NIFÂQ – نفاق

Literally and Etymologically: It denotes duplicity, hypocrisy and insincerity. It signifies the act of feigning friendship and loyalty while secretly harbouring malice, deceit and enmity in one's heart. Derived from the same verbal root as munâfiq — the Arabic root n-f-q (ن - ف - ق), referencing the subterranean backup escape route nâfiqah — it embodies the dual-faced deceit of maintaining a visible cover while constructing hidden inner exits to evade accountability.

As an Islamic Term: The state and act of making a false pretence of embracing Islam—outwardly displaying the tokens of a mu’min while inward harbouring absolute kufr and hostility against Allah, the Prophet (asm) and Islam. It represents the most insidious form of treason, manifested as the covert instigation, factionalism, subversion and treacherous betrayal against the Muslim community.

Selected excerpts from the Risale-i Nur Collection that elucidate the subject:

واِذَا لَقُوا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قالُوا امَنَّا وَاِذَا خَلَوْا اِلَى شَياطِينِهِمْ قَالُوا اِنَّا مَعكُمْ اِنَّمَا نحْنُ مُسْتَهْزِؤُنَ

اَللّٰه يَسْتَهْزِئُ بِهِمْ وَيَمُدُّهُمْ فِي طُغْيانِهِمْ يَعْمَهُون1

…

The aspect of structural order among the sentences of these âyahs is that: Just as îmân, which is a point of support against pains and a point of assistance for hopes, possesses three essential characteristics:

The first of these is the dignity originating from the ‘point of support’; and the mark of dignity is the absence of stooping to abasement.

The second of these is compassion, the mark of which is the absence of abasing or despising others.

The third of these is respect for the haqiqahs and recognition of their worth. For one who owns what is of great value is himself a person of haqiqah, owning a unique jewel; and belittling the haqîqah is absent in such a person, as he is likewise dignified.

Similarly, the opposite of îmân — that is, nifâq — possesses the exact reverse of those three characteristics: the abasement and indignity, the inclination to corrupt and delusory pride born of despising others.

Once you have understood this, know that nifâq engenders indignity; indignity yields stooping to abasement, stooping to abasement gives rise to riyâ, riyâ leads to fawning and fawning produces falsehood.

Signs of Miraculousness (201-202)

وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ اٰمَنَّا بِاللّٰهِ وَبِالْيَوْمِ اْلاٰخِرِ وَمَاهُمْ بِمُؤْمِن۪ينَۢ2

If you were to ask: “Why does the Qur’ân mention the absolute kâfirs succinctly in two âyahs, while expounding upon nifâq in twelve âyahs?”

The answer is: For several subtle hikmahs:

Firstly: An enemy is far more harmful when he remains unknown. And if he is mukhannis (3 مُخَنّس) — covertly lurking in stealth — he is even more insidious. If he is a liar, he causes even more devastating corruption. And if he is an internal enemy, his harm is far greater; because an internal enemy disintegrates inner firmness and scatters strength, unlike an external enemy, who only serves to fortify collective resolve.

Alas! The betrayal of nifâq against Islam is truly catastrophic. Indeed, this present state of turmoil and disarray4 originates entirely from nifâq itself. For this reason, the Qur’ân repeatedly and vehemently denounces them.

Secondly: Through his interaction with the mu’mins, the munâfiq gradually develops an affinity for them and grows accustomed to îmân little by little. Seeing his deeds condemned and his actions exposed as shameful, he becomes ready to feel repelled by his own condition; thus, the word of tawhîd (Lâ Ilâha Illallâh) trickles drop by drop from his tongue into his heart.5

Thirdly: The munâfiq adds further crimes on top of kufr, such as derision, deception, fraudulent misrepresentation, cunning schemes, lying and riyâ.

Fourthly: The munâfiq is most often from among the Ahl al-Kitâb and from those given to wahm-driven jarbaza; he is thus a scheming, subversive plotter endowed with a shaytanic intellect. Expounding at length regarding him, therefore, is far more profoundly in accord with balâghat.

Signs of Miraculousness (163-164)

If you say: The restriction in the âyah

وَماَ يَخْدَعُونَ اِلَّا اَنْفُسَهُمْ6

implies that their deception has caused no harm to Islam and the Muslims. Yet Islam has suffered harm from nothing so severely as it has from the various types and branches of nifâq, which have spread like poison throughout the nations of the Islamic world?

You would be told: The spreading harm you witness and that circulating poison originate simply from their corrupted disposition, their decayed fitrah and their putrid conscience (vijdân), much like the spread of an infectious disease. They are not the product of the deceptions and tricks devised through their deliberate choice. For they intend to deceive Allah, the Prophet and the jamâ’ah of mu’mins; yet Allah knows all things, the Prophet (asm) receives wahy, and deception cannot stay concealed from the jamâ’ah of mu’mins for long, so they are not deceived. Thus, it is proven that they deceive none but themselves.

Signs of Miraculousness (178)