Surah Al-Baqarah — Verse 10

Allah increases the disease in their hearts, and they reap what they sow. Because they lied Allah increases the disease of doubts in their hearts, by adding hesitation to their uncertainty, hence they only gain what they deserve. They will have a painful suffering in the worst parts of Hell because they lied against Allah, and the people, and rejected the message brought by Muhammad (peace be upon him).

In their hearts is a disease and Allah has increased their disease. A painful torment is theirs because they used to tell lies (10)

As-Suddi narrated from Abu Malik and (also) from Abu Salih, from Ibn 'Abbas, and (also) Murrah Al-Hamdani from Ibn Mas'ud and other Companions that this Ayah,

فِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ

(In their hearts is a disease) means, 'doubt', and,

فَزَادَهُمُ اللَّهُ مَرَضًا

(And Allah has increased their disease) also means 'doubt'. Mujahid, 'Ikrimah, Al-Hasan Al-Basri, Abu Al-'Aliyah, Ar-Rabi' bin Anas and Qatadah also said similarly. 'Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam commented on,

فِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ

(In their hearts is a disease), "A disease in the religion, not a physical disease. They are the hypocrites and the disease is the doubt that they brought to Islam.

فَزَادَهُمُ اللَّهُ مَرَضًا

(And Allah has increased their disease) meaning, increased them in shameful behavior." He also recited,

فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فَزَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَانًا وَهُمْ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ - وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ فَزَادَتْهُمْ رِجْسًا إِلَىٰ رِجْسِهِمْ

(As for those who believe, it has increased their faith, and they rejoice. But as for those in whose hearts is a disease, it will add disgrace to their disgrace.)(9:124-125) and commented, "Evil to their evil and deviation to their deviation." This statement by 'Abdur-Rahman is true, and it constitutes a punishment that is compatible to the sin, just as the earlier scholars stated. Similarly, Allah said,

وَالَّذِينَ اهْتَدَوْاْ زَادَهُمْ هُدًى وَءَاتَـــٰـهُمْ تَقُوَاهُمْ

(While as for those who accept guidance, He increases their guidance and grants them their piety)(47:17).

Allah said next,

بِمَا كَانُواْ يَكْذِبُونَ

(Because they used to tell lies). The hypocrites have two characteristics, they lie and they deny the Unseen.

The scholars who stated that the Prophet ﷺ knew the hypocrites of his time have only the Hadith of Hudhayfah bin Al-Yaman as evidence. In it the Prophet ﷺ gave him the names of fourteen hypocrites during the battle of Tabuk. These hypocrites plotted to assassinate the Prophet ﷺ during the night on a hill in that area. They planned to excite the Prophet's camel, so that she would throw him down the hill. Allah informed the Prophet ﷺ about their plot, and the Prophet ﷺ told Hudhayfah their names.

As for the other hypocrites, Allah said about them,

وَمِمَّنْ حَوْلَكُم مِّنَ الْأَعْرَابِ مُنَافِقُونَ ۖ وَمِنْ أَهْلِ الْمَدِينَةِ ۖ مَرَدُوا عَلَى النِّفَاقِ لَا تَعْلَمُهُمْ ۖ نَحْنُ نَعْلَمُهُمْ

(And among the bedouins around you, some are hypocrites, and so are some among the people of Al-Madinah who persist in hypocrisy; you (O Muhammad ﷺ) know them not, We know them)(9:101), and,

لَّئِن لَّمْ يَنتَهِ الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ وَالْمُرْجِفُونَ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ لَنُغْرِيَنَّكَ بِهِمْ ثُمَّ لَا يُجَاوِرُونَكَ فِيهَا إِلَّا قَلِيلًا - مَّلْعُونِينَ ۖ أَيْنَمَا ثُقِفُوا أُخِذُوا وَقُتِّلُوا تَقْتِيلًا

(If the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, and those who spread false news among the people in Al-Madinah do not cease, We shall certainly let you overpower them, then they will not be able to stay in it as your neighbors but a little while. Accursed, they shall be seized wherever found, and killed with a (terrible) slaughter)(33:60-61).

These Ayat prove that the Prophet ﷺ was not informed about each and everyone among the hypocrites of his time. Rather, the Prophet ﷺ was only informed about their characteristics, and he used to assume that some people possessed these characteristics. Similarly, Allah said,

وَلَوْ نَشَاءُ لَأَرَيْنَاكَهُمْ فَلَعَرَفْتَهُم بِسِيمَاهُمْ ۚ وَلَتَعْرِفَنَّهُمْ فِي لَحْنِ الْقَوْلِ

(Had We willed, We could have shown them to you, and you should have known them by their marks; but surely, you will know them by the tone of their speech!)(47:30).

The most notorious hypocrite at that time was 'Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul; Zayd bin Arqam - the Companion - gave truthful testimony to that effect. In addition, 'Umar bin Al-Khattab once mentioned the matter of Ibn Salul to the Prophet ﷺ, who said,

إِنِّي أَكْرَهُ أَنْ تَتَحَدَّثَ الْعَرَبُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا يَقْتُلُ أَصْحَابَهُ

(I would not like the Arabs to say to each other that Muhammad ﷺ is killing his Companions.)

Yet, when Ibn Salul died, the Prophet ﷺ performed the funeral prayer for him and attended his funeral just as he used to do with other Muslims. It was recorded in the Sahih that the Prophet ﷺ said,

إِنِّي خُيِّرْتُ فَاخْتَرْتُ

(I was given the choice (to pray for him or not), so I chose.)

In another narration, the Prophet ﷺ said,

لَوْ أَعْلَمُ أَنِّي لَوْ زِدْتُ عَلَى السَّبْعِينَ يُغْفَرُ لَهُ لَزِدْتُ

(If I knew that by asking (Allah to forgive Ibn Salul) more than seventy times that He would forgive him, then I would do that.)

The third verse indicates why the hypocrites behave so foolishly and why they fail to see the folly of their course:

فِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَ‌ضٌ فَزَادَهُمُ اللَّـهُ مَرَ‌ضًا

In their hearts there is a malady, so Allah has made them grow in their malady.

Now, illness or disease, in the general medical sense, is a state in which a man has lost the balanced proportion of the elements within him necessary to keep him healthy, so that his body can no longer function properly, which may finally lead to his total destruction. In the terminology of the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith, the word 'disease' is also applied to certain mental or psychic states (we are using the two terms in the original and more comprehensive sense) which hinder man from attaining any degree of spiritual perfection, for they gradually deprive him of the ability to perform good deeds, and even of ordinary human decency, till he meets with his spiritual death. The great spiritual master, Junaid of Baghdad, has said that just as the diseases of the body arise from an imbalance among the four humours, the diseases of the heart arise from a surrender to one's physical desires. According to the present verse, the disease hidden in their hearts is unbelief and rejection of the truth, which is as much a physical sickness as a spiritual one. It is all too obvious that being ungrateful to one's creator and nourisher and going against His commandments is to be spiritually sick. Moreover, to keep this disbelief concealed for the sake of petty worldly gains and not to have the courage to speak out one's mind is no less a disease of the soul. Hypocrisy is a physical disease too in so far as the hypocrite is always shuddering4for fear of being exposed. Jealousy being a necessary ingredient of hypocrisy, he cannot bear to see the Muslims growing stronger in the world, and yet the poor hypocrite cannot even have the satisfaction of unburdening his heart of the venom. No wonder that all this tension should express itself in physical ailment.

The curse of telling lies

(4) There is another subtle and very significant point here. According to these verses, the hypocrites would meet with a grievous punishment for having told lies. Now, their greatest crime was disbelief and hypocrisy in matters of faith, and they had been committing other crimes as well, like nursing envy and malice against Muslims in their hearts and actually conspiring against them. And yet here the grievous punishment has been connected with their habit of telling lies. This is an indication that basically this nefarious habit was their real crime, which gradually led them to hypocrisy and disbelief. In other words, although hypocrisy and disbelief are much greater crimes, yet they arise from the habit of telling lies. That is why the Holy Qur'an combines the sin of lying with the sin of idol worship in the same phrase:

فَاجْتَنِبُوا الرِّ‌جْسَ مِنَ الْأَوْثَانِ وَاجْتَنِبُوا قَوْلَ الزُّورِ‌

"Guard yourselves against the filth of idols and against telling lies" (22:30)

For those who put worldly interests and expediency first, total and unconditional devotion to truth appears unwise, for their true allegiance is to their worldly interests; only on a superficial level can they attach themselves to the truth. They consider themselves clever. They think they are safeguarding themselves in this world, and also qualifying to be considered among the pious. But this is no more than wishful thinking; it is a figment of their imagination rather than a real fact of life. Every test in life removes them further from the path of true religion and brings them closer to their own world-oriented ‘religion’. Their hypocrisy is like a cancer which keeps on growing. They consider true believers, who act in the interests of truth, to be ruining themselves for no good reason. They call their own policy, on the other hand, one of reform; they prize it because it enables them to pursue a safe course without clashing with anyone; but this just shows how distorted their reasoning is. If they were to think deeply, they would realize that on earth reform can only come from man giving himself up to God alone, while obstructing any movement aimed at consolidating man’s relationship with the will of his Lord amounts to creating disorder on earth. Their seemingly profitable business is in fact running at a loss. For, they are forsaking pure truth for an adulterated version of it, which can benefit none.