among the polytheists who worshipped the heavenly bodies and practised sorcery; and those who sided with the enemies of Moses—Pharaoh and his people—in practising sorcery, or claimed that there is no Maker apart from what is made, no Creator apart from creation, and no God above the heavens, as the Ittihādiyya (advocates of the unity of Creator and creation) and other Jahmiyya maintain.

There are also those who agreed with the Sabians and philosophers in what they said about the Creator and His messengers, His names and attributes, the Resurrection, and other matters.

Although the unbelief of these groups is manifest, there is no doubt that many who have entered Islam—even those renowned for learning, worship, and leadership—have adopted much of their unbelief, revered them, and considered the principles they established and similar things authoritative. Such people have become numerous in later times, mixing the truth brought by the messengers with the falsehood followed by their enemies.

Allah Most High loves that the impure be distinguished from the pure, and truth from falsehood. It should therefore be recognized that these groups are hypocrites or have hypocrisy within them, even though they are among the Muslims. A person’s being outwardly Muslim does not preclude his being inwardly a hypocrite: all hypocrites are outwardly Muslim, and the Quran has explained their characteristics and the rulings concerning them.

If they existed during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when Islam was strong and the signs of prophethood and the light of the message were manifest, they are all the more prevalent when far removed from those signs and that light. This is especially so because the cause of hypocrisy is the same as the cause of unbelief: whatever opposes what the messengers brought.