Am I a hypocrite? - STORIES OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD (SAW) / STORY WITH A HADITH QUOTE / STORY WITH A QURAN QUOTE /

One day, Hanzala al Usaidi* (r.a.*) said to his friend Abu Bakr (r.a.), “Abu Bakr, I have become a hypocrite!” 

“A’udhubillaahi minash shaytaanir rajeem*! Why are you saying this?” Abu Bakar was shocked.

“Wallaahi*,” Hamzala continued, “When I am in the presence of the Prophet ﷺ * or when we are listening to the Quran from his mouth, or when he reminds us of Jannah*, I feel motivated and energised and inspired! 

When he reminds us of Naar*, I feel fear and aim to be extra careful in my actions. But the moment I reach home after the gathering, when I meet my wife and children, or when I go back to work after the gathering, I feel different! I often get busy and forget about the matters of Akhirah*. I can’t recognise my own heart anymore!”

Abu Bakr said, “You’re right. This is a problem. I feel the same way too! That makes the two of us. We’re both hypocrites! Oh no. Let’s go ask the Prophet!”

So, off they both went to see the Prophet ﷺ straight away. They knew that the Prophet was the best teacher they ever had and nobody else could answer them in the best way possible.

After listening to their query, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ replied, “By Allah*, Hamzala, if you had the same feelings when you are here with me and when you are with your family or when you are at work, the angels in the streets would want to shake hands with you! Why? Because your level of Imaan* is so great. And it is consistent too. (Masha Allah. TabarakAllah. Wow. That would be amazing, wouldn’t it? SubhnanAllah*.) The angels would turn up in broad daylight to come shake hands with you.” 

“But (let’s try being realistic here)… An hour and an hour.”**

Hmmm…

“An hour and an hour”?

What does the Prophet ﷺ mean by “an hour and an hour”?

This means that we can put aside an ‘hour’ for our heart’s matters and its purification or cleaning process. And we can put aside another ‘hour’ for our dunya* matters or even entertainment. 

It does not mean that we can do one hour of good deeds and one hour of bad deeds. For example, we spend one hour listening to an Islamic lecture and we spend one hour at the club or pub, dancing, drinking, singing karaoke or gambling. No! That’s not what the Prophet ﷺ meant.

What the Prophet ﷺ meant by the dunya matters was that we have to attend to the necessary and important things that we do for our body, mind and life like eat, drink, go to the bathroom, go to work or school, clean the house, cook, ride the train or car or other vehicle, etc. 

As for entertainment, we could perhaps read a book, watch a Halal* movie, play a video game, go for a walk, go shopping, spend quality time with your parents or grandparents, enjoy moments with your siblings or cousins or aunties or uncles, sew, paint, fish, solving puzzles, visit friends, etc… There are numerous other Halal dunya activities and Halal entertainment activities that we can do. Can you name one more?

Don’t you just love Islam? Islam is perfect. It teaches us to be balanced. Alhamdulillah*.

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Moral & Afterthought

Islam does not prohibit us to do many normal activities. There are many, many things that we can do without getting into trouble with Allah or with the authorities. These activities are actually Halal.

We should not think that going to school or work is actually un-Islamic or a waste of valuable time. Or vacuuming or cooking or sewing is not good as we are not reading the Quran or Hadeeth* books or cleaning the mosque or doing something that is related to Islam.