Page 54 - The Hypocrite According to the Qur'an

THE HYPOCRITE ACCORDING TO THE QUR’AN
There is an example of the false assumptions of hypocrites
in Samaritan, who is said to have been a person who tried to
mislead the Prophet Musa’s (as) people with the words, “... I
saw what they did not see.” (Surah Taha, 96)
Another reason why hypocrites cause fitnah during times
of difficulty is that they have more freedom to maneuver in
such instances. Samaritan could cause fitnah only when the
Prophet Musa (as) was absent, and under conditions where he
thought his people were more prone to be misled. The people’s
response, “We will not stop devoting ourselves to it until
Musa returns to us,” (Surah Taha, 91) is an indication that
those who swerve from the right path seek opportunities in
times of chaos and difficulty to foment corruption.
It is telling that the hypocrites who lived in the time of our
Prophet (saas) also could not cause fitnah so long as our
Prophet (saas) and his adherents remained strong. In the
Qur’an, Allah tells us that hypocrites took advantage of the
chaos of war to seek to disunite the believers:
… at that point the believers were tested and severely
shaken. When the hypocrites and people with sick-
ness in their hearts said, “What Allah and His
Messenger promised us was mere delusion.”(Surat
al-Ahzab, 11-12)
Such expressions on behalf of the hypocrites clearly
demonstrate their interpretation of the religion. For, though
being amongst the community of believers, they hoped to gain
some trivial gains by pretending to be of them, but every diffi-
culty they faced seemed to them too great, and made them
think that their efforts had been in vain. For this reason, with
regard to the response of those around them, they tried to
make the believers succumb to the same kind of fears. A verse

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