The Five Signs of Hidden Hypocrisy

Alhamdulillah. Why should.

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Tonight I want to share a narration of our prophet. It's actually two narrations and tomorrow night inshallah we will continue and pick up where we left off in. These narrations were collected by Muslim on the authority of The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam warns us in these narrations and enlightens us. It's important for us to understand something and that is that whatever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chose to speak about in the Quran as far as the ailments of the heart and the issues in the prophet's time was in them and he spoke about it in the Quran that is to secure and make sure that all Muslims afterwards will have access to that. This means that it's something that is not going to go away. It's always going to be a part of humanity, a part of our environment, a part of our social environment that we have to navigate. And one of those things is hypocrisy. and be felt. Hypocrisy is incredibly terrifying. And that is because hypocrisy is not just yes or no. It's not just black or white as they say. It's a spectrum. Right? We hear this often. It's a spectrum. Ne is a spectrum. When we look at the essence of hypocrisy, what is the essence of hypocrisy? The essence of hypocrisy is that what is inside doesn't match what is outside. That's the essence of hypocrisy. If we were to say boil down the attitude of hypocrisy, what is the attitude of hypocrisy? The attitude of hypocrisy is what can I get and what can I not give. This is the attitude of hypocrisy. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us about the essence of hypocrisy. They say with their tongues, what is not in their hearts what is outside doesn't match what is what is inside. And the attitude which is what can I gain when it's for me I'm here and when it's asked of me I refrain.

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The attitude of I am with the Muslims when there's something to celebrate or something to gain. But I am not with the Muslims when it is something that I have to sacrifice or something that I have to give. Again, this is a spectrum. This is a spectrum. And because it's a spectrum, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala refers in the Quran to the hypocrites. will be immoral. And those who have an illness in their hearts, they're not fully fully fully hypocrites. They're not disbelievers. They believe, but they have elements of hypocrisy in them. And for this reason, hypocrisy is so terrifying because the place of hypocrisy is the lowest level of the hellfire. Allah Subhanahua says that the hypocrites are in the lowest levels of hell and even you could not find a victor or a relief for them. Speaking to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And so hypocrisy is a spectrum in the sense that a person can have elements of hypocrisy and these parts of himself where do they belong in the lowest parts of hell. This is why it is so frightening. A person can have these elements in himself in herself and they are carrying around within their body and within their souls and hearts things that belong in the lowest levels of hell. And so for this reason, Allah mainly in the Quran and especially during the Medani era after Hijra focused on the hypocrites the most and exposing them, mentioning their characteristics, their aspects, etc. If we were to look at this attitude, the attitude of when the Muslims have something to gain, I'm a Muslim. And when it's time to give of yourself, , this is none of my business. How common place is this attitude? for instance, how do we apply this to our lives? A person may come to the masid and mistreat the masid and interrupt and disrupt and then say the masid belongs to Allah now it belongs to Allah and they're part of the masid now right but when it comes time to come let's clean the masid let's give our money to the masid let's volunteer our time to the masid nowhere to be out. These kinds of small things that you notice, this is what eats away at the Muslim well-being and the Muslim body. The prophet sallall.aii wasallam said that the Muslim are one body one body. If one part of the body is ailing, the rest of the body suffers with sleeplessness and fever because of that one ailing part. Correct? Here's the problem with hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is the cancer of the Muslim ummah just physical cancer is to the human body. Why is that? What is cancer? What is it? Cancer are cells that trick your body into thinking that they are part of you and your body starts to build blood vessels for the cancer and sends oxygen to the cancer and sends nourishment to the cancer even though this cancer is what's killing you. And so the cancer takes all it can from the body and gives nothing back in return. And this is what makes the body fall. This is what spells the demise of the body. And hypocrisy does the same thing. It is hypocrisy is the cancer of the Muslim ummah's body just cancer is to the to the human physical body. The prophet sallall.aii Wasallam said.

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He said four traits. Whoever has these four traits is a fullblown hypocrite mon. And whoever has of these traits then this person has elements of hypocrisy in him until he abandons these traits. In another narration in Sah Muslim he said he said that the sign of a hypocrite are three things and when he mentioned them he said he said he is a fullblown hypocrite even if he prays prays and fasts and claims to be a Muslim. Now, it doesn't mean that whoever has these elements, even if they have all of them, that this person is hopeless and their soul is damned and they are no longer Muslim. That is not what the narration means. What this means is this person has given himself over to hypocrisy. Why? Because hypocrisy is viewed as being a separate rank from the ranks of the believers. It is a separate rank. They are not. And so when a person has all of these traits, they have stood in their ranks even if only with their actions. And so what are these traits? He said, "When he speaks, lies come out. When he speaks, he lies." Now, notice the wording here. When he speaks, he lies. When he speaks, this doesn't mean that this person says one or two lies here and there, a mistruth, an exaggeration. And this is something that is very hard to find someone who's completely purged of that, especially with the way people speak and so forth. We all suffer from a little bit of hyperbole. We all suffer from a little bit of exaggeration and embellishment. We all suffer from selective truth, things that we say and hide other things. This is something that happens on occasion. However, a person who, notice the wording,.

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Slight lies here and there, mistruths, exaggerations. No, no, no. He said when he speaks, he lies. Meaning this is his nature. His nature is just lies flow naturally. This is a sign of hypocrisy. a major sign of hypocrisy. The next he says, notice the wording, and when he promises, he breaks his promise. We've all been forced to break our promise at one point or another. Correct? Every one of us. But there's a difference between that and intending to break your promise when you're making the promise. This is hypocrisy. When he promises, he breaks his promise. Meaning the moment he makes the promise, he has no intention of fulfilling that promise. Another he says, "And if he is entrusted, he is treacherous." If he is entrusted, he is treacherous. That's the nature of hypocrisy. Remember we mentioned in the introduction to this that what is the essence of hypocrisy? The outside doesn't match the inside. What is the attitude of hypocrisy? I want what I can get but I don't want to give anything in response. Here and when he is entrusted he's treacherous. As soon as you show your soft underbelly to him or as soon as they are able to learn something about you that is sensitive, a secret, anything they are entrusted with, they use it as leverage. This is not something of, oh, this is my Muslim's back, let me protect it. No, no, you're not dealing with that kind of person. You're dealing with someone who is looking for leverage and looking to exploit at every turn. This is his nature. a wild animal, if you turn your back to a wild animal, what happens? They pounce. They take advantage. He says, "And when he pledges allegiance or makes a truce or treaty, he will not follow follow through with that and he will prove treacherous." And another one that could be one of the most important traits that is often overlooked. Listen to the words and when he disputes he becomes sinful. Now this is from What is in the Arabic language? Is that a person propagate that a person that a person initiate sinfulness, vulgarity and exaggeration in in haram? This is fuul, right? And as fujul was taken from the root word when something expands from nothing. This is why we refer to the sunrise as what? Why? Because it cuts across the horizon and the light comes from seemingly nowhere. This is the nature of the hypocrite. The nature is when he disputes all that venom starts to come out. It's not it's not within the limitations of dispute. We all dispute. We're brothers, right? We're brothers. We all dispute with each other. Who of us does not have a dispute with another? The companions had disputes. Who are the most virtuous companions out of all the companions? Huh? Abu Bakr and after Abu Bakr Abu Bakr and Omar had multiple arguments and got upset with each other and when he complained to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam about each other. These happened this happens with every two human beings. Why? Because whenever you have two free wills, they must clash. It will happen. This is one of the evidences that our creator is one. Because if there were two free wills that could create and so the point here is that disputes happen. But how does the Muslim believer dispute? And how does the lonely, lonely hypocrite dispute? The hypocrite cannot control himself. When he disputes, he wants to hurt and harm his whomever he is disputing with. He could be friends for 20 years with someone, but as soon as that dispute happens, he will try to tear him down in the most petty way possible, in any way possible. There's a difference between disputing and overstepping and attempting to harm and attack the other person. The prophet sallall.aiam said, insulting the Muslim is it is rebellious sinfulness and fighting the Muslim is an an act of a type of the actions of the is what disbelievers do. This is not what Muslims do. And so So, when he disputes, he goes as far as he can to inflict as much harm as possible, whether it be with insults, belittlement, , venom, vitri all in the heart, right? A desire to see their Muslim brother pulled apart, right? And this this here is not a dispute. This now is hypocrisy. If I dispute with my Muslim brother, no matter how much they upset me or they're my brother, a Muslim knows his boundaries, right? Even if he was so upset, if you were to ask him, "Would you to see harm come to him?" Of course not. He's my brother, but I'm upset with him. That's a believer. a hypocrite? No. In his heart of hearts, he would wish all kinds of harm on this person. He would love to see him picked apart because of the venom and vitrial that has poisoned his heart. We're not like snakes. Allah designed the snake to have venom and not kill it. We as human beings are the first ones to be poisoned when we have venom in our heart. You know a snake it has a place in its body to keep the venom and it's healthy. It doesn't affect it. Human being doesn't have that place. When we have venom in our heart the first person to be poisoned is us. We're poisoned by that. fragile. He will backbite. He will lash out. He or she and this happens often and sad to say and we will end with this. If you were to say where do you most often see this in your experience, I see it between a man and his wife. Now, why why is that? Because our environment is a fake hypocritical environment. Everything around you. All every element of your life and my life right here in America is fake. Tell me what is what is real about it? What is real? How many politicians have smiled at us? Which smile is the real smile? Tell us. Huh? The big smile. Even the way people talk, even the way Muslims now have learned to talk, they come on the What is this? This is something that if he saw this behavior, he would have the person whipped for this kind of fakery. This is fakery, right? No matter what's happening, if I stab you in the back, just make sure it's with a velvet glove. As Makaveli says in his book, The Prince, this is the hypocrisy of this is not the Muslims. You will not be abused amongst them. You will not get any fake smiles or fake hugs with them. Right? And this was the honor of Islam. When we started to tend into fakery, exploit each other's secrets, exploit each other's vulnerabilities, this is when our body, because the Muslim is all connected as one body. The more this cancer grew in our collective body, the weaker and more vulnerable to our enemies we have become. Who is the first person we start with when we start to make change on the earth? The first person we start with when we start to make change, the person that looks back at you from the mirror. That's the first one. We don't learn this knowledge here to go and beat other people over the head with it. , the said the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said and take it to his wife and beat her over the head with it. It's not for that. I begin with the guy that's looking back at me in the mirror. Allah says, "Protect yourselves and your family." We begin with ourselves and then we spread it organically. If you do it and you do it and you do it and I do it and we all gather in one place, that cancer starts to be flushed out and purged and we start to become healthy again. It's not easy. It's not easy to tell the truth all the time. It's not easy to always be trustworthy. It's not easy to restrain yourself when you're angry. But this is what the discipline of Islam is all about. It is for lions. It's not for mere men. Subhanahu waala.

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Alhamdulillah.