Definition of Hypocrisy and Its Types
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Mustafa Muhammad from Riyadh says: In the words of Allah the Exalted,[At-Tawbah 9:67] he asks, may Allah bless you, for the definition of hypocrisy (nifaq) and whether it has types?
The Shaykh:
Linguistically, hypocrisy is exiting. From this comes the term for the gerbil’s escape hole, which it uses when someone surprises it in its home; it makes an emergency exit with a light cover that one does not notice, so if someone surprises it, it exits through this emergency exit. Thus, hypocrisy is named after this exit because they exited from faith; they are called hypocrites because they exited from faith. Hypocrisy is displaying faith while concealing disbelief; this is hypocrisy. Yes.
The questioner:
Does it have types, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh:
Yes, hypocrisy is of two types: major hypocrisy and minor hypocrisy. Major hypocrisy is displaying faith while concealing disbelief. The second type is minor hypocrisy, which includes a little showing off (riya’), a little seeking of reputation, and the like. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you. Yes.
Mustafa Muhammad from Riyadh says: In the words of Allah the Exalted,
Indeed, the hypocrites - it is they who are the defiantly disobedient.
إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَThe Shaykh:
Linguistically, hypocrisy is exiting. From this comes the term for the gerbil’s escape hole, which it uses when someone surprises it in its home; it makes an emergency exit with a light cover that one does not notice, so if someone surprises it, it exits through this emergency exit. Thus, hypocrisy is named after this exit because they exited from faith; they are called hypocrites because they exited from faith. Hypocrisy is displaying faith while concealing disbelief; this is hypocrisy. Yes.
The questioner:
Does it have types, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh:
Yes, hypocrisy is of two types: major hypocrisy and minor hypocrisy. Major hypocrisy is displaying faith while concealing disbelief. The second type is minor hypocrisy, which includes a little showing off (riya’), a little seeking of reputation, and the like. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you. Yes.
Source
قناة «مؤسسة الدعوة الخيرية»، فتاو ى على الهواء صالح فوزان الفوزان 22-07-1438هـ — youtube.com (5:41)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.