Thirteen Verses for the Hypocrites

There is something worth noticing in the verses of the first juzʾ that treat these three categories. Four speak specifically and pointedly of the people of faith, the muʾminīn. Two speak of the kuffār — and the word is not used here in any derogatory sense, whatever nuance some have since attached to it. Kuffār is a legal designation: one who has dismissed or denied, who is not a believer. It is simply that, a neutral term. Other ideas may be loaded into it by the manner of saying it, but that is worth stating plainly.

The third category is the munāfiqīn, and in this section thirteen verses are given to them — as against three for the believers and two for the disbelievers. Within those thirteen verses, twelve characteristics of the hypocrites are set out. Why so many? They were a historical reality. Hypocrites are still met with, but they were then a serious category, and the purpose of the Qur'an is to teach, not merely to relate.

The characteristics may be run through briefly. The first is lying, falsehood and deception — an entire want of regard for what is actually the case. Then fī qulūbihim maraḍ:

These are inward diseases: mental and psychological disorders, disorders of the heart — jealousy, arrogance, greed and the like. Then plotting and contriving the downfall of others; foolishness; and mockery of the commands of Allah, yastahziʾūn, to which the answer is that Allah yastahziʾu bihim. It is not possible to bring forward the verse for each of these, which would take far longer; but on reading the passage for oneself, all of it will become clear, in shāʾ Allāh.

Further: spreading great corruption in the earth, fitnah and fasād; ignorance; deviance; turbulence; doubt; and mockery of the believers. Whoever displays these traits — deception and the rest — displays the characteristics of hypocrites, even though he is not among the munāfiqīn of that time; and we are told that they must be avoided.