Whoever is characterized by all four of these traits has gathered every kind of evil within himself and exhibits, in their purest form, the attributes of the hypocrites. If a person possesses only one of them, he has within him a single trait of hypocrisy—for a servant may carry within himself qualities of righteousness as well as qualities of wickedness, traits of faith alongside traits of disbelief and hypocrisy. He will earn reward and punishment in proportion to whatever of these qualities predominates in him. One example is laziness in attending the congregational prayer in the mosque, for that is among the hallmarks of the hypocrites. Hypocrisy, therefore, is a grave and perilous matter, and the Companions lived in constant fear of falling into it. Ibn Abī Mulaykah said, “I met thirty of the Prophet’s Companions, all of them afraid of hypocrisy for themselves.”

The differences between major hypocrisy and minor hypocrisy are as follows:

1. Major hypocrisy expels a person from the religion, whereas minor hypocrisy does not.
2. Major hypocrisy is the discrepancy between what one conceals and what one reveals in matters of belief, while minor hypocrisy is the discrepancy between one’s hidden and outward states in deeds, not in creed.