except by his own choice, and no one emigrated except by his own choice.

For this reason, Ahmad ibn Hanbal and other scholars said that no one among the Emigrants was a hypocrite. Hypocrisy arose only within the tribes of the Helpers, when Islam became ascendant in Medina and members of the Aws and Khazraj tribes embraced it. And (when) the Muslims came to possess(1) a territory in which they could defend themselves and fight, some of the people of Medina and the Bedouins around them embraced Islam out of fear and to protect themselves; such people were hypocrites.

Allah Most High said:

“Among the Bedouins around you are hypocrites, as are some of the people of Medina who have persisted in hypocrisy. You do not know them, but We know them. We shall punish them twice.”

(Surah al-Tawbah: 101).

For this reason, hypocrisy is mentioned only in the Medinan surahs; as for the Meccan surahs, there is no mention of hypocrites in them. Among those who embraced Islam in Mecca before the Migration, there was not a single hypocrite, nor was there any among those who emigrated. Rather, they believed in Allah and His Messenger and loved Allah and His Messenger. Allah and His Messenger were dearer to them than their children, their families, and their possessions.

Since this is so, it is clear that accusing them—or most or some of them—of hypocrisy, as certain Rāfidah do, is among the gravest calumnies, a form of calumny characteristic of the Rāfidah and their brethren among the Jews. Indeed, hypocrisy is widespread and manifest among the Rāfidah, the brethren of the Jews. Among all the sects, none are found whose hypocrisy is greater or more manifest than theirs. So much so that among them are the Nusayriyyah, the Ismāʿīliyyah, and others like them, who rank among the sects most deeply marked by hypocrisy, heretical unbelief, and enmity toward Allah and His Messenger(2).