Signs of A Hypocrite | Juz 6 Qur’an 30 for 30 S7 | Sh. Asim Khan | Ramadan Series

Signs of A Hypocrite | Juz 6 Qur'an 30 for 30 S7

He could punish you, he could let you go, he could pardon you. Which way does Allah choose? And he said that in the same way Allah gives you a choice in life to be the bigger person. We can all feel like hypocrites at times.

Allah doesn't leave this subjectivity. He gives you measures. Measure yourself against the qualities of the hypocrites. Measure yourself against the qualities of those that he loves. Sisters, they reach out and say my husband is not the man that he said he was. He's not the person that I thought he was the first week. Even though he acts in a way that only I and Allah knows and then his little children know.

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, everyone. Welcome back to Quran 30 for 30.

As we come to day six, I want to remind you all, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, to please inshaAllah ta'ala consider donating to yaqeen. We need all the support that we can get bi-idhnillah so we can continue inshaAllah ta'ala to put out the resources that we hope are of benefit to you, to your families, to your communities bi-idhnillahi ta'ala.

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Introduction to Today's Guests

We're back as always. We've got Shaykh Abdullah Durr. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. And for the first time, Shaykh Asim Khan. Hayyakallah. How are you? Alhamdulillah. I'm very well.

The author of Simple Sirah? Yes. Simple Sirah. MashaAllah. I had the blessing, alhamdulillah, of writing the foreword for one of them. JazakAllah khair for that. An amazing mashaAllah collection. Shaykh Abdullah mentioned how beneficial it is as well. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. May Allah bless you.

The Names of Allah - Al-Afu (The Pardoner)

Shaykh, before we get started, what's the name of Allah that you find yourself closest to right now? Right now? I like the way you said right now because even with verses of the Quran, it's like, oh, this one resonates so much. But then when you start researching another verse, like, no, no, this is the one.

And the same thing with the names. When you look into the names, research the meanings, you feel like, okay, subhanAllah, I've learned something and this, I found something new about Allah, the Almighty. So the current one is Al-Afu, it's connected to the verse that we'll be talking about today.

MashaAllah. But one of the amazing things about the name I was thinking about is the idea that Allah pardons, but He pardons from a perspective that I don't think any of us could pardon from. And that is that Allah knew the mistakes we're going to make before He even created us. And yet He's telling us that I am going to pardon you. So just thinking about the fact that Allah knew my sin before I did it. And yet He still said, believe in me as Al-Afu, the one who will pardon you.

So I think it gives a lot of hope and, you know, for people to appreciate and to realize that it can mean a lot. It does to me. InshaAllah. I look forward to hearing your further reflections on this. Alhamdulillah.

Overview of Juz 6: Themes of Responsibility and Hidden Truths

So I'll just do a quick overview inshaAllah ta'ala of some of the themes as they connect to the previous Juz. So first and foremost, as you look through this Juz, you will notice there's a lot about responsibility, how you discharge your responsibility. So this Juz is full. I mean, of course, when you get into that Nisaa post-Uhud reality, it's full of verses about orphans, about leadership, about responsibility, about stepping up.

Something Shaykh Abdullah, you talk about a lot. You know, subhanAllah, like you can imagine what would a mastermind class look like in the time of the Sahaba. That is, of course, they are the generation of masculinity, femininity, just excellence as a generation. They manifest the best personality traits, but stepping up to the plate, responsibility.

That verily Allah commands you to render the rights to the people. But Allah also talks about the hidden munafiqeen, the hidden hypocrisy within the hypocrites and how Allah sees them.

If you think about what hypocrisy looks like in a post-war setting, then obviously it shows itself in people that are fleeing from responsibility, they're showing weakness, they're showing a lack of resolve, they're showing the excuses that are being put forth to the Prophet ﷺ to kind of get themselves out of having to hold strong in a time where only the strong survive.

And then if you think about how hypocrisy shows itself in good times, it's people that are unwilling or that are trying to find loopholes so that they don't have to actually discharge their trusts, they don't have to actually meaningfully inconvenience themselves for a greater cause for the sake of Allah.

Allah Knows Your Hidden Enemies and True Servants

So what stood out to me, subhanAllah as I was thinking about it, last juz', we talked about, Allah knows your hidden enemies, Allah knows your true enemies. Here Allah talks about how Allah knows his true servants. How? In this juz':

Allah says, O you who believe, whoever amongst you turns away from this religion, then verily Allah will bring about a people that love him and he loves them.

That they are humble with the believers, they have izzah, dignity and pride with the disbelievers. They strive in the path of Allah and they don't fear the blame of the blamers.

So I was just thinking about subhanAllah how incredible this is that in the previous juz when Allah is saying like, I know those who pretend to be your friends but they're really your enemies. But here Allah is also threatening, I know those who pretend to be believers and pretend to be loyal slaves but they're actually hypocrites and it's very scary like this is a very scary warning subhanAllah.

Comfort and Trepidation in Allah's Knowledge

But we should simultaneously feel comfort and trepidation at Allah knowing what's inside of us. Comfort that Allah knows the silent struggles that we have for his sake. Trepidation that Allah knows the silent sins that we do that other people don't know about.

Comfort that Allah knows the hidden agendas of those that are around us right that someone might be plotting against us and we're not paying attention but Allah is paying attention. Trepidation that perhaps Allah sees the hidden transgressions that we commit against other people but because of the kindness of those people they're not rectified in this dunya.

So it's this constant like okay Allah knows, Allah knows but does Allah knows make you feel comfort or does it make you feel afraid? Afraid in a way of course that induces rectification that leads you to a path of actually fixing yourself and correcting what you don't want to be brought out in front of Allah.

Excellence in Speech and Conduct

Allah does not like that negative thoughts be voiced. That negative thoughts be voiced except for those who have been wronged. Those who have been oppressed. And verily Allah is all-hearing, all-knowing.

And the ulama talk about this principle that from ihsan, from excellence is that you sometimes swallow things for his sake. Think about it this way, the very first way that Allah defined the true believers is أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ. They're humble with the believers. What does that mean? Sometimes your brother or your sister says something that you don't like. So you have a negative thought. You swallow it for the sake of Allah.

Look at the connection, subhanAllah, the synergy between these two things, right? أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ. Like okay, like I have to be humble with the believers. So I'm going to take that. I'm going to swallow that for a higher cause and I'm going to seek the reward from Allah for what I feel like was a slight. Not wishing harm for my brother, but I know that Allah will reward that.

أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ also means that when I see my brother or my sister fall, I don't gloat. I don't put them down. I don't backbite. It's not just humility when you're face to face. It's humility when they're also behind the scenes, right? When they're also in another place.

But إِلَّا مَن ظُلِمَ. Right? Except for those who have been wronged, transgressed, that there is a limit then where society will have fasad, society will have corruption if that oppression is not rectified.

Measuring Yourself Against Divine Standards

So Allah knows what's inside of us. Allah knows hidden agendas. Allah knows hidden enemies. Allah knows hidden hypocrites. Allah knows true followers, right? And Allah gives you qualities by which you should weigh yourself.

And this is something, you know, inshaAllah ta'ala I want everyone to sort of take home from this is that we can all feel like hypocrites at times. We can all feel like, you know, am I this or am I that? Allah doesn't leave this to subjectivity. He gives you measures. Measure yourself against the qualities of the hypocrites. Measure yourself against the qualities of those that he loves and see where you are. And if you see deficiency, then you'll find answers from the Quran, from the sunnah, from the righteous predecessors on how to fill those buckets so that you can now be worthy of that love from Allah and be distant from those traits.

And of course, you know, subhanAllah, Allah knows your enemies. And Allah also mentions in this particular juz that verily the hypocrites are in the lowest part of the fire. May Allah protect us.

The Enemy Within vs. External Enemies

I'll just say here, subhanAllah, that we should fear the damage that our internal selves can do to us much more than we should fear what any external being can do to us. Like if someone harms me from the outside, Allah is the one who will rectify Allah is the one who will reward and compensate. But if I'm the problem, if I have internal fasaad, internal corruption, internal hypocrisy, that's going to come back to bite me in the hereafter.

And I'm much more worried about the enemy within than I am the enemy that Allah knows who's without. So وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِأَعْدَائِكُمْ, Allah knows who your true enemies are. Do I know the enmity of the self? How shaitan, the chief enemy, has polluted and corrupted myself in a way that could hurt me or cause me to hurt others, by which Allah would hold me accountable on the day of judgment.

Reflections on Hypocrisy and Accountability

SubhanAllah, I mean, there's a lot of points that you touched on here, mashaAllah, beautifully. When speaking about the munafiqun particularly, the nifaq comes from nafaq, which is like a hidden tunnel under the ground. And it's tricky because shaitan can easily trick you into doing that, not becoming a munafiq but having those traits of nifaq.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2623)

As the Prophet ﷺ mentioned in numerous hadith, and it's tricky because shaitan will have you thinking that you can outsmart a mu'min or even outsmart Allah by saying that you believe in something that you really don't.

And when speaking about masculinity, it's not only brothers that reach out, about 30 to 40% of them are sisters that reach out and say, my husband is not the man that he said he was. He's not the person that I thought he was the first week. You know, he doesn't feel that he's accountable to anyone, even though he acts in a way that only I and Allah knows and then his little children know.

The Prophet ﷺ said whoever said that mankind is destroyed, then he is the most destructive of them or he is the source of destruction. This shows your attitude, but really most importantly, your optimism, your hope in Allah and your belief in the believers.

You know, it's important. I remember one time I gave a khutbah, everyone's just, after this khutbah, turn to the person to your left and your right and say, I believe in you. No, I love you. And it, that emanates simply from the belief in the one God, the belief in Allah. Everything emanates from that. That is our seed. That is our foundation. That is why we have أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ. I hope in this, inshaAllah khair.

We have good expectations. This is where all these forms of etiquette and manners come from, all spring from this belief in the oneness of Allah. As soon as you find your relevance, find your identity, find your happiness in other than Allah and other than his pleasure and other than your primary concern being his pleasure. That is where you can fall into these characteristics of being a slave or part-time slave of other than Allah. Even if it is your own self, your own ego, your own physical protection and that physical protection as a result of that, you know, you're neglecting that which is internal because of something that is external. And that's where it can be a problem.

The Inward Dimension of Faith

That verse about, you know, you compared Allah the Almighty exposing the munafiqeen about, you know, the fact that they're a hidden enemy, but also that what they're inward is, doesn't match with their outward. But then the other verse about the believers, it also speaks about the inward dimension of the believers because that verse you mentioned, Allah said that He will bring a people who firstly, they will love Allah, that they will have humility towards one another, and they won't fear criticism. All those three traits are inward. They're all to do with the heart, loving, fearing, and, you know, humility. And it shines that light on what really matters the most, which is what's going on inside, you know.

And I think in this Ramadan, if everyone just took a moment to be honest with themselves, then they can be honest with Allah because you can point the finger at so many different things. You can point the finger at shaitan, you can point the finger at your cousin, you could point the finger at the TV, but who's going to point the finger and say, actually, am I genuine with Allah about my flaws? Because if you can't be genuine with Allah about your own flaws, really, how are you going to redeem yourself? How are you going to change? Because you're in denial about your own heart. So just remember that Allah sees the reality of what's inside. And, you know, if you can sort those things out, then everything else will follow in the most beautiful way.

When Good Traits Can Be Corrupted by Hypocrisy

You know, there's one more reflection that comes to mind based on that. JazakumAllah khairan for the beautiful reflections, both of you, Masha'ikh. Is all of the traits that Allah mentions in this verse, they can also be traits of the hypocrites. Because you can show humility with the believers from a place of hypocrisy. You know, you want to look like the good guy, so you take the higher ground. So, you know, you provoke someone and then someone gets in your face. And since other people are watching, you say salam, you know, I'm Ibadur Rahman.

If that Izzah is to humiliate a disbeliever, as opposed to, you know, Izzah is holding on to your deen and not buckling under the pressure. The Prophet ﷺ did not teach us to mistreat people, right, who are not Muslims. In fact, the Prophet ﷺ made dua for them. The Prophet ﷺ taught us to show goodness, right? Allah says in the Quran, respond to evil with that which is better. So, kind treatment and these things are there, especially with people that are not hostile towards you.

But, you know, someone can say, you know, I'm showing Izzah, I'm going to crush this kafir, I'm going to win this debate. I'm going to do this. That's not for the Izzah of Islam. It's for the Izzah of themselves. They want to come out on top. One of the scariest hadiths is the person who's being dragged to hellfire, who is a shaheed in the sight of the people. Why? Because he wanted people to say courageous. And he was doing it just for that name, you know, just to be called that.

They don't fear the blame of the blamers. I don't care what anybody thinks, you know. Ibn al-Qayyim talks about this idea of how, you know, displaying outward religious symbols can be a form of showing off. So, he talks about, you know, like the Prophet ﷺ warned about the lengthening of the thobe, right? How shortening the thobe can also be a form of showing off, can be a form of showing off of a person who's trying to show their religiosity in a way that has exaggeration in it.

So, even these beautiful traits can be betrayed by hypocrisy. And that's something that's powerful within these verses.

The Power of Pardoning from Strength

Shaykh Asim, I want to come to you. Allah says, whether you reveal or conceal a good. The words are so powerful here, subhanAllah, especially when you think about the end of surah al-Baqarah, right? And you compare it. So, whether you reveal or conceal or pardon, surely Allah is What a pairing, right? All pardoning, all powerful. Can you talk about what the meaning of this verse is and how this pairing of forgiveness and power can be beneficial to us?

So, the verse is an incredible piece of guidance. The context of the verse is that Allah, He doesn't allow people to publicly speak negatively about other people with an exception. Except the person who has been wronged. And in that case, the scholars say you could, for example, make dua against that person. You could inform others about the wrongdoing that they're committing. However, the next verse is the one that you mentioned. Allah then directs this person to say, even though we've given you a license to speak out against the one who has wronged you, what would be better is for you to do this.

And that is, if you do a good towards that person openly, secretly, or you pardon them, then just know. So, this part of the verse, فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَفُوًّا قَدِيرًا is kind of giving us the motivation we need to be the better person, which is to let go and to pardon. And the motivation is this, know that the one you worship has these qualities. They're attributed to your Lord. Why don't you aspire to have them as well? The first one being that Allah pardons. That makes sense. Okay, you should pardon because your Lord pardons.

But also, you know the story about Abu Bakr and Mistah as well, that he was a family member. In a way, he betrayed Abu Bakr by getting involved with the slander of his daughter Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her. And then Allah says, "Wouldn't you love it that Allah were to forgive you?" As if to say, forgive because wouldn't you love Allah to forgive you? Don't you want that from Allah?

The second name though, قَدِيرًا Tabib Mashroor mentioned something amazing. He said, this name of Allah, it's about Allah's capability, His power, His control. And it's as though Allah is saying, He can pardon in spite of having control to do whatever He wants. He could punish you. He could let you go. He could pardon you. Which way does Allah choose?

And he said that in the same way Allah gives you a choice in life, you are also قَدِيرًا in that you have a choice to be petty with someone who was insulting you or to be the bigger person. And if you do it from that position of strength where you could humiliate someone, but instead you forgive, you pardon, that is now aspiring to something that has been attributed to Allah.

From weakness, it's not the same thing. You don't have any choice. From strength, I could go online, I could write so many things about this person, destroy their reputation. Or I could, for the sake of Allah, pardon them. That doesn't mean that you can't respond to that person in a more dignified way, not insulting them. But then there's this higher way as well. And that's the kind of call that the verse is making for us to live up to that high standard, which is the standard of the Prophet ﷺ.

Responding to Insults with Dignity

Yeah, I found one example where the Prophet ﷺ did respond to an insult with an insult, even though it's a very gracious way. And it's the narration where Aisha she says that a group of Jews, you know, they visited him and they greeted him with As-salamu alaykum. And she caught that straight away. She caught the idea that they're playing on the greeting. Instead of saying peace, they're saying death. And she said in response, you know, basically death upon you.

And then she turned to the Prophet ﷺ and said, you know, what's going on? Didn't you hear what they said? And the Prophet ﷺ said, look, you know, calm down. Allah loves people to be gentle. And then didn't you hear what I said? I said, wa alaykum, wa alaykum, and onto you. Meaning he didn't accept the insult, but he didn't lower himself to a level that they lowered themselves. But he did respond. So to be the best Muslim doesn't mean that you got to take all the rubbish that people give you. But even responding, there's a more dignified, noble way of responding. So I think it's a skill that we have to learn.

Once I remember I was eating with my wife outside. It's a lovely day, people walking past, my wife with niqab. So you know how they have to lift it up and then they eat. So there must have been this couple walking past and the woman, she kind of poked fun at my wife. She said to her boyfriend, can she even see under there? Or can she even see what she's eating? And I heard that and I kind of froze. I was like, oh, what's gonna happen now?

So my wife, SubhanAllah, my wife actually looked up and she said, why do you want some? And as soon as she said that, her boyfriend's face was like, oh my God, she just got burned. So Sheikh Abdullah would have got up and broke the boyfriend too. Yeah. For the sake of Allah. For the sake of Allah, yeah.

But SubhanAllah, there is a more dignified way to respond to people that are being cruel. That's Izzat, by the way. Yeah, yeah. And it just kind of reminded me that, look, even when people are being difficult with you, annoying with you, doesn't mean you have to be the same way. But at the same time, you don't have to accept it either. There is a better way. And that's a skill that we... SubhanAllah, response to insult with dignity, grace or dignity. I mean, I think that's a beautiful rule, right? Yeah. Grace or dignity. It's powerful.

Final Reflections on Strength and Composure

JazakAllah khair, Sheikh Abdullah, do you have any final thoughts? Yeah, I think it just shows like what you said, it shows Izzat. I think when people that try to insult you, when they try their best and you know that they're trying their best and they can see that you know that they're trying their best and you still respond with less intensity. Yeah. It just makes them feel small. It takes away their power. It takes away their power.

I think that's very, very important when we, especially when we go to rallies and the likes of that, that we respond, you know, we mobilize, we organize, but we make sure we keep our composure. And that is more threatening because it shows more Izzat, control and strength in the long run. Right. So I just want to make sure... Just stay on message, you know, stay on message. And that's what the prophets always tell us. Stay on message, right? Like a dog barking at you wants you to bark back. What's the point, right? Stay on message, keep doing your thing and respond with pardon, with grace or with dignity.

JazakAllah khair. You didn't translate. There's a term you said. I think it's an Arabic rubbish. Can you translate to American, please? American. Oh, trash, trash. Say it in American. Speak American. Apologize for my deficiencies. We'll put subtitles. We'll translate the Arabic and the British into American English.

It's a pleasure to have you. Inshallah, we hope it won't be the last time. May Allah bless you. You carry yourself with a lot of grace and dignity and we appreciate the work that you do in the Seerah of the Prophet as well. Sheikh Abdullah, JazakAllah khair for the beautiful reflections as always. Inshallah, we will see you all next time. Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.