[Chapter Four Hypocrisy: its Definition and Types]
Hypocrisy—its definition and categories

a) Definition
Linguistically, hypocrisy (nifāq) is the verbal noun of the verb nafaqa; one says: nafaqa, yunāfiq, nifāqan, and munāfaqa. It is taken from an-nāfiqāʾ, one of the two exits of the jerboa’s burrow, for when it is hunted from one opening it escapes through the other. Others say the root is an-nafq, a subterranean tunnel in which one conceals himself.(1)

In the Sharīʿah, hypocrisy means to display Islam outwardly while harboring disbelief and evil inwardly. It is so named because a person enters the religion through one gate and slips out through another. Allah alludes to this, saying, “Indeed, the hypocrites are the rebellious” [Quran 9:67]—that is, those who have departed from the law. Allah even judged the hypocrites to be worse than the unbelievers, declaring, “The hypocrites will be in the lowest depth of the Fire” [Quran 4:145]. He also said, “The hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, but it is He who deceives them” [Quran 4:142]; and, “They pretend to deceive Allah and those who believe, yet they deceive none but themselves, though they do not realize it. In their hearts is a disease, so Allah has increased their disease, and a painful punishment awaits them because of the lies they used to tell” [Quran 2:9–10].