Enough were these verses to shake and shatter my heart (verse 145), and then quickly fill it with so much hope and Love for Allah SWT (verse 146-147) , and humbling myself realizing NO ONE can be as Merciful as Him SWT!
إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ فِي الدَّرْكِ الْأَسْفَلِ مِنَ النَّارِ وَلَن تَجِدَ لَهُمْ نَصِيرًا
إِلَّا الَّذِينَ تَابُوا وَأَصْلَحُوا وَاعْتَصَمُوا بِاللَّهِ وَأَخْلَصُوا دِينَهُمْ لِلَّهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ مَعَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ۖ وَسَوْفَ يُؤْتِ اللَّهُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا
مَّا يَفْعَلُ اللَّهُ بِعَذَابِكُمْ إِن شَكَرْتُمْ وَآمَنتُمْ ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ شَاكِرًا عَلِيمًا
Indeed, the hypocrites will be in the lowest depths of the Fire – and never will you find for them a helper –
Except for those who repent, correct themselves, hold fast to Allah , and are sincere in their religion for Allah , for those will be with the believers. And Allah is going to give the believers a great reward.
What would Allah do with your punishment if you are grateful and believe? And ever is Allah Appreciative and Knowing.
[Surah AnNisa Verses 145,146 and 147]
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “There are four things that whoever has them, then he is a hypocrite, and whoever has one attribute from among them, then he has an attribute of hypocrisy,until he leaves it: Whoever lies whenever he speaks, he does not fulfill whenever he promises, he is vulgar whenever he argues, and whenever he makes an agreement he proves treacherous.” [Tirmidhi]
A person who possesses even one of these characteristics possesses the trait of hypocrisy UNTIL he abandons it.
There are other ahadith and verses in the Qur’an as well that mention more different characteristics of hypocrisy.
My heart trembles at the thought of all the things I might have done and not even know of that might characterize me a hypocrite. How can my eyes not swell with tears imagining struggling in the lowest depths of Hell fire, disregarded and thrown by Allah SWT and being forgotten by Him and helpless!! 😥
HOWEVER, Allah azza wa jall, is so Rich in His mercy that no matter how much one is close to being a hypocrite; by lying, cheating, arguing, or being treacherous, having doubts in deen, being lazy in Salah and ibadah, Riya (showing off) and insincerity, or whatever it is, Allah SWT shows us a way out- Tauba. [‘Except for those who repent’]
Leave the act. Stop it and make tauba.
And then to do Islah [‘Correct themselves’]– That when we do something wrong, we fix it! And this is a life long process. As human beings we are always making mistakes. All we have to do is fix them.
The third thing that is necessary is to have a ‘strong connection with Allah SWT.’ [‘Hold fast to Allah’]
And fourthly to be sincere in deen,to perform good deeds with ‘sincerity’ in intentions. [‘and are sincere in their religion for Allah’]
Then Allah SWT asks us ‘Why does Allah have to punish us if we do shukr and have eman?’
Allah SWT is SO RICH and free from the need of punishing His creation. If a person has these above mentioned qualities, then he will be saved from the wrath of Allah SWT. So the two things we can do in order to be saved from His grave punishment: Shukr and Eman. Shukr is to ackowledge the blessings of Allah SWT in our lives; with our heart, tongue, our limbs and our actions. And use those blessings to do what Allah wants us to do and use them to worship Him.
[and ever is Allah All appreciative and Knowing] Allah SWT is AshShakir, the One who does shukr. And how is Allah SWT shaakir? He rewards us with more than what we have done. We might do one good deed and He gives from Himself a great reward and multiplies it. Allah SWT is Al’Aleem. He knows exactly what is in our hearts. How much sincere we are and how much negligent we are. He knows exactly everything.
Imagine! If there were hypocrites even at the time of RasoolAllah (ﷺ); when the Qur’an was being revealed and there was constant guidance, then how about now? We are more prone to hypocrisy, being so far away from the righteous people of guidance, in these times of great fitnah! We need to be extra cautious and constantly need to engage in Tauba and NEVER feel safe.
Dua-
اَللّهُمَّ طَهِّرْ قَلْبِىْ مِنَ النِّفَاقِ، وَ عَمَلِىْ مِنَ الرِّيَآءِ، وَ لِسَانِىْ مِنَ الْكَذِبِ، وَ عَيْنِىْ مِنَ الْخِيَانَةِ، فَإِنَّكَ تَعْلَمُ خَآئِنَةَ الْأعْيُنِ، وَمَا تُخْفِىْ الصُّدُوْرِ
“O Allah! Purify my heart of hypocrisy, and my deeds from showing off, and my tongue from lying, and my eyes from betraying trust (looking at the forbidden). For indeed, You know what the eyes betray, and what is hidden deep in the breasts)”
[Credits to Ustadha Taymiyah Zubair, Talim al Quran course]
Sameera Hameed 