Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say

The only thing worse than a liar, is a liar who also is a hypocrite! The term hypocrite refers to a person whose inward reality differs from his outward appearance, one who is commonly known as two-faced. The harmful effects of the hypocrites are not only limited to the past, rather they still continue to cause destruction in the communities today.

During the early period of Islam, in the time of Hijra (Migration) from Makkah to Medina, the hypocrites formed a party in Madina Shareef. A small minority of the people in Madina disliked the way that the majority warmly welcomed the beloved Prophet (S.A.W) after His (S.A.W)’s migration. They fought with passion against Islam in their hearts and held on firmly to their polytheistic beliefs. Some hypocrites were opposed to Islam because of their personal desires and profit. They thought that Islam would cause them harm.

It is stated in ‘Sa’adat-ud-Da’rayn’ that once two people came into the court of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W). One person blamed the other person of stealing his camel and he even had two witnesses proving that he did steal the camel.

Therefore the accused was found guilty of stealing the camel, but upon this, the accused said, “Oh Prophet of Allah (S.A.W), please do a favour upon me and ask the camel what really happened.

I have a strong belief in Allah (S.W.T) that he will give this camel the strength to speak. So, the Mercy of the Worlds (S.A.W) ordered the presence of the camel and said, “Oh Camel, tell me who I am and tell me what really happened?”

The camel started to speak and said, “You are the Prophet of Allah. Do not cut off the hand of my owner because the person who accused him and the two witnesses are all hypocrites. Because of their hatred towards you, they made a plan to get the hand of your beloved Companion cut off.”

The Prophet (S.A.W) asked the owner of the camel, “What is the action that you do that has saved you today?” He replied, “I have no special actions that I do, but one thing I do all the time whether standing or sitting is that I invoke blessing (Darood Shareef) on to you”.

The Prophet (S.A.W) said, “Stay steadfast in this action as Allah (S.W.T) will free you from the fire of Hell just as he saved your hand from getting cut off today.”

If we truly look at ourselves, how many people do we know in our communities who are suffering in this illness of hypocrisy. Instead of trying to stop this disease spreading in our society and being truthful at all times, we often side or protect the hypocrites for our mere short gains.

The cure to this and all other social illnesses is to be truthful at all time, no matter what the consequences. We need to learn from the blessed Sahabahs (R.A) and make them as our role models. May Allah (S.W.T) give us the ability to follow the true teaching of Islam and have a strong belief in Allah (S.W.T).