to make it prevail over all religion.”

For this reason, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yamān said the following. He was among the Companions most knowledgeable about the characteristics and identities of the hypocrites. In the year of Tabūk, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had privately entrusted him with the names of certain individual hypocrites. Thus, he was known as the keeper of the secret that no one else knew. It is related that ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb would not offer the funeral prayer for anyone until Hudhayfah had done so, lest the deceased be one of the hypocrites for whom funeral prayer was forbidden.

Hudhayfah, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

“Hypocrisy is more prevalent today than it was during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.”

In another narration:

“During the Prophet’s lifetime, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, they used to conceal it, but today they display it openly.”

Al-Bukhārī recorded in his Sahīh that Ibn Abī Mulaykah said:

“I met thirty of Muhammad’s Companions, all of whom feared hypocrisy in themselves.”

Allah has stated that the hypocrites pray and pay zakah, yet neither is accepted from them. Allah Most High said:

“The hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, but He outwits them. When they stand for prayer, they stand reluctantly, showing off before people, and they remember Allah only a little.”

Allah Most High also said:

“Say, ‘Spend willingly or unwillingly: it will never be accepted from you. You are indeed a defiantly disobedient people.’”

“Nothing prevents their contributions from being accepted except that they disbelieve in Allah and His Messenger, come to prayer only reluctantly, and spend only unwillingly.”

They also used to accompany the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, on his military expeditions. Thus, ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl and other hypocrites took part in the “expedition” during which ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy said: “If we return to Medina,