Ridding oneself of hypocrisy

27-9-2010 | IslamWeb

Question:

How can I get rid of my hypocritical characteristics?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

 

The effective way to get rid of a hypocritical characteristic is to give it up determinedly, to sincerely turn to Allaah The Almighty in repentance, and to try to develop the attributes of sincere Muslims. May Allaah The Almighty protect all Muslims from having characteristics of the hypocrites.

 

The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said that there were four characteristics which, if found all together, make a person a hypocrite in the full sense of the word. He added that whoever has any one of them has a characteristic of hypocrisy until he gives it up. The Prophet said that these characteristics are telling lies, breaking promises, being unfair in  disputes, and breaching covenants. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

 

In this Hadeeth (narration), the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, prescribed the cure for these bad characteristics by resolving to give them up. Such characteristics can make hypocrisy replace faith in the heart of a Muslim. If a person has only one of these characteristics, he is considered to have a streak of hypocrisy that may -- if he does not give it up -- wipe out his faith. True repentance and giving up these characteristics enables one to emulate the attributes of true believers and cures a person from hypocrisy, thus restoring his faith.

 

And Allaah Knows best.