Hypocrites

 In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

I was reading Verse 9:74, wherein hypocrites' declaration of belief in Allah and His Messenger was exposed to be false! The hypocrites meant were those living then, that is at the time when the Qur'aan was being revealed. 

But it occurred to me, to my dismay, that we, modern-day Muslims, could be such hypocrites as well!

We declare we are believers of the Qur'aan! Really? Why do we then act contrary to some of the Qur'aanic edicts?

In Verse 17:110, Muslims are instructed not to be too low in their voice during their prayers. But we disregard this clear instruction and say our ظهر and عصر prayers inaudibly! Why?

In Verse 62:9, we are asked to abandon all our mundane business and rush towards ذكر الله immediately on hearing the Call for Friday prayer. What do we do? We are in no hurry to leave our business! We delay our going to the Masajid till it is time to start the ritual prayer. "The Imam's sermon isn't worth hearing," we think. And the females think the divine directive is for men, and not for women! So, they remain busy preparing meals for their men returning from their prayers!!

Verse 2:187 directs us to fast إلى اليل till night. But we break our fast at sunset! Sunset is not night. The atmosphere is still pervaded with daylight then. The Qur'aan itself calls dawn and dusk to be the 2 ends of the day طرفي انهار and not ends of the night (refer Verse 11:114). Night comes when all remnants of daylight vanish from the atmosphere. Just as fast starts, not at Sunrise, but at the start of dawn, it ends, not at sunset, but at the end of dusk! But we do not bother, we follow what our forefathers have been doing. 

The elite amongst us - some of them, not all, I grant - would rather have a pleasure trip around the world, than perform a Hajj! On the other hand, there are some who would perform a Hajj or an Umrah every year but would not spend on ameliorating some of the poverty around them!

Some of us - the younger generation particularly - usually enjoy a late-night show or remain busy with our mobile. Then it becomes difficult for them to get up for the prescribed dawn prayer. And, gradually, it becomes a habit! One day, they say a final bye to the dawn prayer, and then, to all prayers!

Qur'aan instructs us to be truthful always, and to stand firmly for justice even at our own cost! We casually go against this instruction in the interest of our worldly gains. And we assume, we have not done anything wrong!

Qur'aan repeatedly asserts that it explains in detail all things necessary for leading a good, virtuous life. But even our well-established Islamic scholars say that الربا(Ar-Riba) is not defined! In other words, they do not believe in the Qur'aan!

I can go on and on recounting our perfidies, but I am tired. I must stop here!  The undeniable fact, however, is that the modern-day Muslim is, generally speaking, a منافق, a hypocrite!  

May Allah have mercy on us!

Amen,

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 17th of September 2021.