(p-73) Surah Al-Munafiqun

Its purpose is the completeness of warning against what undermines faith from the hidden actions, and the intimidation of what detracts from Islam from the apparent states, by contradicting action to speech. For indeed, this is hypocrisy in general, and it is likely to lead to the completeness of hypocrisy, causing one to exit from the religion and enter the abyss. This warning is meant to be a reason for the truthfulness of sayings, then the truthfulness of actions, then the truthfulness of morals, then the truthfulness of states, then the truth of breaths. The truth of saying is that the speaker does not speak except based on evidence. The truth of action is that there should be no innovation dominating it. The truth of morals is that what appears from him in goodness should not be observed after exaggeration in it with the eye of deficiency. The truth of states is that it should be based on clarity and expression, and the truth of breaths is that one should not breathe except from existence like sight. The naming of them as hypocrites is clear in this, 'In the name of Allah,' who has the utmost encompassing knowledge and power. Whoever deviates desires Him, 'the Most Gracious,' who has concealed by His general mercy whom He wills from His servants and exposed whom He wills, even if the plot is intricate and hidden. 'the Most Merciful,' who has guided the people of His love by completing His blessing for what He loves and is pleased with.

* *When He, glorified and exalted is He, prohibited in Surah Al-Mumtahanah from taking His enemy as an ally, and condemned in the ranks for the contradiction between speech and action, and warned at the end of the Friday from turning away from a state of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, to a state of conditions even if in agreement, because the image of all of that is the image of hypocrisy. He condemned at the beginning of this the state of one who approaches Him in a state of hypocrisy, for he would be like the Jews who were entrusted with the Torah but did not carry it. The entire Surah continued in condemning them with the worst condemnation to deter from everything whose apparent is hypocrisy. He, exalted is He, said: 'When there comes to you' meaning, O Messenger, who is foretold in the Torah and the Gospel, 'the hypocrites,' meaning those entrenched in the description of hypocrisy, which is the Islam of the apparent and the disbelief of the hidden, most of them are from the Jews. 'They said,' confirming for the sake of their awareness to deny whoever hears them due to their suspicion: 'We bear witness.' Al-Hasan said: It is like an oath, as if they said: We swear. 'Indeed, you' - the emphasis for that and an implication that the strength of their emphasis is due to their great desire in the content of what they say - 'are certainly the Messenger of Allah,' meaning the king who has complete encompassing. They agreed with the truth in the apparent of their states, and contradicted with their hearts and actions.

And when the testimony is the reporting of knowledge of certainty, because it is from the witnesses, which is the completeness of presence, the fullness of insight, and the agreement of the hearts with the tongues, He, glorified and exalted is He, affirmed what is witnessed and denied them in their swearing by the testimony and the agreement of their tongues with their hearts. So He said: ﴿And Allah knows﴾, meaning His knowledge is the knowledge of reality. And He, glorified and exalted is He, confirmed it according to the denial of the hypocrites, saying: ﴿Indeed, you are certainly His Messenger﴾, whether the hypocrites witness that or do not witness it. The testimony of that is true from one whose tongue agrees with his heart. He placed this between their testimony and their denial so that it would not be imagined that what their testimony contained regarding the message is false.

And when it might be thought that this is an affirmation of the words of the hypocrites, it indicated that it is a realization of the content of their words without their testimony. So He said: ﴿And Allah﴾, meaning the One who encompasses all attributes of perfection, ﴿bears witness﴾ with a testimony that is the testimony [because it encompasses] the subtleties of the apparent and the hidden. ﴿Indeed, the hypocrites﴾, meaning those firmly established in the description of hypocrisy, ﴿are certainly liars﴾, meaning in their reporting about themselves that they witness, for their hearts do not agree with their tongues. They do not believe that. And from the condition of saying the truth is that its apparent must connect with its hidden, and its secret with its public. Whenever that is contradicted, it is a lie. It is not intended that they are liars in the correctness of what their testimony contained that you are the Messenger of Allah. And the result is that the testimony contains two things: the truthfulness of the content of the report and the submission to it. Their truthfulness is in the first and their lying is in the second, so they became, by their hypocrisy, in a worse state and a worse end than the Jews.

And Imam Abu Ja'far ibn al-Zubayr said: When the condition of the believers followed what Allah specified for them in what the three verses contained up to the beginning of Surah al-Jumu'ah to His saying: ﴿And Allah is the Possessor of great favor﴾ [al-Jumu'ah: 4], by mentioning the condition of those who did not benefit from what they carried according to what has preceded, and in that is from the admonitions and reminders that benefit those for whom happiness has preceded, He followed with what is more impactful in the purpose and more eloquent in the intended message, which is the mention of a group among whom were those who had previously received praise and among their peers and relatives, who appeared outwardly to have faith, and showed submission and compliance, but when they were addressed, they turned away and disassociated themselves from what they reached. Rather, fate hindered them, and their insights and sights became blind. And it is well-known that a person's admonition by those closest to him and by the people of his time is more effective than his admonition by those far from him in time and lineage. So Surah al-Jumu'ah was followed by Surah al-Munafiqun as a reminder to the believers regarding the condition of the people of hypocrisy, and it elaborated on their stories in a manner that is suitable for what we have mentioned. And it was said to them: It is not the one who shows submission and response, then Bani Israel, then was in what he carried, like the example of a donkey carrying books, more astonishing than the condition of your brothers in time and kinship, and you are the most knowledgeable of people about them and that they were in the days of ignorance described as having good opinions and sound judgment.

'And when you see them, their bodies impress you. And if they speak, you listen to their words.' [Al-Munafiqun: 4] 'But the hypocrites do not understand.' [Al-Munafiqun: 7] I said: And it has been mentioned in the sermon what we narrated in the compilation of Ibn Abi Shaybah from the words of some of the believers: 'The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, would recite in the Friday prayer from the Surah of Al-Jumu'ah [and Al-Munafiqun].' He would give glad tidings to the believers and encourage them. As for the Surah of Al-Munafiqun, he would bring despair to the hypocrites and rebuke them. This is similar to what we mentioned earlier - it has ended.