, please click here.
Read also Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3– Part 4– Part 5 – Part 6 – Part 7– Part 8 – Part 9– Part 10 – Part 11 – Part 12 –Part 13 – Part 14
(From Discovering Islam archive)