Hadith: “There are four (traits); whoever has them is a sheer hypocrite, and whoever has one trait of them has one of the traits of hypocrisy until he gives it up: whenever he speaks, he tells a lie; whenever he makes a covenant, he proves treacherous; whenever he makes a promise, he breaks it; and whenever he is in a dispute, he behaves in a shameless immoral manner
عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو رضي الله عنهما قال: قال رَسولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ:
«أَرْبَعٌ مَنْ كُنَّ فِيهِ كَانَ مُنَافِقًا خَالِصًا، وَمَنْ كَانَتْ فِيهِ خَلَّةٌ مِنْهُنَّ كَانَتْ فِيهِ خَلَّةٌ مِنْ نِفَاقٍ حَتَّى يَدَعَهَا: إِذَا حَدَّثَ كَذَبَ، وَإِذَا عَاهَدَ غَدَرَ، وَإِذَا وَعَدَ أَخْلَفَ، وَإِذَا خَاصَمَ فَجَرَ».
[صحيح] - [متفق عليه] - [صحيح مسلم: 58]
المزيــد ...
‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“There are four (traits); whoever has them is a sheer hypocrite, and whoever has one trait of them has one of the traits of hypocrisy until he gives it up: whenever he speaks, he tells a lie; whenever he makes a covenant, he proves treacherous; whenever he makes a promise, he breaks it; and whenever he is in a dispute, he behaves in a shameless immoral manner."
[Authentic hadith] - [Narrated by Bukhari & Muslim] - [Sahih Muslim - 58]
The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) warned of four traits; if they are combined in a Muslim, he becomes quite similar to the hypocrites due to them. This applies to a person in whom these traits are dominant, not someone who rarely exhibits any of them. They are:
First: When he speaks, he intentionally lies and avoids truthfulness.
Second: When he makes a covenant, he does not fulfill it and proves treacherous to the other party.
Third: When he makes a promise, he does not keep it; rather, he breaks it.
Fourth: When he quarrels and falls into dispute with someone, he acts severely, departs from the truth, turns to deception in his response and argument, and tells falsehood and lies.
Hypocrisy is to reveal something different from what is kept hidden. This exists in a person who possesses these traits. His hypocrisy is exercised toward those to whom he speaks or makes a promise or those who entrust him, quarrel with him, or engage in a covenant with him. It is not that he is a hypocrite in terms of Islam, revealing it and concealing Kufr. Whoever possesses one of these traits possesses a trait of hypocrisy until he gives it up.
Benefits from the Hadith
- The Hadīth demonstrates some signs of hypocrites to intimidate and warn us about falling into them.
- The bottom line in this Hadīth is that these traits are traits of hypocrisy, and he who possesses them is similar to the hypocrites in these traits and assumes their morals; it does not mean that he is a hypocrite who reveals Islam and conceals Kufr. It was said that this applies to the one in whom these traits are dominant and he takes them lightly and carelessly. Indeed, a person who likes that, mostly has a corrupt creed.
- Al-Ghazāli said: The core of religion is limited to three things: speech, action, and intention. He pointed out that speech is corrupted by lying, action is corrupted by betrayal, and intention is corrupted by breaking a promise, as for breaking a promise then it isn't blameworthy unless there was an intential intention to break it. However, if he was determined to fulfill the promise and then something prevented him or he changed his mind, this is not a form of hypocrisy.
- Hypocrisy is of two types: Creedal hypocrisy, which brings one out of Imān; it is to reveal Islam and conceal Kufr. Practical hypocrisy, which is to imitate the manners of hypocrites; it does not bring one out of Imān, though it is a major sin.
- Ibn Hajar said: The scholars unanimously agreed that if a person is a believer with his heart and tongue, and engages in these traits, he is not judged to be a disbeliever or a hypocrite who shall abide in Hellfire eternally.
- An-Nawawi said: A group of scholars said: It refers to the hypocrites during the Prophet's lifetime. They spoke about their Imān and lied; they were entrusted with their religion and betrayed it; they gave promises regarding the matter of the religion and its support and broke their promises; and they were immoral in their disputes.
Categories
More ...
- Hadith: Shall I inform you of the gravest of the major sins?
- Hadith: The grave major sins are: associating partners with Allah, undutifulness towards the parents, murder, and intentional false oath.
- Hadith: Avoid the seven destructive sins
- Hadith: The most burdensome prayers for the hypocrites are the ‘Ishā' and Fajr prayers. If they were to know the virtue of them, they would come to them even if they had to crawl. I sometimes thought of ordering for the prayer to be commenced, and I would appoint a man to lead the people in prayer, and then I would go, along with some men having bundles of firewood, to the people who are not attending the prayer and burn their houses with fire upon them
- Hadith: The five (daily) prayers, Friday prayer to the next Friday prayer, and Ramadan to the next Ramadan, are expiation of the sins committed in between them, so long as major sins are avoided
- Hadith: When two Muslims meet to fight each other with their swords, both the killer and the killed are doomed to Hell
- Hadith: One day, we were sitting with the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) when there appeared before us a man dressed in extremely white clothes, and had very black hair. No traces of travel were visible on him, and none of us knew him