It is one thing to commit a sin, be ashamed of it, hide it and repent to the Almighty hoping for His infinite mercy and forgiveness, while it is another thing to encourage others to do good while you yourself do not do it, hoping that people will have a false image of your sainthood.
Allah tells us in the Quran :”O you who believe why do you do say things which you do not do”. There are too many Muslims and non-Muslims today who encourage people to do good and admonish them and judge them when they commit any mistake, however they never acknowledge their own mistakes. They occupy podiums in churches, mosques and synagogues and most frequently they lead our countries or run our political establishments, pointing fingers and holding that only their version of things is the correct version. They do not cut any slack to any person who commits a mistake, and are very harsh and strict in pointing out the various religious texts, which condemn such actions, taking pride in their quotations, but forgetting to apply the same rules to themselves. Due to the seriousness of hypocrisy and to the amount of warnings from our Creator to not speak about things we don’t practice, many of our brothers and sisters were tricked by Satan into saying:” We’ll I don’t think I should do this project, or work for the sake of Allah, because I have too many things to improve on myself and I don’t want to be a hypocrite”. Such a line of thought is what handicapped many of the potent Muslim workers for fear of being categorized with the hypocrites. However such thinking is incorrect.
Hypocrisy is a disease of the heart, a fake image that one puts forward in front of others in order to gain approval of the community and fame in the eyes of peers. Being a disease of the heart it is tied to intention and to action. However on the other side of the spectrum there are those who sin by day and night (which might be all of us) who strive hard against their own desires only to fail and start the fight again, repentant to Allah, crying for their sins, and swearing to amend in the near future. They have pure intentions and sincere hearts, however their weakness causes them to err. They are not hypocrites if they continue to work for the sake of Allah, calling people to good, and telling them to abstain from evil, calling people to things that they themselves might not do. These people cannot be considered hypocrites or the ones to which Allah refers to in the Quran unless they are amongst those who do not repent and admit their mistakes. Hypocrisy is coupled with pride, and lack of repentance. They are not equal the one who preaches for good (while he or she not being able to fully uphold that virtue, but striving and repenting day in and day out, working tardily for the sake of Allah) and the one who preaches for good but never does any good, nor do they every repent for their sins.
“Why do you say that which you do not do”? The humble believers might fall in the traps of Satan and commit sins just like everyone else, however they are not fully indulged in their sins and disbelief like the hypocrites. They strive hard and do much of the good to which they invite to, occasionally falling short of it, but bouncing back repentant to their Lord. I remember one of our brothers who was quite heavily involved in calling people to good; every time he would give a lecture he would give a disclaimer at the beginning that even though he is preaching to the audience certain virtues, that does not mean that he practices all of them as he would want to, and that this lecture is a reminder for himself to improve first and foremost. Such a sincere statement can only come from hearts who seek their Lord while knowing that they have much to improve on themselves, and that the path to improvement is not stagnation, or removal from calling people to good, but self improvement while on the path of preaching.
We cannot stop ourselves and let us be fooled by our enemy that we need to first take care of ourselves, for the scholars who precede us were all sinners and had mistakes, but never did they stop calling people to that which is good. Having said that they always tried to live as close to perfection as possible, doing as many good deeds to greatly distance them from the category of hypocrisy. Imam Malik (I believe) was told by some people to give some sermons encouraging people to free slaves. Lots of time passed and no such sermons came. After a few months finally the imam gave a great speech encouraging others to free slaves, and as a result many raced to comply. The same people who suggested such to the imam approached him and asked him why he did not do it earlier, only to be told that imam Malik did not want to ask others to do something that he did not do, so he waited some time, saved some money and freed as many slaves as he afforded and then he encouraged others to do so as well. What great character and what a great lesson?
Our sins should not stop us and depress us from seeking good and means to our Lord. Prophet Muhammad pbuh told his companions one day that Allah destroyed a people who never committed sins and replaced them with those who committed sins and repented, and committed sins and repented. The companions asked for an explanation, to which the prophet told them that if people do not commit sins they will have pride in their hearts (which is the greatest sin, the sin of Satan), and that Allah loves those who repent to him over and over again. Don’t ever despair of Allah’s mercy; very Allah can forgive anyone if they ask. Hypocrisy and sin followed by repentance are as different as hell fire and paradise. Where do we stand?
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