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View Full Version : Pinnochio, why is your nose so long?



Khalid Saifullah
11-12-2015, 06:11 AM
Yes, I do remember all the Fairy Tales of my school years. However, although I would’ve loved to be the character who stole the giant’s gold in the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, I would never want to be like Pinnochio, the wooden puppet whose nose always grew longer whenever he lied. Children always lie about the pranks they play on others as well as about that dreaded homework, but if our noses grew longer every time we lied even as adults, many people’s noses would be today longer than the Eiffel tower!

Why do people lie? The answer is simple. It’s a sign of hypocrisy. Why are people hypocritical? Why can’t they just portray their authentic self and be: what you see is what you get? Here again the answer is simple. Such people have something to hide which they don’t want others to know about. They are insecure in their relationships and treacherous in their dealings. If people were to know their ugly reality, they wouldn’t want to associate themselves with such a person. So, instead of rectifying their behaviour, they actually mask it; by so doing, they only increase the deformities in their character.

There are so many hypocrites around nowadays that if Pinnochio’s nose had to grow longer every time he lied, his ears bigger every time he cheated, and his chin fatter every time he broke a promise, many people would be looking like rotten potatoes!


Signs of hypocrites

Before we start worrying about our outside enemies whose strength is only determined by the amount of weakness and disunity of the Muslims, let us first start weeding out all the rotten potatoes in our midst. This is necessary because it is the hypocrites who pretend to be with us, but who are secretly aligned to the enemy. They are also known as two-faced. Every morning before leaving their homes, they open their vanity cases and instead of applying makeup to beautify their faces, they apply a mask to hide their treachery, cheating and spying so that people do not suspect them of anything. They also use a special toothpaste which has the most amount of tooth-whitener in it, because the brighter the smile, the deeper the dagger will go.

Because hypocrites are masters of disguise, their face won’t appear as a rotten potato to us, but a description of their signs appear in the Qur’an and Sunnah. As it is said: “You’ll only know if a dog has ticks and fleas by the way they itch.”


1.Piety: The first sign of a hypocrite is that he is seemingly pious. He is often seen in the Masjid, especially when many people are around like Jumu’ah and Big Nights, and he dresses like an angel. He may be running some religious institute, or funding it, and he may even walk with his head buried deep in his chest, but he is the devil in disguise. The Qur’an in verse 107:6 speaks of such people who pray and do acts of goodness, but for show. They are similar to a fisherman who places a juicy worm on his hook to lure a fish; likewise this “holy hypocrite” will sugar-coat his acts of piety to gain the confidence of unsuspecting people. When their audience is hooked, they then either do one of two things to them: They either fleece them of their money which is spent in further acts of show, or they mislead them from the straight path.

Whilst the purpose of prayer is to remember the Almighty, the prayer of the hypocrites is for the rich and corrupt to be impressed with them. A sign of such people is their fear of the criticism of people more than the words of the Qur’an. The Punchaat Column for them is hotter than the fire of hell! In public, they will be at their best, but in private and behind closed doors, they have the worst behaviour and will not do the smallest good. People are never known by their presence in the Masjid. They are known through their dealing with people, their attitude towards those under him, and by travelling with them.


2.Fence-Sitting: The second sign of the hypocrites is that they know how to use a remote control very effectively. They do not take an open stand in anything, but they will always go in the direction of the wind. Such people generally do not show their faces and love to be aloof from people, but they have people taking the blame for them or doing their dirty work for cash. The Qur’an brilliantly describes their behaviour as: “Mudhabthabeena baina dhalika, La ila ha’ulaa wa la ila ha’ulaa.”(They are between two positions, neither here nor there) (4:143)

It is due to this attitude of fence-sitting and secretly colluding with the enemy that is today responsible for the downfall of the Muslims. Everyone is against the Zionist occupation of Palestine, but many will secretly collude with the Zionists and make sure the occupation continues because of some secret deal they have in place. Everyone is against corruption in government, but many in government are corrupt themselves; everyone is against favouritism in the workplace, but many will plot the downfall of the same colleague who secured a job for them just to secure their own job or obtain a promotion in the company. It is due to the prevalence of such hypocrisy in the world that no one can be trusted anymore.


3.Plotting and planning: The hypocrites are never at ease. Their hearts are always restless to the fact that their wealth, status or credibility in the eyes of the people will be lost. Due to this unfounded fear, they always suspect others of the evil which they are involved in themselves. They will go to great lengths to please people who can further their agenda, but will avoid people who point out their faults, even if it’s the bitter truth. In order to gain worldly benefit and prestige, they will always be plotting on how to stop good, and be planning how to promote evil according to the Qur’an – 9:67. Such people always keep the pot stewing. They make sure that there is enough of trouble and mischief around to keep people busy so that they can continue unnoticed with their plotting.

In short, such people want their bread buttered on both sides: they want the jalebi of the world, as well as the jannat (paradise) of the hereafter. And this is impossible, because jalebi they will get here, but instead of jannat, it will be the lowest depths of jahannum (hell-fire, Qur’an 4:145) for them there. Further, in order to achieve their goals, the hadith says that such people always lie in their speech, betray the trust of people and never deliver on their promises. If you have such qualities or know of people with such qualities, it’s time to either rectify yourself or beware of such people.


4.Avoid the Issue: When confronted with an issue, hypocrites never respond rationally. According to a hadith: “Wa idha khasama fajara,” whenever they argue, they become vulgar and abusive. When they are confronted with the facts, they will respond by becoming personal and attack the person’s integrity. They know fully well that they have no real answer. They will then abuse their position of seniority to dig up and even fabricate non-existent charges against the person. Slowly, the person will be “worked out” of the company or the institute, unless he does one thing: he becomes hypocritical just like his boss or the ethos of the company, and starts turning a blind eye to all the wrongs going on. Worst still, the person will start flattering his boss and even backstab others just to look good in the eyes of the devil. Such people who sell their dignity for a few pennies are worse than the original hypocrites themselves.


Finally, the harm that the hypocrites have caused the Muslims from the time of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) right up to now has been much more than our enemies have ever caused. Hypocrisy is a sickness of the heart which has to be treated and cured. And the only way of doing this is to align our actions to our religion. As Plato so beautifully said: “We can forgive a child who is afraid of the dark, but the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
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