The characteristics of the hypocrites as mentioned in the beginning of Surat al-Baqarah.
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The Shaykh : These hypocrites are described by Allah with multiple characteristics, so let us gather them together, you and I:
First: They claim to believe, but they are liars.
Second: They deceive Allah and those who believe. Deception, plotting, and scheming have similar meanings; that is, they bring things as a deception so that whoever is deceived is deceived by them. But when they deceive Allah, the Messenger, and the believers, they only deceive themselves. As for Allah and the believers, they will not be deceived, and the falsehood and disbelief of these people will not pass over them.
Third: The sickness of the hearts:[Al-Baqarah 2:10] And what is the sickness of the heart? Is it the pain that a person sometimes feels in his heart?
No, that is a physical sickness that occurs in believers and in non-believers. But the sickness of the heart is a religious sickness, and it is in two things: in doubts and desires, or if you wish, say appetites; doubts and desires.
As for doubts, they are uncertainties whose origin is ignorance. A person has doubts in a matter in which certainty is required, so he hesitates: is there a resurrection or not? Is there Paradise or Hell or not? Is there a Lord or not? Is there such-and-such, is there such-and-such of the unseen matters? We say, this is a sickness of what?
The student: Doubts.
The Shaykh : Doubts. A sickness of desires is when a person knows the truth but does not want it. For example, he knows that drinking intoxicants is forbidden, but he drinks intoxicants. He knows that theft is forbidden, but he steals. He knows that unlawful sexual intercourse is forbidden, but he commits unlawful sexual intercourse. He knows that killing the soul is forbidden, but he kills. This is a sickness of what?
A sickness of desire, meaning that he does not want the good, but rather he wants the evil. Some scholars call it a sickness of appetite, and appetite here means desire.
Now, these hypocrites have a sickness in their hearts, and it is a great sickness, the sickness of doubt, may Allah protect us, and the sickness of bad intent. For they never want good for the Muslims, but rather they want evil to the extent of their ability.
Among their characteristics is corruption on earth. How do they corrupt on earth? With sins, deception, scheming against the believers, and supporting the disbelievers. But when it is said to them, "Do not corrupt on earth," what do they say?
They say, "We are only reformers." They conspire with the enemies of Allah and support them against the awliya (close friends of Allah). Then when they come to the awliya:[Al-Baqarah 2:14] That is why he said here: [Al-Baqarah 2:11-12] And their characteristics are many and varied.
And I would like to limit myself to a little speech tonight, because we have a lot of questions, and I fear that the owners of these questions would like them to be answered. So it is better, if you see that, that we make most of this sitting for the questions.
I also want to point out that the agreement signed between me and you this morning, that the lesson would be here, included an objection to this. A complaint was presented to me, in fact two complaints, both saying: this is not possible. And I say, perhaps the disagreement of two is the luck of the third, and we cancel the session entirely because it is Friday. You know that on Friday, the lesson downstairs is difficult; the people are sleeping and they want to rest, and the lesson here found an opponent. So combining them means leaving the lesson; we start with the questions now.
The student: The reason for preventing the lesson?
The Shaykh : You know that on Friday there is no lesson originally. But in the morning, since it was the last day, we said perhaps we would sit and take benefit, if Allah wills, and that the sitting would be here on the roof. But I found papers presented to me; I found two papers saying this cannot be in the morning...
First: They claim to believe, but they are liars.
Second: They deceive Allah and those who believe. Deception, plotting, and scheming have similar meanings; that is, they bring things as a deception so that whoever is deceived is deceived by them. But when they deceive Allah, the Messenger, and the believers, they only deceive themselves. As for Allah and the believers, they will not be deceived, and the falsehood and disbelief of these people will not pass over them.
Third: The sickness of the hearts:
In their hearts is disease
في قلوبهم مرضNo, that is a physical sickness that occurs in believers and in non-believers. But the sickness of the heart is a religious sickness, and it is in two things: in doubts and desires, or if you wish, say appetites; doubts and desires.
As for doubts, they are uncertainties whose origin is ignorance. A person has doubts in a matter in which certainty is required, so he hesitates: is there a resurrection or not? Is there Paradise or Hell or not? Is there a Lord or not? Is there such-and-such, is there such-and-such of the unseen matters? We say, this is a sickness of what?
The student: Doubts.
The Shaykh : Doubts. A sickness of desires is when a person knows the truth but does not want it. For example, he knows that drinking intoxicants is forbidden, but he drinks intoxicants. He knows that theft is forbidden, but he steals. He knows that unlawful sexual intercourse is forbidden, but he commits unlawful sexual intercourse. He knows that killing the soul is forbidden, but he kills. This is a sickness of what?
A sickness of desire, meaning that he does not want the good, but rather he wants the evil. Some scholars call it a sickness of appetite, and appetite here means desire.
Now, these hypocrites have a sickness in their hearts, and it is a great sickness, the sickness of doubt, may Allah protect us, and the sickness of bad intent. For they never want good for the Muslims, but rather they want evil to the extent of their ability.
Among their characteristics is corruption on earth. How do they corrupt on earth? With sins, deception, scheming against the believers, and supporting the disbelievers. But when it is said to them, "Do not corrupt on earth," what do they say?
They say, "We are only reformers." They conspire with the enemies of Allah and support them against the awliya (close friends of Allah). Then when they come to the awliya:
when they meet those who believe, they say, "We believe
إذا لقوا الذين آمنوا قالوا آمنا(11) And when it is said to them, "Do not cause corruption on the earth," they say, "We are but reformers." (12) Unquestionably, it is they who are the corrupters, but they perceive [it] not.
وإذا قيل لهم لا تفسدوا في الأرض قالوا إنما نحن مصلحون ألا إنهم هم المفسدون ولكن لا يشعرونAnd I would like to limit myself to a little speech tonight, because we have a lot of questions, and I fear that the owners of these questions would like them to be answered. So it is better, if you see that, that we make most of this sitting for the questions.
I also want to point out that the agreement signed between me and you this morning, that the lesson would be here, included an objection to this. A complaint was presented to me, in fact two complaints, both saying: this is not possible. And I say, perhaps the disagreement of two is the luck of the third, and we cancel the session entirely because it is Friday. You know that on Friday, the lesson downstairs is difficult; the people are sleeping and they want to rest, and the lesson here found an opponent. So combining them means leaving the lesson; we start with the questions now.
The student: The reason for preventing the lesson?
The Shaykh : You know that on Friday there is no lesson originally. But in the morning, since it was the last day, we said perhaps we would sit and take benefit, if Allah wills, and that the sitting would be here on the roof. But I found papers presented to me; I found two papers saying this cannot be in the morning...