Although hypocrisy with its special meaning is a characteristic of faithless people who are apparently in the lines of Muslims but are disbelievers at heart, there is a more general meaning which would include any type of incongruence between the appearance of someone and his heart; between his words and his actions even if he be a believer. We call this the veins of hypocrisy.
The following tradition is an example of this: “There are three characteristics, whoever has them is a hypocrite no matter how much he fasts; no matter how much he prays; no matter if he considers himself a Muslim: A person who commits treachery in amanat, a person who lies when he speaks, and a person who promises but acts in opposition to his promise.”[1]
It is clear that these people are not hypocrites in its special meaning, but the veins of hypocrisy exist inside them, especially in those who perform actions to be seen of men as Imām Sādiq (a) mentions: “Performing actions to be seen of men is a tree who does not have any fruits except hidden polytheism and whose branches are hypocrisy.”[2]
Here we will direct your attention to the words of the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Alī (a) where he speaks about hypocrites: “O servants of Allah! I advise you to piety and warn you of the hypocrites because they are misguided and misguide. They commit mistakes and make others commit mistakes. They come in different colors and show themselves off with different faces speaking different languages. They use whatever they can to deceive people and to destroy you. They are sitting in anyplace where they can aim at you with their bow and arrow. They have bad insides and beautiful outsides. They take steps in deceiving people. They move from misguided roads. Their speech seems to be a cure but their actions are a pain which cannot be cured. They envy other’s comfort and are happy when tribulation befalls them. They make the hopeful loose hope. They have given lives in every path, they give a way for every heart, and they shed fake tears during times of sorrow. They loan praises to each other and await reward. If they want something they insist upon it.”[3]
