What is nifaq (hypocrisy)?

What the word means

The scholars explain that the Arabic term is drawn from the nafiqa', one of the exits a desert rodent digs from its burrow: when it is pursued from one opening it slips out of another. The image is exact — the hypocrite enters the religion from one door and leaves by another, appearing in one form and escaping in another.

In religious usage, the scholars define it as showing Islam and good outwardly while concealing disbelief and evil inwardly. Al-Fawzan gives this definition in Aqidat al-Tawhid, and Ibn Kathir states it in the same terms:

"Hypocrisy is the outward display of good and the concealment of evil. It is of two kinds: a hypocrisy of belief, whose companion will abide forever in the Fire, and a hypocrisy of action, which is among the gravest of sins."— Ibn Kathir, quoted in IslamWeb fatwa 146645

This is why the Qur'an calls the hypocrites al-fasiqun — those who have stepped outside the Shari'ah — and places them lower than the outright disbelievers. Their harm to the community is greater precisely because they carry the name of Islam while working against it from within.

The two kinds

The division is the organising principle of the whole subject, and every ruling follows from it.

Al-Fawzan notes that the Companions feared the second kind for themselves. Ibn Abi Mulaykah said he met thirty of the Prophet's ﷺ Companions, all of whom feared hypocrisy in their own souls — not because they doubted their faith, but because they understood how easily conduct slips into the pattern of the hypocrites.

The six types of major hypocrisy

Al-Fawzan and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab both list six beliefs that constitute the hypocrisy of belief. Each one concerns the Messenger ﷺ himself or what he brought:

1. Denying the Messenger ﷺ outright.
2. Denying part of what he brought — accepting some revelation and rejecting the rest.
3. Hating the Messenger ﷺ.
4. Hating part of what he brought — disliking a command or prohibition of the religion.
5. Taking pleasure in the decline of the religion — being glad when Islam is weakened.
6. Resenting the victory of the religion — disliking it when Islam prevails.

Al-Tuwayjri adds two more of the same family: not believing that the Messenger ﷺ must be affirmed in what he reported, and not believing that he must be obeyed in what he commanded. He notes that these and similar matters, established by the Qur'an and Sunnah, place a person in the lowest depth of the Fire.

The common thread is that all of them concern the Messenger ﷺ and the revelation he brought. A person may pray, fast and call himself a Muslim while holding any of these inwardly — and that is precisely what makes the hypocrisy of belief what it is.

The signs of minor hypocrisy

The Prophet ﷺ described the conduct that marks the lesser kind:

"Four traits — whoever has them is a pure hypocrite, and whoever has one of them has one trait of hypocrisy until he gives it up: when he is entrusted he betrays, when he speaks he lies, when he makes a covenant he breaks it, and when he disputes he acts unjustly."— Sahih al-Bukhari 34 and Sahih Muslim 58, from 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr

Al-Fawzan draws two conclusions from this narration. First, a person in whom all four gather has the description of the hypocrites complete in him. Second, a person with only one of them has one trait of hypocrisy — and this is possible for a believer, because a servant may combine traits of good and traits of evil, of faith and of hypocrisy, and will be rewarded or punished according to what he actually did.

He also counts laziness toward the congregational prayer in the mosque among the traits of the hypocrites, since Allah described them as standing to prayer "lazily."

Distinguishing the two

Al-Fawzan sets out four differences that keep the two categories from being confused:

• On faith itself: the greater hypocrisy removes a person from the religion; the lesser does not.
• On where the contradiction lies: in the greater, the hidden and the open differ in belief; in the lesser, they differ in deeds while belief stays sound.
• On who commits it: the greater does not come from a believer; the lesser can.
• On repentance: the greater rarely sees its companion repent, and scholars differed on whether it is accepted; the lesser is repented of, and Allah accepts the repentance.

Ibn Taymiyyah's summary, recorded in al-Iman al-Kabir, is that the term nifaq is applied both to the greater hypocrisy, which is concealing disbelief, and to the lesser, which is the divergence between one's private and public conduct in the obligatory duties.

Judging people, not hearts

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen addresses the practical danger here directly. The hypocrisy of belief has its seat in the heart, and no one knows it but Allah — which is why the Companions were forbidden from accusing one another of it without clear proof. Umar رضي الله عنه once said of a man that he was a hypocrite, and the Prophet ﷺ opposed him.

The hypocrisy of action, by contrast, is judged by what appears. If you see a man speak and lie, you may say he has a trait of hypocrisy in this matter. If you see him rise for prayer sluggishly, you may say he has a trait of the hypocrites in it. Ibn Uthaymeen's formulation is that whoever matches the hypocrites in one of their traits is a hypocrite in that deed specifically — not in his faith.

This is the balance the scholars hold: the outward act is judged outwardly, and the inward reality is left to Allah.

Key takeaways

• Hypocrisy is the mismatch between an outward profession of Islam and an inward reality that contradicts it, and the scholars divide it into a hypocrisy of belief and a hypocrisy of action.
• The hypocrisy of belief removes a person from Islam and places him in the lowest depth of the Fire, and its six types all concern the Messenger ﷺ or what he brought.
• The hypocrisy of action does not remove a person from Islam, but it is a grave sin and a road that can lead to the greater kind if it accumulates.
• The four signs — betrayal of trust, lying, breaking covenants and injustice in dispute — are the markers the Prophet ﷺ named, and a believer may carry one of them without losing his faith.
• Do not accuse anyone of the hypocrisy of the heart, since its seat is hidden and only Allah knows it; judge what appears and leave what is concealed to Him.

Further reading

• Al-Fawzan, Aqidat al-Tawhid, the chapter on hypocrisy: its definition and types
• Ibn Taymiyyah, Kitab al-Iman al-Kabir, on the two meanings of nifaq
• Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, al-Risalah al-Mufidah, on the types of hypocrisy

And Allah knows best.