Page 173 - The Profound Darkness of the Hypocrite

A D N A N O K TA R ( H A R U N Y A H Y A )

God describes this 'paranoid frame of mind' of hypocrites in a verse saying
that 'they imagine every cry to be against them':
... They imagine every cry to be against them. They are the enemy, so beware
of them. God fight them! How they are perverted! (Surat al-Munafiqun, 4)

With this verse God reveals Muslims one of the weakest points of hypocrites.

Hypocrites imagine every conversation, every movement, and every situation
around them to be against them because of their fear of being caught. Even the
slightest move, the smallest stirring, the smallest utterance makes them suspicious
and uneasy. They are fearful that their crimes would be noticed and this constant
anxiety gnaws them away.
Whenever Muslims converse among themselves, hypocrites instantly cock an
ear and check whether or not they are talking about them. They take offense from
an irrelevant conversation and kick up a row saying 'Are you talking about me?' If
Muslims talk about the importance of being honest, feeling guilty because of the
constant lies they keep telling, they say, "Are they insinuating me?" or "They are
calling me a liar." If Muslims talk about the importance of being hardworking,
they cause disturbance saying, "Are you calling me lazy?" If they see someone
looking at them, they start grumbling, "They are watching me all the time, they
are surveilling my movements." If they see someone not looking at them, they
start making 'fake speeches about being treated unjustly' slandering others with
accusations of not loving, not paying attention and not taking care of them, saying;
"They are turning their eyes away from me on purpose. They are avoiding me."
If Muslims talk about the importance of avoiding extravagance, they say, "They
have eyes on what I eat! They keep a tally of what I eat and drink." If Muslims
beside them go somewhere else, they would cause problems saying, "They are
trying to keep away from me. They do not want to sit with me."
This is how every moment of hypocrites passes by: with suspicions, delusions
and paranoid thoughts. This fearful state of mind gets on their nerves severely in
time and causes them to adopt an aggressive, hostile, mean-spirited attitude. For
that reason one of the common characteristics of hypocrites is their being noisy,
disagreeable and aggressive.
This skeptical and paranoid attitude of hypocrites peaks when they are
around God-fearing Muslims who've become the spiritual leaders and guides of
other Muslims with the beautiful morality they display. That is because the people
hypocrites are most suspicious of are those Muslims they regard as the wisest and

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