Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah. Dear brothers, one of us may fear having a serious hidden organic disease that worsens and is only discovered after it is too late and difficult to treat. Is it not more appropriate for us to pay attention to the diseases of the heart that worsen in secret, which we may not discover until death? Among these dangerous diseases...hypocrisy. Some people think that hypocrisy is a phenomenon that died out in ancient times. The truth is that it is present and widespread among many Muslims to varying degrees, but the problem is that they do not feel it within themselves, so they do not seek treatment for it. Because of the many hypocrites in every era, Allah has detailed their characteristics in many Medinan surahs. Have you not seen that Allah has described their heart disease and their deceit of the believers in Surah Al-Baqarah, then their distress and disappointment in Surah Al-Imran, then their turning away from the judgment of Allah and His Messenger in Surah An-Nisa, then their allegiance to the disbelievers in Surah Al-Ma'idah, then their doubt in Allah's promise to empower the religion in Surah Al-Anfal, then their retreat from jihad and their criticism of the believers in Surah At-Tawbah, then their lack of steadfastness in Surah Al-Hajj, then their picking and choosing from the religion according to their desires in Surah An-Nur, then their lack of patience in Surah Al-Ankabut, then their breaking of Allah's covenant in Surah Al-Ahzab, then their cowardice in Surah Muhammad, then their bad opinion of Allah in Surah Al-Fath, then their delusion with false hopes in Surah Al-Hadid, then their false oaths in Surah Al-Mujadalah, then their abandonment of their weak allies in Surah Al-Hashr, then their turning people away from the Messenger of Allah and the believers in Surah Al-Munafiqun, then their deserving of harshness in Surah At-Tahrim...seventeen surahs full of warnings against them and detailed descriptions of their characteristics... Does anyone think after all this that the verses describing them no longer have importance in our time except to seek blessings in their recitation and to document this phenomenon historically? No certainty...but rather, Allah has detailed their characteristics for us...so that when they try to deceive us, our response to them is: "Do not make excuses; we will not believe you. Allah has informed us of your news" as in Surah At-Tawbah (verse 94). He detailed their characteristics so that we may beware of hypocrisy within ourselves and beware of hypocrites. "And thus do We detail the verses, and they may understand the way of the criminals." And because of the danger of this phenomenon and its people, Allah said: "They are the enemy, so beware of them." He confined enmity to them as if there is no enemy other than them because they are the worst of enemies, and because this disease is the worst of diseases for the heart. We will try in a series of episodes to shed light on the phenomenon of hypocrisy, some of its symptoms, and surprising facts about it so that we may understand it more as a first step to treating it, by the permission of Allah. The most important goal in this is to search for it within ourselves before noticing it in others, lest we be like those who see the speck in their brother's eye and do not see the log in their own.
We ask Allah to purify our hearts from hypocrisy, shirk, showing off, and all diseases. And peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.