Hypocrisy- Two Faces, One Destiny By

Hypocrisy: Two Faces, One Destiny

Imam Omar Suleiman

Introduction: The Fear of Speaking About Hypocrisy

Subhanallah, tonight the topic of hypocrisy is one of the scariest topics that we can speak of. Specifically, for an imam or for a public speaker, it is one of the most frightening topics in the world, to be quite frank with you. I fear to speak about it, to be honest with you.

Umar ibn Abdul Aziz (rahimahullah), when he spoke in his farewell khutbah, was speaking to a group of over 50,000 people. And he broke into tears and he says: "I'm giving you this advice (وَمَا أَعْلَمُ أَحَداً عِنْدَهُ مِنَ الذُّنُوبِ أَعْلَمُ مِمَّا عِنْدِي - wa ma a'lamu ahadan 'indahu min adh-dhunoobi a'lamu mimma 'indi) - "and I don't know of anyone who has more sins than I have."

Umar ibn Abdul Aziz (rahimahullah), speaking to 50,000 people in Ash-Sham, probably concealed in that 50,000 people, the people that might have plotted to assassinate him and so on and so forth. So it's a very scary topic and the more that we delve into it, the more that we look at the sahaba of the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam), we see this huge fear.

The Sahaba's Fear of Hypocrisy

I really want to address this topic from a totally different perspective. Hypocrisy is one of those topics that you can address from a hundred different perspectives and it will benefit us each and every single time. Because it is the most - subhanallah - it is the thing that the sahaba feared so much.

Ibn Abi Mulaykah says: "I met 120 companions of the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) (كُلُّهُمْ يَتَّهِمُ نَفْسَهُ بِالنِّفَاقِ - kulluhum yattahimu nafsahu bin-nifaq) - "Each and every single one of the companions that I met was accusing himself of nifaq, of hypocrisy."

And subhanallah, the scholars say, you know, he didn't just meet a few of the younger sahaba or some of the unknown sahaba. He met Umar ibn Al-Khattab (radiAllahu 'anhu). He met the son of Umar ibn Al- Khattab. He met Uthman. He met Ali. He met Abu Hurayra. He met some of the giants of the companions and he was saying that each and every single one of them was sure that he was a hypocrite.

The Greatest Sign of a Hypocrite

So to just start this off from the very beginning, if you're here and you think to yourself, "I hope that brother over there... this doesn't apply to me because alhamdulillah I'm not a hypocrite, but I hope that guy that's sitting over there, I hope he's listening very close because I know he's a munafiq" - you need to be worried about yourself right now. And if you're not worried about yourself, then you need to be even more worried about yourself.

Because the greatest sign of a hypocrite as Ibn Mas'ud (radiAllahu 'anhu) said, is the one who feels safe from hypocrisy. The one who has decided that "I am not a hypocrite and I have nothing to worry about" is the greatest hypocrite.

Aisha (radiAllahu 'anha) was asked: (مَن الأَتْقَى؟ - man al-atqa?) - "Who is the one who is truly pious?" She said: "The one who thinks he's a hypocrite." And then she was asked right after that: "And who is the hypocrite then?" She said: "The one who thinks he's pious."

Understanding True Hypocrisy

Once you come to that conclusion, in essence hypocrisy goes beyond riya (showing off), it goes beyond arrogance. Hypocrisy is a whole other level. Hypocrisy is when you have decided to wear two faces.

Whenever you have a face with Allah, a face with the people, a face with your wife, a face with your kids, a face with your parents, a face with people from this group, a face with people from that group. It represents a discrepancy.

The Connection Between Hypocrisy and Lying

And the reason why it's so scary - and subhanallah, Allah, every time He mentions hypocrisy in the Quran, He mentions al-kadhib (lying). Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah) says: every time hypocrisy is mentioned in the Quran, right after it, there is a mention of lying.

You look in Surah Al-Baqarah, the first description of the hypocrites, Allah says:

"And they will have a painful punishment for the lying that they used to commit, because of their lying."

Because let's face it, that's exactly what two-facedness is. It's one thing to lie with your words, it's another thing to lie with your actions, and to actually be living a lie.

The Transparency of the Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam)

Comparing Great Historical Figures

You know what makes the Messenger (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) so amazing and so great? You know what happens whenever you read the life of a great... I'm not talking about the scholars of Islam, let's talk about the influential figures of history. You read about them, and they're recognized as great. History still treats them as great, even though they had some demons in the closet that came out.

So for example, Dr. Martin Luther King did amazing things. He was great for his leadership, but he had affairs. You read about the life of someone like Napoleon, or you read the life of different people. And subhanallah, you would find that, yes, this person was great in one aspect of their life. You go through the European kings, you go through the founders of this country when we start reading about George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and those types of things. Yes, they were great in some regards. And that's what history recognizes them for. But they also had some very serious demons in the closet.

The Prophet's Complete Character

And Rasulullah (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) did not have those demons. And that's what makes the Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) the greatest of the greatest. The greatest creation, the greatest human being and leader to ever walk the face of the earth (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam).

When he stands up, and subhanallah, you can be watching. You know, Imam Siraj one time, he said something beautiful. He said, if you ever watch one of those academy awards or the Oscars or things of that sort - usually, when the awards are being handed out, you can almost see a look on the face of the family like, "he doesn't deserve that. She doesn't deserve that." The family's sitting there thinking to themselves like, "yeah, okay, whatever. We know who you really are."

The Danger of Hypocrisy in Families

And one of the greatest ways to lose your children to your brothers and sisters is hypocrisy. You wonder why your children flee from Islam. And Imam Ibn al-Qayyim (rahimahullah) said: nothing causes a person to leave the faith of his parents except for hypocrisy.

They see a discrepancy in your actions and what you're saying. You're conveniently strict on some issues. You're conveniently strict on a dress code whenever you go to the masjid. But then, mashallah, at the Eid party, it's all off-limits. Everything comes off, literally.

They see discrepancies. You say you should not date, you shouldn't do these types of things. But then, they see you getting very close to various people. There's a discrepancy. You say that you need to be humble, you should be respectful to your parents. Then they see you as an egomaniac.

So what they do is they take your hypocrisy and it simply manifests itself in a different form. So they'll be hypocritical with you. When they're home, they'll be the mashallah kid. They'll read Quran. Whenever it comes time for salah, they'll be good little children. And they'll put on their topis and they'll roll up their pants. And they'll come and they'll put out their prayer mat and they'll pray right next to you. And they'll act like the perfect little kids. And then as soon as they're not in your sight anymore, it's a totally different human being.

Why? They inherited hypocrisy. So we have to be very careful, especially as parents.

The Prophet's Family Life

But look at the Messenger (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam). The Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam), when he comes out and he says: (خَيْرُكُمْ خَيْرُكُمْ لأَهْلِهِ - khayrakum khayrakum li-ahlihi) - "The best amongst you is he who is best to his family." The wives of the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) say: "And you are the best of them." (Tirmidhi hadith 3895)

And even after the Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) passed away, Umm Salama (radiAllahu 'anha), when she would hear this hadith, she would say: (صَدَقْتَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ - sadaqta ya rasool Allah) - "You were a truthful messenger of Allah (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam)."

The demons didn't come out. In fact, we found out, we have more reason to love the Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) when we read about his family life. The moments that really draw you close to the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam), aren't they really those moments where Aisha (radiAllahu 'anha) is describing how he was in the home (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam)? His calmness, his kindness (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), the way that he treated her. That's what makes us fall in love with him. When we see how transparent he was.

The Essence of Transparency

And the greatest statement of transparency is to say that your message is exactly your mission. And it's exactly how you carry yourself. What you say is exactly what you do.

And Aisha (radiAllahu 'anha) says what? (كَانَ خُلُقُهُ الْقُرْآن - kana khuluqahu al-Quran) - "His character was Quran." (قُرْآن يَمْشِي فِي الأَرْضِ - Quran yamshi fi'l-ard) - "He was a walking Quran." That's his wife (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam). Who knows him better than that?

The Example of Anas (radiAllahu 'anhu)

Anas (radiAllahu 'anhu) brings out the secrets of the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam). He says: "Wallahi, the Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was the best of character. And he never even once chastised me. He never even hit me, he never said to me, why did you do this, why didn't you do that?"

SubhanAllah, Anas (radiAllahu 'anhu) was always around the Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam). His mother, Umm Sulaym (radiAllahu 'anha), put him there to serve the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam). The one incident, he says: "This one time the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) sent me to deliver something, and you know, on the way I got caught up, I saw some other little kids playing, so I started playing with the little kids, and Rasulullah (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) just came and he watched. And he said, 'weren't you supposed to be doing something?''

SubhanAllah, the more you learn about the Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) behind closed doors, the more you love him, which means that he was a transparent individual (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam).

Truthfulness vs. Hypocrisy

And that's why there is sidq (truthfulness) - the opposite of nifaq is truthfulness. There's truthfulness in tongue, truthfulness in speech, and there's truthfulness in action.

When you're truthful in speech, that means that what you say is consistent with reality. Your saying is consistent with reality. And when you are a sadiq in your amal, sadiq in your life, sadiq in what you do, truthful in what you do, that means that what you say is consistent with what you do.

When you say that, "I want to please Allah," or "I'm doing this fi sabilillah," there is absolutely no discrepancy there. You are who you are, whether you're in the masjid or whether you're outside the masjid, whether you're in front of people or not in front of people.

Types of Hypocrisy

Now it's very important here to mention that there is a certain level of nifaq, there is a certain level of hypocrisy, we need to be sure that we have none of. In the sense that we should be convinced that I am not this type of hypocrite, which is the type of hypocrite that's in kufr, in disbelief that actually fools people to get a benefit from faith. Like those who say (آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَبِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَمَا هُم بِمُؤْمِنِينَ - amanna billahi wa bil-yawm al-akhiri wa ma hum bi-mu'mineen) - "We believe in Allah and the Last Day, but they are not believers." (Quran 2:8)

They're not actually Muslims, they have no belief in God, it's just to get some sort of benefit from the deen. We're not those types of hypocrites, inshallah. We should all be sure that we are not that type of hypocrite, that we might have spreads of hypocrisy in our lives.

The Three Signs of a Hypocrite

And the Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) mentioned something very powerful. The Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said:

"آية المنافق ثلاثة"

Ayat al-munafiq thalatha

"There are three signs of a hypocrite. What are they?"

1. إذا حدث كذب (idha haddatha kadhab) - "If he speaks, he lies"
2. وإذا وعد أخلف (wa idha wa'ada akhlaf) - "And if he makes a promise, he breaks his promise"
3. وإذا اؤتمن خان (wa idha u'tumina khan) - "And if he's given a trust, he doesn't fulfill that trust"

(Bukhari hadith 33, Muslim hadith 59)

That is the greatest sign of a hypocrite. In essence, he's not consistent, he's not transparent. He portrays one face, but he does something totally different.

The Relationship Between Gratitude to Allah and People

The Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) mentioned something very powerful. What's the greatest way to tell if a person is grateful to Allah? What's the greatest indication that a person is grateful to Allah? That he's grateful to others.

The greatest indicator that a person is grateful to Allah is that he's grateful to other people. The Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: (مَنْ لَا يَشْكُرُ النَّاسَ لَا يَشْكُرُ اللَّهَ - man la yashkur an-naasa la yashkur Allah) - "Whoever does not thank people does not thank Allah." (Abu Dawud hadith 4811)

"(مَنْ لَا يَرْحَمْ لَا يُرْحَمْ - man la yarham la yurham) - "Whoever does not show mercy will not have mercy shown to him." (Bukhari hadith 7376)

The way you interact with people is a direct indication of your relationship with Allah. The way you treat people, your akhlaq. The woman who used to abuse her neighbors, but she prayed, she fasted, she gave zakat, she did all that good stuff. But she was abusive with her tongue. And the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) didn't just say she's in hellfire, the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: (لَا خَيْرَ فِيهَا - la khayra feeha) - "She is devoid of all good."

She has no good inside of her. Despite her salah, despite her siyam, despite her zakat. Why? Because the way you treat people is a direct indication of your relationship with Allah.

Practical Examples of Hypocrisy

Multiple Faces in Different Settings

In essence, the more you are discovered, the more your demons come out, the more it becomes apparent that you really were a two-faced person, or a three-faced person, or a four-faced... You know, let's face it, today, subhanallah, there's a masjid face, there's a work face, there's a home face, there's a school face.

Subhanallah, Rasulullah (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: "The worst person to Allah is the one with two faces." Then where does that leave a person who acts so differently wherever he is?

The Test of True Character

That's why Umar ibn al-Khattab (radiAllahu 'anhu), whenever someone said that, "I know this guy," Umar ibn al-Khattab said: "Don't say you know someone until you've done one of three things":

1. You've dealt with him in money - (مُعَامَلَةُ الدَّنَانِيرِ وَالدَّرَاهِم - mu'amalat ad-danaaneer wa'd-daraahim) - Because I don't care how nice the person is or what they appear to be and the mashallah

person that they appear to be. Once you deal with them with money, you'll start seeing that some people are very, very, very shady.

2. Or you lived with him - You live with somebody and then all of a sudden things change. And that's why subhanallah, it's very easy to be nice outside of the house and be calm and portray yourself in a certain way. But then you get home and subhanallah, people see a totally different monster from you.

3. Or you traveled with him - And traveling does not mean that you got in a car and you drove to a different city. Traveling means you spent some quality time with this person.

You don't know people until you're actually with them. You encounter more of them.

Imam Al-Qayyim's Commentary

So what I'm trying to tell you is, subhanallah, Imam al-Qayyim (radiAllahu 'anhu) said: this hadith of the three signs of a hypocrite, if you have one of those three signs, that is your share of hypocrisy. If you have two, that's your greater share of hypocrisy. If you have three, you are a total hypocrite. You are a complete hypocrite.

So even if you just have one of those traits, that's your share of hypocrisy. That is your share of nifaq. You've taken a share of nifaq.

The Reality Check

And the point is, if people knew who you really were, if people saw how you were behind closed doors, if people knew the quality of your salah, if people know the way that you treat your wife and the way that you treat your children, and the way that you talk when they're not around, and the way that you are when you're not in the masjid, and the way your relationship with Allah really is, would they still give you the same respect? No, probably not. Probably not. Because we change.

We change and we're so good at it. Subhanallah, it's become so much more easier to manipulate people's minds.

A Powerful Story: Alqama's Death

Let me tell you a story. Looking at the people on the outside. Wallahi, it doesn't matter how many halaqat you attend, it doesn't matter how much you do over here, if you're not treating your own parents well, it means nothing.

You look at the sahaba of the Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), Alqama (radiAllahu 'anhu), was a companion of the Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam). So it's assumed he's great, he's magnificent. But when he's dying and everyone's telling him, "Say, la ilaha illallah," he can't say, "la ilaha illallah." He cannot say, "la ilaha illallah."

He's a companion of the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam). He used to attend lectures with the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam). He said, "la ilaha illallah" on the hands of Muhammad (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam). The Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) gave him shahada, and at the time of his death, he can't say, "la ilaha illallah."

And the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: "Go to his mother. Let's go to his mother." The Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) asks her: "How was your relationship with Alqama?" And she was not pleased with him. SubhanAllah, she wasn't pleased with him. She was upset with him.

Because of that, Allah prohibited him from saying, "la ilaha illallah" at the time of his death. And Rasulullah (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) pleaded with her until she said that she forgave him. And when the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) went back to Alqama, he was repeating "la ilaha illallah" until his death.

But let's face it. Many of us won't have that opportunity for the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) to talk to our parents on our behalf and say, "Look, forgive your son."

The Inner Circle as Indicator

You better be consistent. The people that are closest to you know you most. And Allah knows you more than they do. So you start off with your inner circle as an indicator of hypocrisy. You start off with the people that know you best, your friends that are around you most. And you ask yourself, and you ask them: "Am I failing? What do you think? Give me advice."

Because it starts off with that inner circle. They know you more than anyone else, or else the demons will eventually come out.

A Scholar's Hidden Reality

Imam Ibn Qutaybah (rahimahullah) said that there was an imam, a scholar, a scholar who was so righteous in the eyes of the people, as it appeared to people, that when he died, the people were crying rivers at his janaza. And then they found that his minbar became infested with rats. So they said: "Well, what's going on here?"

And subhanallah, they asked his wife, and his wife was making dua against him the entire time. And his wife was making dua for Allah to take him because he used to abuse his wife. All of that goes to waste. Because the people around you, they know you best. And then after that, Allah knows you better than the people around you.

The Path to Consistency

Because let's face it, we even put on a face for the people around us too. We put on a face for our family members also, many times. Maybe not to the extent that we do outside. But we do put on faces

everywhere.

And in essence, coming to a consistency with Allah, where your actions and your words and your being, it's all consistent. There's sidq, there's a truthfulness in it. It's something that you have to strive hard for. And the first way is to fear it. The second way is to make sure.

It's to make sure that what people don't know of me is better than what people know of me. How many of us can actually say that?

The Tongue as Indicator

Imam Al-Qayyim (rahimahullah) said: "First and foremost, your tongue is like a spoon into the food of your heart. It's like a spoonful of the heart. If you think about a meal, you're going to get a taste of the food from a spoonful. So your tongue is a spoonful of your heart. So it's a good indicator of the state of your heart."

That's number one, your tongue. So your actions, the way you treat people.

The Day of Judgment Reality

Just to ask yourself, Allah on the Day of Judgment, He says, there's going to be two types of people. There's going to be the person that's going to be walking around after receiving his book in his right hand and he's going to be saying:

"Here, read my book!" (Quran 69:19)

The person who didn't brag in this dunya, he's going to be bragging in akhirah. He's going to say: "Look at my book. Look at my salah. Look at my secret sadaqah. Look at this moment that I did this and I made tasbih and I made dhikr. Here it is, everybody come read my book. I knew this day was coming. I didn't show it off to you in dunya because I wanted the pleasure of Allah with me. But now, go ahead and read my book."

And the one who receives his book in his left hand would say:

Ya laytanee lam oota kitaabiyah * wa lam adri ma hisaabiyah * ya laytaha kaanat al-qaadiyah

"I wish I had never been given my book! And I never knew what my account was. I wish it had been the decisive one [i.e., death]." (Quran 69:25-27)

And Allah also says: (مِنْ وَرَاءِ ظَهْرِهِ - min waraa' zahrihi) - "In his left hand and behind his back." (Quran 84:10)

And the scholars explain this that whenever the person realizes that he's about to get his book of deeds, just like he was a liar and a hypocrite in dunya, he's going to put his hand behind his back so he can't receive it there. And Allah will allow the book to hit him in the back and will chain him that way.

And as he walks around in shame, he would say: (يَا لَيْتَنِي لَمْ أُوتَ كِتَابِيَه - ya laytanee lam oota kitaabiyah) - "I wish I never got a book." (يَا لَيْتَنِي لَمْ أَدْرِ مَا حِسَابِيَه - ya laytanee lam adri ma hisaabiyah) - "And I never knew what my state was. I wish I was destroyed."

And everyone is reading and saying: "Oh, subhanAllah, we used to think he was a shaykh. We used to think this was a person who comes to the masjid. We used to think this was a person who gives sadaqa. He was the most generous at fundraisers. That kid, he was the one telling everybody else to go to the halaqas. We thought he was this, we thought she was that."

But you're being exposed, full exposure on the Day of Judgment. We ask Allah to protect us.

The Ultimate Question

But I have a question for you and I'll end on this note. If Allah allowed us to receive our books right now at this moment, would you be willing to show that book to anybody? It's as simple as that. I know I wouldn't. I know I wouldn't.

Would you be willing to take that book around and say: "This is what I do, this is my life. This is who you thought I was, who you didn't know I was"? And the answer is no. Usually it's no. And that's why the sahaba feared it most.

The Sahaba's Standard

They feared if their salah was a little bit longer in jama'ah than it was at home. They feared if they were just a little bit better. Handhalah (radiAllahu 'anhu) - this guy wasn't beating his wife. He wasn't disobedient to his parents. He wasn't a crook in his business. He wasn't doing speedy salawat when the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) wasn't watching.

He was so convinced he was a hypocrite because he said: "I'm not as religious when I'm not with the Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam)." He's still the same person, he's still consistent. But he says: "When I'm with the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam), Ya Rasulallah, when we're with you, we don't even think about dunya. All we're thinking about is akhirah. Then we go home and the family and the kids."

What was he worried about? He wasn't worried about the demons coming out of the closet. Well, he thought they were demons, but his demons would be our hasanat. The amount of salah he did at home

A Warning About Inviting Others

If someone was watching me tonight and watching you tonight, would they be impressed or would they be ashamed, humiliated? And that's why the Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: "The worst person on the Day of Judgment, the worst person in hellfire is going to be a person..." By the way, don't think this is just a scholar or an imam. This is each and every single one of us who tells other people how to come close to Allah. Each and every single one of you who tells the other guys: "Hey, come to the halaqah."

Rasulullah (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) says that that person is walking around the fire of hell, holding his intestines. And the people are saying to him: "You used to tell us, come to the masjid. You used to tell us to fear Allah. What happened to you?" "I was telling you things that I wasn't doing myself. What I was saying to you was not who I really was."

Practical Guidance

The Point is Not Despair

It's a very scary thing. The point of this though is not to make us despair. I know it feels that way. But I just want to give you a few tips inshallah.

The more you pray in the masjid is the more you should pray at home. The more you treat people good outside is the more you should treat people good inside of your house. The more that you appear to be generous on the outside is the more you should be generous on the inside.

Consistency in Practice

Try to be consistent. Start off with your tongue, yes, consistency in tongue. Because a liar is a munafiq, a person who breaks his promise. Even if he says: "I promise I'll be there in 10 minutes." That's a promise. You just gave a promise.

Someone gives you an amanah and you don't deliver it until two years later. That's a trust that you broke. Those are signs of hypocrisy.

Exceeding Expectations

Try to rise up to the expectations of you and then beat those expectations. Otherwise, we're just like those hypocrites in Medina who would only come to the masjid for dhuhr, asr and maghrib. Why? Because fajr and isha - it's not because fajr was hard to wake up because it was sleep time. Because during fajr and isha, it was pitch black. We didn't have these chandeliers. "Who's gonna see me anyway? No one's gonna know I wasn't at the masjid."

Beat the expectations that people have of you. Do things that people don't know about. Pray two rak'ahs without anyone knowing. Give a little bit of sadaqah without even telling your wife. Because just as the people in your house know you better than the people outside of your house, the one who created you and is always with you knows you better than the people that are with you most of the time.

Closing Du'a

We ask Allah to grant us sincerity and sidq and ikhlas and truthfulness. We ask Allah to keep us away from hypocrisy, to keep us away from all forms of riya (showing off), to keep us away from al-ujub and al- ghurur (self-deceit and conceit). And we ask Allah to make us amongst those who on the Day of Judgment will be exposed for their good deeds and not for their sins.

We ask Allah to protect us from our shortcomings, to forgive us for our shortcomings and to allow us to rise above them before the time of death. And we ask Allah to leave this world saying "la ilaha illallah muhammadan rasool Allah" and to be raised up saying "la ilaha illallah muhammadan rasool Allah."

"Jazakumullahu khayran"

All original content has been preserved with corrected Arabic texts, proper Quranic and hadith references, and improved formatting for readability. The structure and message of Imam Omar Suleiman's lecture remain unchanged.