SURAH AL-BAQARAH
Ayah 14.
وَإِذَا لَقُواْ الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ قَالُواْ آمَنَّا
وَإِذَا خَلَوْاْ إِلَى شَيَاطِينِهِمْ قَالُواْ إِنَّا مَعَكْمْ إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُسْتَهْزِئُونَ
And when they come across those who believe, they say, “We believe”; but when they are alone with their devils, they say, “We are with you; we were only ridiculing.”
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And when they come across those who believe, they say, “We believe”
When they were publicly with the Muslims, they would openly say that they were Muslims. However when they are alone with their devils, they say, “We are with you”.
When they were asked privately, they would say that they were not one with the Muslims.
i.e When no Muslims are around, they will say otherwise. One example was a so called “Muslim” who while entertaining some European guests were asked, “Are you Muslim?”. The reply was: “Whatever!”.
Sometimes a so-called “Muslim” can look quite religious hosting talk-shows related to religion. But the same person can be hosting an entertainment show with some “haram” mixed and you see how he enjoyed it.
During the Prophet times, the Munafiquun mingled with the Muslims and at the same time they maintained kinship with the Mushrikuun who were plotting harm against the Muslims.
Mushrikuun = the people of Makkah whom had shown severe animosity towards the Muslims of Medina. Note that in previous ayah, Allah already labelled the Mushrikuun of Makkah as “disbelievers”.
If the Munafiqs were asked why they mingled with the Mushrikuun, they would say that they were only doing good by maintaining relationship. They thought they were peacemaker. The danger was that they would be exposing to the Mushrikuun (either on purpose or not) any news regarding the Muslims in Medina where the Mushrikuun of Makkah can exploit and take advantage of. The Munafiquun were being used by the Mushrikuun without them knowing. The Mushrikuun were never interested in peace. The Munafiquun thought that if the Muslims were winning, they would be with the winning side, and if the Muslims were loosing, they would be with the Mushrikuun.
The word “Munafiq” comes from the root word “Nafaqa” = which means lizard holes. The lizard has two holes that it can go in and out on either side when it feels in danger.
The word Munafiq also has the meaning of someone who is trying to protect himself from danger, just like the meaning of a Muttaq. Both trying to protect themselves from danger. But the Munafiq do it in a wrong way while the Muttaq do it in a right way.
This ayah was not saying that we cannot mingle with non-Muslims. However this ayah was reminding the people of Muttaqin to be wary of those hard-core group of people who already publicly shown animosity and lies about the religion. The lesson is that security of any nation is very important and must be taken seriously so that it shall not be exposed to any people who already shown animosity towards you.
When they were with the believers, they would openly say that they were the believers. For a genuine believer, there is no benefit in telling people that “I am a believer”, as believing is in the heart and in enslaving to the Master. The Munafiquun will “over-react” to show that they were pious Muslims.
Have you seen people who openly wrote in Facebook status eg. ” … is reading the Quran now”.. “is in the mosque praying maghrib.” ..” ..is doing “zikr” in a mosque now.” .. etc. highlighting/showcasing his religious piousness to other people? Your piousness is only to be shown to your Master/God!
When a person donates a large sum of money to a mosque, and a large banner with the donor’s name is displayed and a ceremony is held where a ridiculously large cheque is handed over to the mosque administrators with photographers snapping photos. This will make the donor feel very “high” and the danger of falling into the Munafiq trap hole (i.e. showing off – opposite of sincerity ).
One example was the behaviour of a “known” Munafiq in Medina. Before the Prophet came to Medina, he was the most senior figure in his society. Immediately after the Prophet s.a.w came, the people established the Prophet s.a.w as the uncontested leader of Medina. The senior guy was instantly a nobody. He had to stay in the limelight of the people. He had to have some “mic” time whenever the Prophet was about to give a speech. He will quickly stand up and make an announcement “Here is the Messenger of Allah giving speech. Please be quiet and listen to what he has to say”. It was an unnecessary action to do since the Sahabah would surely listen attentively whenever the Prophet was talking.
One day when he was about to do the same thing again, some sahabah pulled him down to sit. This made him angry and he stomped out of the Friday prayer khutbah.
The second-type of munafiqs = When they were among the disbelievers, they will forget about all their Islamic obligations like solah, etc. and prohibitions like cursing profanity language, eating food where the halal status is doubted, etc.
“We are with you; we were only ridiculing.”
When the disbelievers asked them that they were seen praying with the believers, they will say that they were not serious about the matter.
When the Kafiruun are laughing (ridiculing) at some Muslim practices, these Munafiquun will laugh together with them. In actual fact, the Kafiruun have no respect for the Munafiquun, and they get no respect from the Muslims either.
A Munafiq who mingled with the believers, would spread lies regarding a believer to other believers. The lies they spread regarding Muslims to non-Muslims are far more severe. They spread lies regarding the Prophet s.a.w and the religion. They create slander among the believers so that they fight against each other, etc. However they will be exposed (as historically proven).
SURAH AL-BAQARAH
Ayah 15.
اللّهُ يَسْتَهْزِئُ بِهِمْ وَيَمُدُّهُمْ فِي طُغْيَانِهِمْ يَعْمَهُونَ
It is Allah who ridicules them, and leaves them bewildered in their transgression.
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“It is Allah who ridicules them”
Allah will make it even easier for them to accumulate sins and be humiliated in this world and the hereafter. This is how Allah ridicule the Munafiq.
The Munafiq will be in the deepest place in Hell Fire. They already got the Deen, even their IC (Identification Card) displays Religion = Islam, that was the greatest gift, but they throw it out of their life while a great number of people do not get the gift that they have got by being in Islam.
“and leaves them bewildered in their transgression.”
“Tughyan” = transgression – to cross the line, overly disturbing behavior. Purposely go against something (law/government/ police etc) out of the urge that you are able to do it. Overly confident in their arrogant rebellion against the rules and regulation of the religion. Allah leaves them in their rebellion and corruption.
The Munafiq has no clarity which direction in life they should go :-
“Ya’mahuun” = blind of the heart, blind insight, no direction.
They will be despised by both the Muslims and the disbelievers, thereby they are the one being ridiculed by society. When they were with the Muslims, the Muslims could see their trades as Munafiq. When they were with the disbelievers, they were actually not 100 percent trusted. Their life was a life of crookedness with no guidance to the straight path.