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Does a person consider himself a hypocrite merely for feeling so when reading verses about hypocrisy? And does a hypocrite have repentance, and how would this repentance be?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A Muslim's fear of being characterized by the traits of hypocrites is a good sign. The righteous predecessors, such as Umar ibn al-Khattab, Al-Hasan al-Basri, and Ibn Abi Mulayka, feared it for themselves.

Hypocrisy is of two types: 1. Greater Hypocrisy (Nifaq al-I'tiqadi - Hypocrisy of Belief): Its practitioner outwardly displays faith but inwardly conceals disbelief, and it renders its practitioner a disbeliever. 2. Lesser Hypocrisy (Nifaq al-Amali - Practical Hypocrisy): It does not render its practitioner a disbeliever, and examples of it are the four traits mentioned in the noble Hadith: "When entrusted, he betrays; when he speaks, he lies; when he makes a covenant, he proves treacherous; and when he disputes, he behaves impudently."

Repentance from hypocrisy is legislated and accepted if its practitioner is sincere and abstains from acts of hypocrisy. This is achieved by returning [to God], regretting, resolving not to revert [to it], and increasing good deeds.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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