The Hypocrites (Al-Munaafeqoon)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
WHEN THE HYPOCRITES come to you, they say: "We affirm that you are the Apostle of God." God indeed knows you are His Apostle. God bears witness that the hypocrites are indeed liars. 1 they use their oaths as a cover and thus they bar others from God's way: what they have been doing is truly evil -- 2 this, because [they profess that] they have attained to faith, whereas [inwardly] they deny the truth - and so, a seal has been set on their hearts so that they can no longer understand [what is true and what false]. 3 ۞ When you look at them, their persons are pleasing, and when they speak, you pay heed to what they say. But in truth they are (merely) beams of timber propped-up (against a wall). They consider every shout they hear to be directed against them. They are your utter enemies; guard against them. May Allah do away with them! How are they being turned away (from the Truth)? 4 And when it is said to them, "Come, the Messenger of Allah will pray for your forgiveness", they turn aside their heads, and thou wouldst see them turning away their faces in arrogance. 5 As for them it is all the same whether thou dost pray that they be forgiven or dost not pray for them: God will not forgive them - for, behold, God does not bestow His guidance upon such iniquitous folk. 6 It is they who say, "Give nothing to those who are around the Messenger of God so that they will desert him." To God belongs the treasures of the heavens and the earth, but the hypocrites have no understanding. 7 They say, "If we return to al-Madinah, the more honored [for power] will surely expel therefrom the more humble." And to Allah belongs [all] honor, and to His Messenger, and to the believers, but the hypocrites do not know. 8