Hypocrisy - The Quranic Teachings

Hypocrisy – A Personality Disorder

Hypocrisy is a personality disorder or disease [Al-Quran Sura 2: Verse 10; 8:49] in which one develops a habit of telling lies [63:1] and saying with one’s mouth what is not in one’s heart [3:167] without realising the fact that Allah knows all what is hidden in one’s heart [4:63]. While Believers openly accept and believe in an idea or ideology and the Disbelievers openly reject an idea or ideology, the Hypocrites waver between the belief and disbelief neither completely belonging to one group nor to the other [4:142-143]. When they are with one group of people they affirm, ‘we believe in the same thing as you do’, but when they are in the company of the other group they say, ‘we are all yours’ [2:14]. Such people tend to disrupt the peace, order and balance of the society but pose as if they are the reformers and the promoters of goodness [2:11]. Among their other traits is that they tend to enjoin what is forbidden by Allah’s laws and tend to forbid what is recognized by the Divine law to be good; they are close-fisted in the matter of spending for the cause of Allah and tend to over-step the bounds of uprightness [9:67]. The consequence of such people’s way of life is ultimately a terrible retribution in the form of hell, and they will indeed abide in the deepest level of fire [4:145]. You must keep clear of such hypocritical people. However, you should admonish them with such eloquence that would touch their very souls [4:63]. Additionally, you need to strive hard against such people and stand firm against them [9:73].