SURAH AL-BAQARAH
Ayah 11.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ لاَ تُفْسِدُواْ فِي الأَرْضِ قَالُواْ إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُصْلِحُونَ
And when it is said to them, “Do not make trouble/corruption on earth,” they say, “We are only reformers (doing good).”
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“Do not make trouble/corruption on earth,”
The Munafiquun are the troublemakers within the Muslim ummah. It’s true we cannot judge a person to be a Munafiq, but we can judge the actions that were publicly done by certain group of people.
During the time of the Prophet (s.a.w), when the Muslims were on their way towards battle, the Munafiquun would go to one caravan to spread rumors or instigate hatred regarding another caravan. They would go to the other caravan and do the same. They wanted the Muslims to be divided among themselves. We see the Muslims nowadays are divided so we must be wary of any news/rumors regarding each other.
“We are only reformers (doing good).”
The munafiquun went to Makkah having meetings with the Mushrikun Quraysh. When their activity was exposed, they said that they were peacemakers trying to reform the relationship between Makkah and Madinah. This is similar to Muslims who normalize relationship with people who had done evil acts on other Muslims. They want to show that they are doing peace and prosperity with those who want to get rid of Believers.
Nowadays you have heard of “reformed” movement to allow a woman to be the imam in solah. They have also changed the azan to be recited in the English language in their masjid. They want “justice” for the muslim women and claimed they are the reformers in Islam while saying that the hijab is no longer valid which is in denial of the fatwas of the various known Islamic scholars based on Qur’an and Sunnah. It’s true that we cannot name certain people as a Munafiq, but we can highlight those drastic acts so that the religion shall not be corrupted.
Those ignorant Muslims who are influenced by these groups will join in as “reformers”, shamelessly declaring self-righteousness.
If a good deed is done with other motives in mind (opposite of sincerity to God), the good deed is corrupted. Eg. if a big donation given to a masjid with other worldly intention intended for himself, that is also called corruption. No doubt the Munafiq does lots of good deeds, but still it’s “fasad” corruption on earth when done for one’s own gain and not for Allah.
They not only are spiritually corrupted themselves but inherently causing corruption to others within the ummah.
This is the second type of Munafiq, i.e. those who thought they are “real” Muslims, but are acting, behaving and believing as the first Munafiq. They didn’t receive the hidayah (guidance). Somehow they have some sickness in the heart, eg. ego, arrogance, foolishness, etc. who do not want to “surrender” 100% to the will of their Lord.
Example of a spiritually corrupt person: A so called "saint" who is proud when people overly honor him, kissing his hands and turban, praising him loudly in front of a crowd while he is enjoying every bit of it without advising them against it, is spiritually corrupt.
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If we are referring to those with power on earth and causing corruption, we can relate this to the world superpower who invades or colonized other weaker countries for their own benefits, eg. to get the oil etc. They will then tell the world that they are the “reformers”. They are the one who bring in stability to the country while getting rid of a tyrant leader by introducing democracy and others. In fact their primary reason is the oil and maintaining their freedom way of life sucking resources from other countries.