“The hypocrites seek to deceive God, while it is He Who causes them to be deceived (by themselves). When they rise to pray, they rise reluctantly, only to be seen and praised by man, remembering God but seldom.” [4:142]
The hypocrite, assuming false appearance of sincerity, causes people to think he is following God’s principles, while actually he is not. Many people in every religion and society suffer from some sort of inability to do what they think they ought to do.
The hearts of such people are bereft of faith. In their hearts they have a disease that is augmented by their bad actions until it becomes second nature to them without their realizing it.
These are not true believers but hypocrites who are believers only by outward manifestation. In their actions they are in reality driven by selfish needs for the sake of appearance rather than to win the approval of God.
The Qur’an has a chapter devoted to the problems caused by the hypocritical element in a community and the need to guard against it.
The Prophet (s.a.w) defined the character of a hypocrite as follows:
“The signs of a hypocrite are three: when he speaks he lies; when he promises something he does not fulfill his promise; and when he is trusted he does not keep faith.”
So the hypocrite visibly presents himself as a true believer but he is a deceiver and his action cause disturbances in society, yet try to cover this by religious devotion.
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