THE THREE SIGNS OF A MUNAFIQ (DUPLICITOUS PERSON)

THE PREVIOUS CAUTION ABOUT THE TRANSLATION OF AHADITH APPLIES.

Rasool Allah SAW said that there are three signs of a Munafiq (duplicitous person); when he speaks he lies, when he makes a promise he breaks it, and when someone entrusts him with something valuable (Imanat) he breaches that trust. In another narration of this Hadith there is a further addition that even if that person prays Salah (Namaz) and fasts in Ramadan and claims that he is a Muslim, he still doesn't deserve to be called a Muslim because he has let go of the basic tenets of Islam.

It is difficult to understand why people have come to believe that Islam comprises of just Namaz (Salah) and Roza (fasting). If someone starts praying Namaz and start fasting they start believing that we have become perfect Muslims and now Islam doesn't require them to do anything further. So after praying when they go to the real world they have no hesitation in lying, defrauding and stealing to make money, and there is not even a consideration whether the money they are earning is Hara'am (forbidden) or Halal ( permissible). No one can trust what they say. If they are entrusted with something valuable they breach that trust. They do not keep their promises. So this concept that Islam comprises of only Namaz and Roza is a very wrong and in fact dangerous concept.  Rasool Allah SAW has said that a person who engages in such behaviours doesn't deserve to be called a Muslim even if he prays Namaz and fasts. Even though formally he may not be labelled a Kafir (non-believer), because it is a very grave matter to label someone a non-believer, but all the behaviours he is displaying, are not the behaviours of a Muslim.

Adapted from the talk "The different forms of lying", by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani DB