Hypocrites try to present themselves as sincere, trustworthy and loyal people to Muslims in order to stay close to them and gain access to private information that they can use against them. Even though their hearts are full of hatred and anger, they hide this fact as much as possible, and try to show the exact opposite with their words. Thinking that love is the most important determinant of sincerity for Muslims, they utilize the subject of love with sinister methods in the best way possible. They think that their demonstration of love will be evaluated as an important sign of their sincerity; hence, with their fake demonstration, they think they can hide all their insincerities, their hypocrisy, their secret immoralities and dirty tricks.
The hypocrites in the era of our Prophet (saas) also practiced this method of insincere demonstrations of love back then; they again wished to gain personal benefits via these sinister methods. For this purpose, at every opportunity, they continuously paid compliments to our Prophet (saas), and tried to appear like people who support our Prophet (saas) more than everyone else in order to win his favor and rise to prominence. For example, if the situation at hand did not conflict with their personal interests, in every case they tried to appear as if they are on our Prophet's (saas) side, and emphasized his legitimacy and righteousness more than anyone in a way that will attract the most attention. At every possible opportunity, they voiced their deep love and eternal devotion towards our Prophet (saas), and their almost slave- like loyalty for him. They were saying that they were ready to sacrifice their assets and life without hesitation, in order to defend our Prophet's (saas) position, honor and glory. They were uttering their readiness for every kind of self-sacrifice and compromise for our Prophet's (saas) safety, peace and comfort. However, there were immense differences between their words, and what they actually did. Their actions and attitudes were treacherous.
Hypocrites claimed that they were the group of people who loved and respected our Prophet (saas) more than anyone, and that they were the closest friends of our Prophet (saas). And they argued that, in difficult times, everyone, except them, would be preoccupied with their own troubles and leave our Prophet (saas) standing alone; that only they would stand close to him, protect and support him in the most effective and rational way. However, while their tongues were uttering these words, they were plotting against Muslims and our Prophet (saas) at night, cooperating with the polytheists and finding new ways to avoid fighting alongside with our Prophet in the way of God.
Besides, they were also claiming that they were among the principal group of people who supported our Prophet (saas) the most, and who defended the interests of Islam and Muslims on the subject of spreading the moral values of the Qur'an. They were uttering unrealistic claims, like how they were the best people to complete the most vital activities and the most important tasks in the most successful way possible. Thus, by heavily utilizing the method of suggestion, they tried to convince everybody that they were providing vital and substantial services for Muslims.
These characteristics of the hypocrites that existed in our Prophet's (saas) era has manifested itself in the same way throughout the history in every hypocrite in any given place or time. To this day, the hypocrites who are trying to find a place amongst Muslim societies are still practicing the same insincere methods. In order to gain Muslims' trust, they continuously tell them about "How much they love Muslims and how devoted they are to them." When a great success is achieved, in order to gain the favor of leading Muslims, they continuously utter exalting compliments for them and show their delight for this achievement in the most exaggerated way possible. When Muslims gain a victory against unbelievers, they make exaggerated speeches to seem as if they too are joyful and enthusiastic like the sincere Muslims.
Also at the time of our Prophet (saas), when Muslims gained strength against the unbelievers, when Islam started to spread far and wide or when Muslims gained a victory somewhere, the hypocrites immediately make these kind of speeches to our Prophet (saas): "You are the Messenger of God (saas), we love you, you are an unmatched leader, you are very clever, very farsighted. You won an incredible victory, you destroyed those unbelievers, you thwarted their tricks" or "God is granting you victory, it is obvious you are the true Messenger of God (saas), we love you because of that, we are utterly devoted to you." God informed our Prophet (saas) about the insincerity of these words those carrying the characteristics of hypocrites made in order to gain a reputation and earn our Prophet's (saas) respect even though they think the exact opposite, with the following verse:
"When the hypocrites come to you they say: "We bear witness that you are indeed the Messenger of God." God knows that you are indeed His Messenger God bears witness that the hypocrites are certainly liars." (Surat Al-Munafiqun, 11)
The hypocrites felt incredible pain and suffering while uttering all these words that they did not truly believe. They were telling our Prophet (saas,) "You are the Messenger of God (saas), we love you a lot because of that," but actually, they disgracefully hated him in their hearts. Deeply buried in their hearts, they were feeling a grudge, a strong hatred towards him (may God forbid). They were plotting against him with dastardly plans, such as, "How and where can I harm him? What kind of a trick or treachery can I play on him that will harm him? How can I cause turmoil and corruption amongst Muslims?"
The same situation is also true for today, when there is a development in favor of Muslims; when the believers thwart the hypocrites' dirty tricks and when they refute the arguments of the unbelievers, the hypocrites of today suffer great pain in the same way. When the sinister cooperation between hypocrites and unbelievers is exposed, when the tricks they planned are thwarted, the hypocrites fall into mental agony. That is because one of the things the hypocrites want to avoid the most is Muslims' gaining strength. God informed us of their immorality in the following verse: "If something good happens to you, it galls them, if something bad strikes you, they rejoice at it." (Surah Al' Imran, 120) However, despite this, they keep their grudge, their hatred and their anger buried inside their hearts and adopt an attitude completely opposite of that. They express their so-called happiness from the failure of the plans of the unbelievers, with great enthusiasm. While their true purpose is to harm Muslims and cause them failure, they show insincere morals and act as if they were far happier than everyone else because of Muslims' success.
God informs us in the following verses about these two-faced tricks of the hypocrites, and the fact that in their hearts, they feel no love but hide only great hatred and anger:
"You who have faith! Do not take any outside yourselves as intimates. They will do anything to harm you. They love what causes you distress. Hatred has appeared out of their mouths, but what their breasts hide is far worse. We have made the Signs clear to you if you use your intellect." (Surah Al' Imran, 118)
"There you are, loving them when they do not love you Even though you have faith in all the Books. When they meet you, they say, ‘We have faith.’ But when they leave they bite their fingers out of rage against you. Say: ‘Die in your rage.’ God knows what your hearts contain. "(Surah Al' Imran, 119)
In the verses, God says that as long as Muslims are sincere "...the tricks hypocrites play and their sinister efforts will ultimately fail to harm those who have faith." And this is the greatest defeat a hypocrite can experience.
Hypocrites wrongly assume that when they cooperate with the unbelievers, everything will be easy to accomplish, and that they can deceive Muslims without them noticing and reach their goals. While they were expecting a great triumph like that, in the least expected moment, those unbelievers whom the hypocrites deem as strong suffer an intellectual defeat, and this causes the deepest suffering for the hypocrites.
