SURAH AL-BAQARAH
Ayah 8.
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللّهِ وَبِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَمَا هُم بِمُؤْمِنِينَ
Among the people are those who say, “We believe in Allah and in the Last Day,” but they are not believers.
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After mentioning about (1) the Believers, then (2) the “Kafiruun”(disbelievers), Allah now mentions the third group of people = (3) the “Munafiquun”.
If you recalled in the first Surah (al-Fatihah), Allah mentioned that He is the Master of all the people in the world which comprises of 3 categories of people =
(1) the blessed,
(2) the one who gained wrath and
(3) the lost.
In this Surah, 3 kinds of people were mentioned =
(1) the Muttaquun (people of Taqwa -“blessed”)
(2) the Kafiruun (rebellious disbelievers -“gained wrath”)
(3) the Munafiquun (the pretenders/hypocrates – “lost”).
The Munafiquun are lost in which direction they want to follow. You see the subtlety in how balanced the ayaat in the Qur’an are.
A “Muttaq” = one who seek protection/safety/benefits in Allah and seeking His pleasure.
A “Munafiq” = one who seek protection/safety/benefits from other than Allah and seeking the pleasure of people, etc.
Later ayaat will describe what “other than Allah” meant.
“We believe in Allah and in the Last Day,”
In this ayah, a “Munafiq” (singular) was telling the believers something like (in our modern language) = “Hey guys, we too believe in Allah and EVEN the Last Day!”. He didn’t say “I believe” but “We believe”. He was trying to blend in with the believers, emphasizing that he was part of the group of believers.
“but they are not believers.”
The Munafiquun (plural) tried to convince the Believers that they were true people of faith but this ayah exposed their lies. Their testimony was a lie. A believer who believed in Allah automatically believed in the last day and he do not have to publicly highlight to other believers.
This third group of people (i.e. the Muafiquun) is further divided into two categories.
This ayah describing the first type of “Munafiq” whereby they have no “iman” at all. They were actually Disbelievers. Allah didn’t mention “from among the believers” but “from among the people”, meaning they were outside of the “believing” community. Allah did not want to associate the munafiquun as believers. In our times, we may say they are the “spies”, “secret agent” or “saboteurs”, etc.
Allah spent more time in telling us about the Munafiquun as compared to the Believers and the Disbelievers. He wants to make it absolutely clear that this is the disease that destroys guidance. This is a complicated issue in the “believing” society.
We easily can recognize the Disbelievers as they are truthful in saying that they do not believe or they are truthful when they reject the faith (for whatever reasons).
As for the Munafiquun, they mingled with the believers, prayed together but they have other worldly intentions while living a life of lies. This is the first group of Munafiq.
The 2nd Group of Munafiq will be describe in subsequent ayaat.