Page 67 - What the Qur'an Says about Liars and Their Methods

THE SLYNESS OF LIARS

L L iars, who are inherently insincere, use indirect
means and slyness to obtain whatever they de-
sire. While from the outside their every act
might be seen as harmless or even beneficial, in fact each one is
calculated and planned to benefit the liar based upon an inter-
nal bargain. Thus, their acts and their words are never sincere
and do not reflect their real feelings.
The Qur'an presents Pharaoh as one such liar. When Musa
(as) and his brother Harun (as) conveyed Allah's message to
the Egyptian people, Pharaoh opposed them, threatened them
and the believers, and oppressed the believers. Pharaoh tried
to cover his cruelty in what was, to him, a cloak of innocence
and said that he was doing all of this for the people's benefit, a
claim revealed in the following verse:
Pharaoh said: "Let me kill Musa and let him call upon
his Lord! I am afraid that he may change your religion
and bring about corruption in the land." (Surah
Ghafir, 40:26)
Thus, he tried to justify murdering a Prophet by claiming
that he was protecting people from corruption or the loss of
their religion. In truth, however, he had no such intention, for
he was the actual source of corruption and the enemy of reli-
gion.
Just like Pharaoh, sly people try to present themselves to
others as different from what they really are: people who are

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