32- HYPOCRISY ( N I F A K )

Hypocrisy (Nifak) is one's inside not being conforming to one's outside. When a person who has disbelief in his heart says he is a believer with his speech, his action is religious-hypocrisy. If a person who has the animosity in his heart shows friendship with his behavior, this would be a worldly-hypocrisy. The worst kind of disbelief is the religious-hypocrisy. The leader of the hypocrites of the city of Madina was Abdullah bin Salul. When they saw the victory of Muslims at the Badr war, they professed themselves as Muslims. But they did not believe through their hearts. Rasulullah, peace be upon him, said, "May Allahu ta'ala and His angels curse upon those who speak friendship to Muslims but show the animosity through their behavior." And "A hypocrite has three signs: he lies, he does not keep his promise, and he violates the trust shown to him." A person of this type is a hypocrite even if he says he is Muslim and even if he performs "salat" prayer.

33- NOT THINKING PROFOUNDLY, NOT PONDERING

KEYWORDS:

Alam as-Sagir: the small world, i.e., the human being.

Alam al-Kabir: the big world, i.e., the universe.

A human being should think about his sins and repent for them and think about his worships and thank for them. He should also ponder about extremely beautiful and delicate arts and systems and their relationships to each other on his own body as well as on other creatures in order to appreciate greatness of Allahu ta'ala. The totality of all creatures and other beings are called world (Alam).

["Alam" consists of three parts, the world of bodies, the physical world or corporeal world (Alam al-ajsad), the world of spirits (Alam al-arwah), and the world between the spiritual and the physical worlds (Alam al-misal). "Alam al-misal" is not a world of existence. It is a world of appearance. Every existent in other two worlds has an appearance in "Alam al-misal." The world of spirits (Alam al-arwah) are the things outside of the ninth heaven (Arsh). They are not made of material. They are also called the world of command (Alam al-amr). "Alam al-ajsad" is the world of material. This is also called "world of creation" (Alam al-halq). This is also made of two parts. Human being is called "Alam al-sagir." Everything other than the human being is called "Alam al-Kabir." Everything which exists in the "Alam al-kabir" has also a representation or likeness in human being (Alam al-sagir). Spiritual heart (Qalb) of human being is a door with openings to the world of spirits. This door is closed and destroyed in the hearts of disbelievers. For this reason, disbelievers are not aware of the world of spirits. The only possibility, the only prescription in order for the spiritual heart to obtain life, in order for it to open its door to the world of spirits is through believing and becoming a Muslim. A believer should strive hard in order to enter from the door of spiritual heart and then make progress in the world of spirits toward endless life. The comprehensive knowledge of Sufism (Tasawwuf), which is one of the main eight branches of knowledge of Islam, teaches this kind of striving. The specialists of this knowledge are called friends (Wali) of Allah and enlightener (Murshid). The most famous among all "Murshids" is Imam ar-Rabbani Ahmad Faruqi, may Allahu ta'ala be well pleased with him. He passed away in India at 1034 Hijri, 1624 A.D.

It is not possible for a sensible person, who studies in the medical and scientific universities to observe the delicate art and balance in the creatures and sees and understands their delicate relationships to each other, not to believe in the greatness, knowledge, and power of Allahu ta'ala. A person who does not believe after observing and understanding all of these either has to be an abnormal, retrogressive, and ignorant or stubborn and stupid person who runs after appetite or a person who became a slave of his soul and who enjoys torturing. He must be a sadist and oppressive person. If one studies the life stories of disbelievers, it becomes clear that they belong to one of these categories.]

In one hadith, Rasulullah, peace be upon him, said, "Have belief in Allahu ta'ala by thinking the order among the created beings." Belief of a person will increase by studying the astronomy and understanding the order between the earth, moon, sun and all other stars and their spinning and travel in the space and intricate calculations between them with respect to their distances. There are several benefits and uses in the creation of mountains, metals, rivers, seas, animals, vegetation, and even microbes. None of them were created for a useless purpose. Clouds, rain, lightening, thunderbolt, underground-waters, energy materials and air, in short, every created being perform certain functions and services. Human beings, up to date is able to understand very little about these innumerable number of services rendered by these innumerable beings. Is it ever possible for a mind which is not capable of understanding the creatures to ever comprehend their creator? Islamic scholars who understood the greatness of Him were bewildered and stated that they understood that it is not possible to understand Him. One of the followers of Moses (Musa), peace be upon him, prayed thirty years. A cloud made shade to protect him from the sun. One day, the cloud did not come and so he stayed under the sun. He asked the reason to his mother. She said to him that he probably committed some sin. He answered to her by saying that he did not commit any sin. She said, Didn't you look at the skies? When you see them, didn't you think the greatness of their creator?" He said, yes he looked at them but made error in pondering about. She answered, "Is there any other sin bigger than this? Make repentance right away." A sensible person should not forget about duty of pondering. Is there anyone who has any guaranty that he will not die tomorrow? Allahu ta'ala did not create anything without any use. The uses that are not understood by human beings are much more than the uses they are able to comprehend so far. Pondering can be accomplished in four ways. Pondering about the beautiful arts of Allahu ta'ala which manifest on human beings causes one to believe in Him and love Him. Pondering about the rewards promised by Him for the worships would cause one to perform those worships. Pondering about the punishments informed by Him causes one to be afraid of Him and thus causes one not do any evil to anyone. Pondering about one's being slave to his soul and committing sin and living in a state of heedlessness regardless of all the blessings bestowed by Him causes one to have shame from Allahu ta'ala. Allahu ta'ala loves those who ponder about and takes heed by seeing the beings that exist on the skies and on the earth. Following hadiths reports, "There is no higher valued worship than pondering." And "Pondering for a moment is more valuable than sixty years of worships." Pondering (Tafakkur) is explained in detail by Imam al-Ghazali, may Allahu ta'ala be pleased with him, in his book written in Persian, Kimyaa Sa'adat.

34- CURSING AT MUSLIMS

In the following hadiths Rasulullah, peace be upon him, said, "Do not make ill-prayer, i.e., do not curse, for yourselves and for your children. Be content with the Decree of Allahu ta'ala. Pray to Him so that He may increase His blessings for you." And "The ill-prayers of parents about their children and an oppressed person's ill-prayer about the oppressor will not be rejected." A person who prays that another Muslim should become a disbeliever becomes a disbeliever himself. Desiring that an oppressing person should die as a disbeliever so that he may suffer eternal punishment, would not cause disbelief. We are informed in the Qur'an that Moses (Musa), peace be upon him, made such a prayer. Imam al-azam Abu Hanifa, may Allahu ta'ala be pleased with him, said that desiring that someone should become a disbeliever causes disbelief for the desiring person. It is forbidden to make ill-prayer for persons other than oppressing persons. It is permissible (Jaiz) to make ill-prayers for an oppressing person as much amount as equal to his oppression. The permissible amount should be commensurate with his oppression. Not making ill-prayer, being patient and even forgiving the oppressing person is a better act. It is not permissible to say "may Allahu ta'ala give you long life" to any disbeliever or to a non-Muslim citizen of an Islamic state. It is permissible to make such a prayer with the following intentions, e.g., in order for him to become Muslim or in order for him to pay his taxes so that Muslims would become stronger. A person who gives greetings (Salam) to a disbeliever in a revering manner becomes a disbeliever. Saying any word which would come to mean a reverence to a disbeliever causes disbelief. For example, saying "My master" to a disbeliever causes disbelief.

35- GIVING IMPROPER-NAMES TO MUSLIMS

Giving improper-names to a Muslim or repeating improper-names given by others is not permissible (Jaiz). In one hadith, Rasulullah, peace be upon him, said, "A person who has a improper name should change it to a good name." For example, one should change the name of "Asiya" to "Jamila." It is permissible (Jaiz) to give nice-names to Muslims. One should not name his children with names which come to mean praising, e.g., Rashid or Amin. Names like Muhyiddin or Nuruddin would be a lie and "Bidat." Calling sinners (Fasiks), ignorants, and apostates with such names is "Makruh." These names include meaning of praise thus they cannot even be used in a metaphoric sense. Some said that it is permissible to give these kind of name to one's children so that it may bring good omens. It is permissible and useful to use these names for those scholars who are famed as being "Salih" persons.

[Famous scholar Ibn al-Abidin, may Allahu ta'ala be pleased with him, in the fifth fascicle of his book Radd-ul-Muhtar says that the best and most proper names for the Muslim children are Abdullah, then Abdurrahman, then Muhammad, then Ahmad and then Ibrahim in that order of priority. It is also permissible (Jaiz) to give names of Allahu ta'ala such as Ali, Rashid, Aziz. But it is necessary to have respect while saying these names. A person who knowingly shows disrespect while mentioning these names becomes a disbeliever. For example, saying "Abdulkoydur" instead of Abdulkadir, or "Hasso" instead of Hasan, or "Ibo" instead of Ibrahim would be degrading these names {Some of these slanted names has certain ill-meanings in Turkish but, one may apply this logic to other languages, i.e., slanting the names to different forms is not acceptable.} Even though saying these words would not cause disbelief when one does not intend to degrade them, it is better to avoid using such words which would appear as causing disbelief. If a child dies right after birth, he should not be buried without giving a name. Even though it is permissible (Jaiz) to use the name Abdunnabi, it is better not to use it. Hadrat sayyid Abdulhakim Arwasi, may Allahu ta'ala be pleased with him, preached for twenty-five years after the afternoon prayer every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at the Bayazid mosque in Istanbul until he passed away in the year 1362 Hijri Qamari, [1943 A.D.] During one of his preachings he stated the following, "A child has three rights on his parents: giving a Muslim name at birth; teaching him reading/writing, knowledge (Ilm), and crafts upon reaching the age of understanding; and marrying him when he reaches the age of puberty." Some degenerate people in Europe and America are raised in an irreligious and non-ethical manner and are given fake diplomas and professorship titles and then send to Islamic countries. These ignorant disbelivers are appointed to high schools and universities as teachers or professors. They trap Muslim children with their position and make them irreligious and non-madhhabite. These children influenced by them easily become murderers and traitors. Those parents who send their sons and daughters to these schools are throwing their children to the hell with thier own hands.]