Surah At-Tawba: The Qualities of Hypocrisy | Divine Reminders with Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

Surah At-Tawbah: The Qualities of Hypocrisy

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Alhamdulillah wa salamu alaykum Ya Rasoolul Kareem.

In today's recitation, the Huffadh of the Qur'an finished and completed the recitation of the 10th Juz. In the 10th Juz, we finished in the first quarter — we finished Surah Al-Anfal, but we've spoken about that yesterday. And we complete the major portion of Surah At-Tawbah.

Why Does Surah At-Tawbah Have No Bismillah?

Surah At-Tawbah is a very interesting surah. It is different from all other surahs — and the reason is that there is no Bismillah at its beginning.

There are five opinions telling us why there is no Bismillah. I'll share two of them which are the dominant opinions found in Al-Qurtubi, Mafatihul Ghayb of Ibn Fakhruddin Al-Razi, rahimahullah, and also Ibn Ashur's At-Tahrir wat-Tanwir.

Number one: they say that whenever the Prophet ﷺ would write a letter or pass on a message to the Mushrikun of Makkah — either from himself or from Allah — he would begin the letter with بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ, that Allah is the Most Merciful. That's how the letter would begin, that's how the message would start.

But when Surah At-Tawbah came, Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه says another name of it is Al-Fadhihah — which means "the Exposer." It exposes the plots of the Mushrikun and the filth within the hearts of the Munafiqun. This is why this surah is really heavy, really powerful. Ali رضي الله عنه would say: this is a surah — a sword that has a sheath, has a covering. This surah came without a sheath because it just opened up and exposed all of the Munafiqun and the filth they had stored inside of their hearts.

So they say that when this surah came, the Prophet ﷺ sent Ali رضي الله عنه to read it to them. And there was no Bismillah because in this surah, Allah is not beginning it with a sense of mercy for them — that you had so many years to return to Me, so many years to take heed from the signs I gave you through the Prophet ﷺ, and yet you did not. This is it:

"A declaration of disassociation from Allah and His Messenger." Now We are completely free from you. That is one opinion.

A second opinion that Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه shares is that At-Tawbah and Al-Anfal are connected — they are one surah. So there is no need to put a Bismillah in between. Rather than adding a second Bismillah, since they are one surah, they keep them that way.

In the opinion of Uthman رضي الله عنه, when he compiled the Qur'an and Ibn Abbas asked him, he said: the Prophet ﷺ told us not to put a Bismillah here when he read it to us, so we didn't. And he said there must have been a wisdom of the Prophet ﷺ in not telling us about the Bismillah, so I kept it out. That is the third opinion we can also take.

The first one is an opinion that I tend to feel, through the readings we have in Tafsir, is the dominant opinion. Nonetheless, this surah's theme is very heavy.

The Theme of Surah At-Tawbah

This surah speaks about the encouragement to the believers to turn towards Allah and spend in the path of Allah and go in the path of Allah. That if you love your fathers, your children, your parents, your family, your wealth more than Allah and His Prophet — then that is a problem. And it is referring to rational love: that when it is time to make a decision, the decision should not be based upon what my child wants, what my wife wants, what my husband wants — it should be upon what Allah wants from me. It is not specifically referring to the natural love that you have; it is the rational love that you have.

So it speaks about how Allah is encouraging the people to spend in the path of Allah and go out in His path. And then it is also completely exposing the inner filth of the Munafiqun. And that is what I am going to speak about today.

The Nature of the Munafiqun

Allah says about these people:

"The hypocrites are from one another." They are not friends with one another — not in the true sense. Allah speaks about believers and says:

"The believers — men and women — are friends of one another." Their hearts are united — مُتَّحِدَة. Imam Al-Qurtubi says: the reason why Allah did not use the word "friends" with the Munafiqun — even though it is a similar verse — is because the hearts of the Munafiqun, even though they have similar intent, are not united. And the believers, their hearts are united.

So Allah says — number one — that the Munafiqun have the same objective, and their objective is to stop people from doing good and to enjoin evil.

The Story of Abdullah ibn Ubay ibn Sulul

Now Allah says, near the end of this passage — and this is referring to one of the Munafiqun who had passed away — his name was Abdullah ibn Ubay ibn Sulul, who was the leader of the Munafiqun. He passed away, and his son Abdullah — whose name was also Abdullah — came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: can you please pray janazah on my father? Even though he knew his father was a munafiq, out of love and attachment he said: maybe the Prophet will say yes to me — he never says no anyway.

And he was right. When he went to the Prophet ﷺ, the Prophet said: yes, I'll pray janazah, I don't mind. And Allah sent down this verse:

"O Prophet of Allah, seek forgiveness for them or do not seek forgiveness for them — it will not make a difference. Even if you were to seek forgiveness for them seventy times, Allah will never forgive them." لَن is referring to absolute emphasis — that Allah will never forgive them for that which they did to the Prophet ﷺ, and for that which they hid and hoarded in their hearts against Islam.

The Prophet ﷺ said: I've been given a choice — I can still seek repentance, and I'll seek repentance for them, and Allah will forgive them. And Umar رضي الله عنه was very firm in this specific instance. He said to the Prophet ﷺ: you cannot pray janazah on him. They knew that if the Prophet prayed janazah on him, that man would perhaps be forgiven.

So the Prophet ﷺ was getting ready to go out and pray janazah on him, and Umar رضي الله عنه was behind him, literally tugging on the Prophet's collar, saying: O Prophet of Allah, don't go, don't go, don't go. And while he was doing this, Allah sent down the ayah:

"And do not ever pray over any of them who has died, and do not stand at his grave. Indeed they disbelieved in Allah and His Messenger and died while they were defiantly disobedient." A direct prohibition to the Prophet ﷺ — never pray janazah over those individuals. Because they disbelieved in Allah and His Messenger, and they passed away while they had nifaq in their hearts.

Umar's Fear of Hypocrisy

We know in our time, we all seek protection from nifaq. Even Umar رضي الله عنه would seek protection from nifaq — he would ask Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman رضي الله عنه, who was the secret keeper of the Prophet ﷺ: is my name amongst those who are munafiqs? Obviously Umar رضي الله عنه is above and beyond everyone else other than Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه. Why would he be afraid? It was simply to be cautious — not to be anxious about it — but to be cautious: O Allah, please protect me and save me from nifaq and hypocrisy.

So Allah told the Prophet ﷺ: you cannot pray janazah on him. And he turned away. And what the Prophet ﷺ did out of love for the youngster — for the son — was take his cloak and give it to the son. He said: use this as the kafan, as a shroud for your father. This was a means of making the child happy, making him feel good about the situation. Because you can imagine — knowing that Allah had just said that janazah cannot be prayed over his father — how he must have felt, even though he knew his father was a munafiq. So the Prophet gave him this to make him feel better.

The Innate Quality That Prevented the Munafiqun from Believing

And Allah speaks about them — and I'll end at this — I'm sure Shaykh Abdullah and Mufti ibn Rahman will speak about the story of Hunayn, the story of Tabuk, and the story of Ka'b ibn Malik, so I don't want to touch those stories.

But what is interesting is where Imam Al-Alusi says: in this surah you realize one of the innate features that prevented the Munafiqun from ever truly believing. And that was farha al-mukhalafun — that they were people who enjoyed being in the background. Not in the sense that they were sincere. No. They enjoyed being in the back when there was a time of need. And when there was a time of taking — when there was a time of receiving — they would come forward and put their hands out. But when it was a time of giving, when the need was there for their expertise and their talent — they were nowhere to be seen. They were nowhere to be heard.

And Allah refers to this same idea in Surah Al-Hadid, where He talks about how on the Day of Judgment the believers will have light and the Munafiqun will not have light. And when Allah explains why they won't have light, the answer comes from the believers — that the reason why you don't have light is:

"But you put yourselves to trial and you awaited." That you are people who continued to delay acts of goodness. You continued to delay acts of righteousness. So it is very important for us not to delay things that are essential for Allah's pleasure in our life.

The Believers Who Wept to Serve

This is why when Allah speaks about the believers at the end of the surah — where they came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked: can you help us? We don't have transportation. The Prophet ﷺ said: I don't have anything to give you. And these believers — you could see how much they wanted to move forward. They were not people who wanted to stay in the back. They wanted to be among those who are:

— "racing toward forgiveness" — rushing toward any form of goodness that can bring Allah's pleasure. So Allah says about them that when they turned away, they were crying:

Their eyes overflowing with tears — because they wanted so badly to go, they wanted so badly to help out. And the Munafiqun were people who wanted to stay in the back and never wanted to come to the aid of the Prophet ﷺ when there was a need.

So this quality of wanting to be in the back — and not wanting to rush towards doing good deeds, or not doing them at the right time — is a quality that we should avoid. We want to protect ourselves from nifaq, and we identify hypocrisy through signs. And that is one of them.

The Three Signs of a Munafiq

The Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 33; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 107)

"The sign of a munafiq is three: when he speaks, he lies — he is a pathological liar; when he makes a promise, he breaks it; and when he is given a trust — whether it be a trust of wealth or a trust of a secret — he betrays it."

And in another narration: "And when he argues, he becomes very vulgar."

May Allah protect us from these qualities. And may He make us amongst those that are with the believers:

"The believing men and believing women are friends of one another." Even though they've never met, their hearts are united — because they know what they want. And that is the pleasure of Allah. May Allah bless you all. JazakAllah khair for joining.