Page 237 - 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 )

to 'seek revenge' by all available means. In a verse of the Qur'an, God informs us
about some of the methods the hypocrites would resort in order to harm Muslims
and take revenge on them:

But do not obey any vile swearer of oaths, any backbiter, slandermonger,

impeder of good, evil aggressor, gross, coarse and furthermore, despicable.

(Surat al-Qalam, 10-13)

As explained in the verses, the hypocrites are despicable, gross, coarse and

aggressive creatures. They do whatever they can to impede anything good and

beautiful. By fabricating series of lies about Muslims, slandering, tale-bearing, and
swearing oaths falsely, they try to harm Muslims. With these despicable methods,
they imagine that they can drive a wedge between Muslims, that they can set them
at odds with each other and thus can wipe out the love among them. A hypocrite
may go to a Muslim and say, "So-and-so said such a thing, I do not know for

certain who he meant, but it sounded to me as if he was talking about you." He
may then go to another Muslim and say, "I have heard so-and-so talking about
you; I guess she was angry with you because you left everything untidy." And
then he may go to another Muslim and say, "So-and-so didn't like the dish you

cooked, he talked about what was lacking in its taste for quite a while."

For the same purpose, they may slyly use matters that would not be possible to
disprove. For instance they may say, "I saw so-and-so, he was looking daggers at
you," or say, "You weren't looking that way so you didn't notice but so-and-so
was looking down on your clothes." Such words of the hypocrites are completely
based on lies. Furthermore all these are in fact mundane and trivial matters about

daily life; they are not topics Muslims would dwell on, exaggerate, devote their time,
talk about or make lengthy comments on. But even with these mundane, ordinary
topics, the hypocrites want to cause dissension and disunity among Muslims, cause
resentment in their hearts and harm their respect, love and trust for one another. As
it is explained in the verse, the hypocrites play insidious games by backbiting and

slandering, by tale-bearing among Muslims about one another, by lying, by mak-
ing additions and extractions to the topics discussed and by twisting the meaning
of something simple using exaggerated words.
However the hypocrites sometimes carry out their disgusting behaviors openly.
By getting aggressive, shouting in an angry, snobbish and impertinent attitude, they
start talking about how a certain Muslim is –allegedly– ill humored, malevolent
and shady. Obviously all their accusations are nothing but slanders. That is why
Muslims do not pay attention to any of their claims. But the rage, anger and jealousy
they harbor inside do not cool down in any way, and they accuse Muslims of insin-

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