1880 – ʿAlī b. ʿUmar b. Ibrāhīm related to us; Ahmad b. Salmān related to us; al-Ḥasan b. Mukram al-Bazzār related to us; Shabābah b. Sawwār related to us; Muḥammad al-Muḥrim related to us; he said: I heard al-Ḥasan say:

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Three traits—whoever possesses them is a hypocrite, even if he fasts, prays, and claims to be a Muslim: when he speaks he lies; when he promises he breaks his promise; and when he is entrusted he proves treacherous.”

He (the narrator) continued: I said, “Abu Saʿīd, by Allah, suppose a man has a debt against me, meets me, and demands payment. I fear he may imprison me and my dependants perish, so I tell him, ‘I will pay you when the new moon is sighted,’ yet I do not do so—am I a hypocrite?”
He replied, “You spoke to him, you promised him, and then you broke your word.” He then added, “ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAmr related that when his father was at death’s door he said, ‘I once promised so-and-so that I would marry him off; see to it that the marriage takes place, for I do not wish to meet Allah with a third of hypocrisy upon me.’ ”

I asked, “Abu Saʿīd, can one third of a man be hypocrite while two thirds are Muslim?”
He answered, “That is how the report has come down to us.”

Later, when I performed the Pilgrimage, I met ʿAṭāʾ and recounted to him this ḥadith, along with what al-Ḥasan had said to me and what I had said to him. ʿAṭāʾ replied, “Could you not have said, ‘Tell me about Joseph’s brothers—did they not promise their father and then fail him; he entrusted them and they betrayed; they spoke to him and they lied—were they hypocrites? Were they not prophets? Their father was a prophet and their grandfather a prophet?’ ”

I said, “Abu Muḥammad, teach me the root of this ḥadith and the foundation of hypocrisy.” He said, “Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to me that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘This ḥadith concerns the hypocrites alone—those who spoke to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ⦗1096⦘ and lied to him, whom he entrusted with his secret and they betrayed him, and who promised to go forth with him in battle but then failed him.’ ”

He went on: “Gabriel came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and informed him that Abū Sufyān had set out and was in such-and-such a place: ‘Go out to him, but keep the matter concealed.’ One of the hypocrites then wrote to Abū Sufyān, ‘Muhammad is coming for you, so take precautions.’ Thereupon Allah revealed: ‘O you who believe, do not betray Allah and the Messenger, nor betray your trusts knowingly’ (Qur’an 8:27). And regarding the hypocrites He revealed: ‘And among them are those who made a covenant with Allah…’ (Qur’an 9:75) up to His words, ‘So He caused hypocrisy to settle in their hearts…’ (Qur’an 9:77), to the end of the verse. When you meet al-Ḥasan, convey to him what I have just told you and the basis of this matter.”

He (the narrator) said: I returned to al-Ḥasan and informed him verbatim of what I had said and what had been said to me. Al-Ḥasan took my hand, raised it, and declared, “People of Iraq! Are you incapable of being like this man? He heard a ḥadith from me but would not accept it until he traced its root. ʿAṭāʾ has spoken truly; this ḥadith does indeed refer to the hypocrites.”