Will Allah Accept the Du’a of a Hypocrite to Save Him from the Sin of Hypocrisy?
Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch
Question
I know someone who is a full-blown hypocrite. I told him that he should make dua so that Allah cures hypocrisy from his heart. Will this cure his Disease?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
Whoever calls upon Allah Most High sincerely, Allah Most High will answer their supplication.
Allah Most High says, “When My servants ask you ˹O Prophet˺ about Me: I am truly near. I respond to one’s prayer when they call upon Me. So let them respond ˹with obedience˺ to Me and believe in Me, perhaps they will be guided ˹to the Right Way˺.” [Quran, 2:186]
Hypocrisy (Nifaq)
Hypocrisy is to make something apparent contrary to what is within. [Zabidi, Taj al-‘Arus ]
For a person to be a full-blown hypocrite, they would be someone who does not believe in Islam. However, they declare that they are Muslim. Such a person is a disbeliever and a deceiver. This is why the true hypocrites have a more severe punishment in the Hereafter.
Allah Most High says, “Surely the hypocrites will be in the lowest depths of the Fire—and you will never find for them any helper—” [Quran, 4:145]
A Hypocritical Muslim
Aside from the above, a believer may have qualities of hypocrisy. This refers to a person who does believe in Islam (and is such a Muslim). However, their outward actions do not attest to that belief. Their actions may even portray that the person does not believe, even though, in their heart, they do.
Such attributes are mentioned in the Prophetic narrations, such as those that follow:
The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “The signs of the hypocrite are that when they speak, they lie; when they promise, they break their promise; and when they are entrusted, they betray that trust.” [Tabarani]
This and other texts in the Quran and Prophetic narrations portray the signs of a hypocrite. If a Muslim were to have these signs, it would not take them out of the fold of Islam.
Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.
