Boreal
JIHAD IN THE KORAN
The Enemy
Hypocrites and Apostates
33:61
Accursed, wherever they are encountered they will be seized and slaughtered.
Revelations about hypocrites have again to do with the Meccans to whom God revealed most of His Koran, but are as valid today, if not more so, as they were then. In revelations pertaining to hypocrites and apostates, the likes of the Islamic State finds justification for the mass murder of coreligionists, as witnessed during its short tenure as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Notice the composure of those who are about to kill, with their bare hands and a knife, the human being they are holding like a sheep ready to have its throat cut. They are totally unperturbed; they know how it's done. The appalling cruelty found throughout the Koran may condition holy warriors to kill without remorse, but how to slaughter their prisoners is mostly learnt behavior. Where that method of killing is most often demonstrated is during the Feast of Sacrifice marking the end of the Hajj, where Muslim fathers and sons all over the world, in front of their families and with only a knife, butcher sheep, goats and other domestic animals in their millions in a manner similar to what the Islamic State does with these captives.
More mass killings of hypocrites and possibly apostates, if some of those about to be shot by ISIS are Shias—but this time with more efficient rifles and machine guns—is not in contravention of Muhammad’s damning of innovation ("Every innovation is a misguidance and every misguidance goes to Hell fire." Imam An-Nasa'i) as they are used to further the interest of God.
God's hypocrites come in many varieties and include, depending on the circumstances, the following:
1. those who mocked Allah's Messenger and/or His Revelations;
2. those who believed then disbelieved, i.e., the apostates;
3. those who changed sides during the battle;
4. those who spread lies about Allah and His Messenger, e.g., doubters and cynics;
5. the lukewarm believers who grudgingly said the prayers, did not spend enough in the Cause of Allah and were always coming up with excuses not to join the fight against the unbelievers.
God repeatedly makes no distinction between hypocrites and apostates, as in Revelation 63:3.
THE HYPOCRITES
63 Al-Munâfiqûn
In the Name of Allah,
the Compassionate, the Merciful
63:1 When the hypocrites come to you, they say: “We bear witness that you are indeed Allah’s Messenger.” Allah knows that you are indeed His Messenger and Allah bears witness that the hypocrites are liars.
63:2 They take their oaths as a shield and so they bar other people from the Path of Allah. Evil is what they used to do.
63:3 That is because they believed, then disbelieved; and so a seal was set upon their hearts. Therefore, they do not understand at all.
Apostates or hypocrites, it does not matter, seize and kill them without hesitation as is Allah’s Way and always will be.
33:60 If the hypocrites, those in whose hearts is a sickness and those who spread lies in the city, do not desist, We will certainly urge you against them and then they will not dwell with you therein as neighbours but for a short time.
33:61 Accursed, wherever they are encountered they will be seized and slaughtered.
33:62 That is Allah’s way of dealing with those who have gone before, and you will never find any alteration of Allah’s Way.
Kill them, but perhaps not before informing them of the painful punishment God looks forward to inflicting on them.
4:137 Those who believe, then disbelieve, then again believe, then disbelieve, then grow in disbelief, Allah shall not forgive them nor guide them to the Right Path.
4:138 Announce to the hypocrites that a very painful punishment is reserved for them.
Don’t bother asking forgiveness for the hypocrites, you will just be wasting your time.
63:6 It is the same for them whether you seek forgiveness for them or you do not seek forgiveness. Allah will not forgive them. Surely, Allah will not guide the sinful people.
Hypocrites supposedly feared that God would send down a chapter of His Koran in which He would reveal what was really on their minds.
9:64 The hypocrites fear that a Surah will be revealed informing them of what is in their hearts. Say: “Go on mocking, Allah will surely bring into the open what you fear.”
9:65 And should you ask them, they would surely say: “We were only talking idly and playing.” Say: “Were you then mocking Allah, His Revelations and His Messenger?”
Some believers may have wondered why people they knew to be hypocrites were not punished, compelling God to send the following revelation about balancing things out.
9:66 Make no excuses; you have disbelieved after believing. If We pardon a group of you, We shall punish another group, because they were wicked sinners.
Hypocrites are all alike and they will get what they deserve, if not now, then later.
9:67 The hypocrites, males and females, are all alike. They enjoin evil and forbid what is good and close their fist (they do no spend in Allah’s way). They have forgotten Allah (they have been disobedient), and so He has forgotten them (He has deprived them of His Mercy). The hypocrites are the wicked sinners.
9:68 Allah has promised the hypocrites, males and females, and the unbelievers, the Fire of Hell, abiding in it forever. It is sufficient unto them. He has also cursed them, and a lasting punishment awaits them.
9:69 Like those who came before you (the hypocrites); they were mightier than you (Meccans) and had more wealth and children. So they enjoyed their share (of earthly life); then you enjoyed your share as did those before you, and you engaged in idle talk as they did. Those, their works in this world and in the Hereafter are vain; they are the losers.
Hypocrites are good looking, arrogant, speak well and are perhaps paranoid, depending on your interpretation of “they think every cry is aimed at them.”
63:4 If you see them, their bodies please you; and if they speak, you listen to their words, as though they were propped-up wooden logs. They think every cry is aimed at them; they are the enemy, so beware of them. May Allah discomfit them, how they are perverted!
63:5 If it is said to them: “Come, that the Messenger of Allah may seek forgiveness for you”; they bend their heads and you see them walking away, waxing proud.
Hypocrites take credit for others’ accomplishments, including God’s.
4:141 Those who wait for [misfortune to befall] you. And if a victory is accorded to you from Allah, they will say: “Were we not on your side?”; and if the unbelievers have a share [in victory], they will say: “Did we not subdue you, and thus protect you from the believers?” Allah shall judge between you on the Day of Resurrection; and Allah will not give the unbelievers the upper hand over the believers.
Hypocrites are deceivers and lazy show-offs.
4:142 Surely, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, but Allah causes their deceit to backfire. And if they rise to perform the prayer, they rise lazily, trying to show off in public and they remember Allah but little.
Hypocrites keep an open mind.
4:143 Vacillating between the two (belief and disbelief), inclining neither to these nor to those (neither to the believers nor to the unbelievers); and whomever Allah leads astray, you will not find him a way out.
Hypocrites are not charitable towards newcomers. When the Meccan believers (the emigrants referenced below) sought refuge in Medina, the hypocrites encouraged citizens not to give them money so that they would go somewhere else.
63:7 It is they who say: “Do not spend any money on those (the Meccan Emigrants) who side with Allah’s Messenger until they disperse.” To Allah belong the treasuries of the heavens and the earth, but the hypocrites do not understand. Hypocrites think they decide who goes and who stays because of their might.
Hypocrites think they decide who goes and who stays because of their might.
63:8 They say: “If we return to the city (Medina), the mightiest will drive out the lowliest therefrom.” Might belongs to Allah, His Messenger and the believers, but the hypocrites do not know.
Some Muslims had difficulty accepting that believers who stayed behind in Mecca, or lived unmolested in the land of the unbelievers, were also hypocrites that God had deliberately caused to revert back to disbelief.
4:88 How is it that you are divided into two parties regarding the hypocrites, when Allah turned them back (to disbelief) on account of what they earned (on account of their sins and disbelief)? Do you wish to guide those whom Allah leads astray? He whom Allah leads astray, you will not find a way out for him.
Moududi:
They had outwardly embraced Islam in Makka and in other parts of Arabia, but instead of migrating to the Domain of Islam they continued to live among their own people who were unbelievers, taking part in all their hostile machinations against Islam and the Muslims. It was not easy for the Muslims to decide how to deal with such people. Some were of the opinion that since they professed Islam, performed Prayers, fasted and recited the Qur'an they could not be treated as unbelievers. Here God pronounces His judgement on this issue (revelation 4:88).