سورة النساء

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) was asked: "What is the way of salvation tomorrow [on the Day of Resurrection]?" He said: "Salvation is that you do not try to deceive Allah, lest He deceive you, for whoever tries to deceive Allah, Allah makes him the deceived one and strips faith from him; and if such a person understood, he would realize that in truth he is deceiving himself." They said: "How do they try to deceive Allah?" He said: "He acts upon what Allah has commanded, but intends by that act something other [than Allah]."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abdullah ibn Sinan said: We were sitting in the presence of Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) when a man from those present said: "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! May I be your ransom, I fear that I am a hypocrite." The Imam said: "I have a question: when at night or day you are alone in your house and no one is with you, do you not pray?" He said: "Yes, I do pray." He said: "For whom do you offer that prayer?" He said: "For Allah the Exalted." He said: "How is it possible that you are a hypocrite when you pray for Allah the Exalted and not for anyone else?!"

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Luqman said to his son: "O my son! Everything has a sign that bears witness to its existence... The hypocrite has three signs: his tongue's words oppose his heart, his deeds differ from his words, and his private state differs from his public state. The lazy person has three signs: he procrastinates so much that he despairs of accomplishing that task, he falls short so much that the task perishes, and he ruins matters so much that he becomes stained with sin. The show-off has three traits: when he is alone he is lazy, when people are present with him he is energetic, and he does every deed only so that he may be praised for doing it."

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ هُوَ خَادِعُهُمْ [and He shall requite their deceit to them]; the deception from Allah is the punishment.

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): إِنَّ المُنَافِقِینَ یُخَادِعُونَ اللهَ وَهُوَ خَادِعُهُمْ وَ إِذَا قَامُوا إِلَی الصَّلَاةِ قَامُوا کُسَالَی یُرَاؤُونَ النَّاسَ وَ لَا یَذْکُرُونَ اللهَ إِلَّا قَلِیلًا [Surely the hypocrites strive to deceive Allah, and He shall requite their deceit to them, and when they stand up to prayer they stand up sluggishly; they do it only to be seen of men and do not remember Allah save a little]. They are neither of the disbelievers, nor of the believers, nor of the Muslims; they make a show of faith while their path is on the course of disbelief and denial. May Allah curse them.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): During the prayer, pay attention to the meaning and reality of the prayer. From every prayer, that portion is reckoned for you which you attended to with your whole heart and soul. In the course of the prayer, do not play with your hand, head or beard. Do not talk to yourself. Do not yawn. Do not stretch. Do not place your hands upon your chest, for this is the way of the Magians. Do not veil your mouth. Do not press your feet together, nor spread them apart like a camel. Do not sit on the tips of your toes with both knees raised. At the time of prostration, do not spread your forearms upon the ground. Do not crack the joints of your fingers; for all these things are a cause of deficiency in the prayer. Do not rise for the prayer in a state of laziness, drowsiness or reluctance, for these are among the traits of hypocrisy. Allah the Glorified forbade the believers from rising for the prayer with the intoxication of sleep, and He said in describing the hypocrites: وَ إِذا قامُوا إِلَی الصَّلاةِ قامُوا کُسالی یُراؤُنَ النَّاسَ وَ لا یَذْکُرُونَ اللهَ إِلَّا قَلِیلا [And when they stand up to prayer they stand up sluggishly; they do it only to be seen of men and do not remember Allah save a little].

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Hasan ibn Fazzal says: I asked Imam Rida (peace be upon him) about the verses: "And Allah mocks them" (Tawbah/79), "It is Allah who mocks them" (Baqarah/15), "And they schemed, and Allah schemed, and Allah is the best of schemers" (Al Imran/54), and یُخادِعُونَ اللهَ وَ هُوَ خادِعُهُمْ [They seek to deceive Allah, and He shall requite their deceit to them]. He said: "Allah neither mocks nor ridicules; nor does He employ scheming and deception, rather He recompenses them in accordance with their acts of mockery, ridicule, scheming and deception. Allah is far exalted above what the wrongdoers say and imagine."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) narrates from his father: The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) was asked: "...how does one deceive Allah?" He said: "He acts upon what Allah has commanded, yet through that deed he intends something other than Him. Fear Allah and shun ostentation, for ostentation is associating partners with Allah the Mighty and Majestic. The ostentatious person will be called on the Day of Resurrection by four names: O disbeliever, O sinner, O treacherous one, O loser! Your deed has gone in vain, your reward is nullified, and today you have no share; now seek your reward from the very one for whose sake you did your deeds."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Basir said: I heard Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) say: "On the Day of Resurrection a servant is brought forward who has performed prayers. He says: 'O Lord, I prayed for Your pleasure.' He is told: 'No! You used to pray so that it would be said you prayed well.' Then the command comes: take him to Hell. Then another servant is brought forward who learned the Qur'an. He says: 'O Lord, I learned the Qur'an for Your pleasure.' He is told: 'Yes, you learned the Qur'an so that they would say he has a beautiful voice.' Then the command comes: take him too to Hell. Then another servant is brought forward who fought in jihad. He says: 'O Lord, I went to jihad for Your pleasure.' He is told: 'No! You went to jihad so that it would be said so-and-so is brave.' Then the command comes: take him too to Hell. Then another servant is brought forward who spent his wealth in the way of Allah the Exalted. He says: 'O Lord, I spent my wealth in Your way.' He too is told: 'No, in your spending you intended that people should say how generous he is.' The command comes: enter him too into the Fire."

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): يُرَآؤُونَ النَّاسَ [they do it only to be seen of men] — what is meant by "the people" is the believers. لاَ إِلَی هَؤُلاء وَلاَ إِلَی هَؤُلاء [neither to these nor to those] — that is, they were neither with the believers nor with the Jews.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Whoever remembers Allah the Exalted in private has remembered Allah much. The hypocrites used to remember Allah openly but did not remember Him in private, so Allah the Exalted said: يُرَآؤُونَ النَّاسَ وَلاَ یَذْکُرُونَ اللهَ إِلاَّ قَلِیلاً [they do it only to be seen of men and do not remember Allah save a little].

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): وَلاَ یَذْکُرُونَ اللهَ إِلاَّ قَلِیلاً [and do not remember Allah save a little] — that is, they remembered Allah only rarely; meaning they did not remember Allah out of true intention and ikhlas (sincerity), for if they had remembered Him sincerely, [however little it was] it would have been counted as much remembrance. So it is described as little remembrance because it was for other than Allah.