How to recognize hypocricy and eliminate it?

In the Name of Allah,

All praise is due to Allah, the creator and the sustainer of all creation.

If I say something wrong it is from my ego, and if I speak the truth it is from Allah.

Update on Islamic Center of Windermere: Sorry for the short notice, but the meeting is delayed until further notice. Someone has presented an alternative which I would like to discuss in person before moving forward with a general meeting.

"And of mankind, there are some who say: "We believe in Allah and the Last Day'' while in fact they do not believe. They try to deceive Allah and those who believe, while they only deceive themselves, and perceive (it) not!" (Quran 2:8-9)

When I started to try to practice Islam, one thing that keep coming back to me was the fear that I may be a hypocrite. I could be advising others to remember Allah, but not doing it myself. Or, may be I pretend to be a Muslim, but in the depths of my heart, there exist a doubt on Allah's existence. Until today, it is a constant fear, and sometimes I have caught myself acting hypocritacilly, and asked forgiveness from Allah. So, I speak from experience on this topic.

Thankfully, Quran and Sunnah provides a detection mechanism to find hypocrisy in our lives, and remove it once we find it. Before we dive into that mechanism, we have to list the two different types of Nifaq (hypocricy).

a) Greater (An-Nifaaq Al-Akbar): To present an outward appearance of belief in Allah, his Angels, his books, his messengers, the last day, etc. while concealing withing that which negates all or some of that. This is the hypocrisy which the Prophet (PBUH) confronted during his life and the ones who Allah said in the Qur’an that they are in "the lowest depth of hell-fire".

b) Lesser (An-Nifaaq Al-Asghar) or hypocrisy of action: To present an outward appearance of good and good deeds while concealing within that which negates that.

Ayah above refers to hypocricy in belief which is the worst kind of hypocrisy. Punishment for it is worst than the punishment of others in hell.

" The hypocrites are in the lowest level of the Fire. You will not find any one to help them,” (Quran 4:145)

Allah provided a detection mechanism for them in the following ayah. An hypocrite in belief would assure others of their strong beleives when in the masjid or religous discussion, but when in a more secular gathering or alone, he/she would downplay being a Muslim.

“And when they meet those who believe, they say: “We believe,” but when they are alone with their Shayâtin (devils – polytheists, hypocrites, etc.), they say: “Truly, we are with you; verily, we were but mocking.” (Quran 2:14)

Another way to detect is the habbit of avoiding all gatherings or situations where they might have to act upon their beleives.

“And when it is said to them: “Come to what Allâh has sent down and to the Messenger (Muhammad),” you (Muhammad) see the hypocrites turn away from you (Muhammad) with aversion.” (Quran 4:61)

It is not easy to eliminate hypocricy in belief, because the belief in Allah never took root in the heart. For them, Islam is a title and they play along. Only way out is to accept Allah as the master and remove the doubts from the heart.

Hypocrisy in action is the lesser type, and is more common among muslims. It means that a person has whole hartedly believed in oneness of Allah, and is muslim in heart. However, some of their actions are hypocritical. Following is the general rule to identify hypocrisy of that type.

"Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Amr:

The Prophet said, "Whoever has the following four (characteristics) will be a pure hypocrite and whoever has one of the following four characteristics will have one characteristic of hypocrisy unless and until he gives it up.

1. Whenever he is entrusted, he betrays.

2. Whenever he speaks, he tells a lie.

3. Whenever he makes a covenant, he proves treacherous.

4. Whenever he quarrels, he behaves in a very imprudent, evil and insulting manner."

(Bukhari Volume 1, Book 2, Number 33)

This is a very powerful hadith, becuase it lays it out in simple terms what are the symptoms of hypocrisy. So, if one has the four characteristics listed above, our Prophet (PBUH) is guaranteeing him or her to be a hypocrite, regardless of his other deeds. I hope none of us possess these four at the same time. When I read this hadith a while ago, it was very scary to me because I was on occassion liying, betraying the trust, breaking promises, and in the heat of the argument say whithout thinking if it is true or not.

One who has these character traits in interaction with other people is most likely to have them with regard to Allah and his Prophet (PBUH). That is why the existence of them is a ‘sign’ of the existence of greater hypocrisy, possibly.

Another sign is missing fajr and Isha salat regularly.

"Narrated Abu Hurairah (RAA) Rasualullah (SAW) said, "No prayer is harder for the hypocrites than the Fajr and the 'Isha' prayers..."(Bukhari Volume 1, Book 11, Hadith # 626)

Very common variation of hypocricy that I have noticed is that some people will act differently with a politician or rich guest, but when they leave they would act differently. Theses are the telling sign of possible deep hypocrisy, since it is a disease.

Hypocrisy in action is a disease of the heart, and it can spread fast to become the hypocrisy of belief, so we have to act fast and keep our heart healthy. Another way of looking at hypocrisy is the love for this world, because when our actions are not reflecting our beliefs, it is usually because our beliefs have become inconvenient, or we are expecting worldly loss due to our actions according to Islam. Our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has called this love for the world "rust for the heart", and prescribed two medicines below.

The Prophet [saw] once remarked: “Surely, these hearts get rusted as iron gets rusted in water." He was asked how the heart’s rust could be rubbed off. He replied: "By frequent remembrance of death and the recitation of the Qur’an.”
[Bayhaqi]

Beside these medicines, one can bring sincerity in their actions, and have an intention to align their deeds with their beliefs. Also, speaking the truth, keeping the promise, keeping the trust, and not transgressing during argument can help reduce hypocrisy in our lives.

We should fear hypocrisy like we fear diseases, and do a regular checkup to see if any of our actions are hyocritical.

JazakAllah Khairin
A struggling Muslim
AbuArman (Adnan Juman)