Search In Fatwa

Acts of hypocrisy

Question

What is the ruling of Shari'a regarding a woman who pretends to be a good woman only to benefit from others and she claim that she has done many good acts which she did not do only to gain some benefit from people? There is a Hadith which reads: "What is taken through embarrassment is Haram".

Answer

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the World; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

It is the duty of a Muslim to coordinate his words and actions. Allah dispraises the one whose actions contradict to his words.
He Says (interpretation of meaning): {O you who believe! Why do you say that which you do not do? Most hateful it is with Allâh that you say that which you do not do.} [61:2-3].
The Sunnah severely warns against one claiming something while one's actions are not in accordance with it. Imams al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated from Usamah Bin Zaid that the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "A man will be brought and put in Hell (Fire) as a result of this his intestines will come out of his belly and he will circumambulate (go around and round) in Hell (Fire) like a donkey of a (flour) grinding mill, and all the people of Hell (Fire) will gather around him and will say to him, O so-and-so! Didn't you use to order others for good and forbid them from evil?' That man will say, 'I used to order others to do good but I myself never used to do it, and I used to forbid others from evil while I myself used to do evil" .
Allah has described a group of hypocrites that they hide their reality and show fallacy. Allah Says (interpretation of meaning) in this concern: {They may hide (their crimes) from men, but they cannot hide (them) from Allâh, for He is with them (by His Knowledge), when they plot by night in words that He does not approve, And Allâh ever encompasses what they do.} [4:108].
The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "Double-faced people are the worst ones who appear to some people with one face and to other people with another face" . [al-Bukhari].
The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) also said: "The one who pretends that he has been given what he has not been given, is just like the (false) one who wears two garments of falsehood" . [al-Bukhari]
Abu al-Atahiyah an Arabic poet said: 'I described you as a God-fearing person but the smell of your sins rise from your clothes'. One should avoid giving wrong information about oneself to the listener in order to benefit from his money or status. The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "Taking a person's money without his real consent is not permissible" . [Ahmad].
Finally, we do not know the Hadith mentioned in your question.
Allah knows best.

Related Fatwa