As he was pouring water on the holy and afflicted body of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP), he whispered:
“May my father and my mother shed their lives for you, O Messenger of Allah! With your death, the process of prophethood, revelation and heavenly messages has stopped, which had not stopped at the death of others. Your position with us is so special that your grief has become a source of consolation (to us) as against the grief of all others; your grief is also common so that all Muslims share it equally. If you had not ordered endurance and prevented us from bewailing, I would have produced a store of tears and even then the pain would not have subsided, and this grief would not have ended, and they would have been too little of my grief for you. But this (death) is a matter that cannot be reversed, nor is it possible to prevent it. May my father and my mother die for you; do remember us with your Lord and keep us in your mind (1)”.
Amir al-Mu’minin (PBUH) bade farewell to the holy body of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) with these words. During the 23 years of preaching his mission, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) suffered a lot, did not give up, and even offered his life(2) in the way of guiding the people. Then, even though his soul has flown to the heavens, his eyes are still anxious about the nation…
Amir al-Mu’minin (PBUH) has described the anxiety of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) as such, ”Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) said to me, ‘I do fear neither the believers nor the pagans for my nation. As for the believers, Allah (SWT) will protect them due to their belief. As for the pagans, Allah (SWT) will ruin them for their paganism. However, I fear the hypocrite whose tongues contradict their hearts. They say what pleases you and act what you disregard (3)”.
The Holy Quran absolutely approves this concern of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) to the extent that it thoroughly discusses about the hypocrites and refers to them in numerous verses. The Holy Quran has revealed the moral vices, lies, deceits, and seditions of the hypocrites; it has described the seditions they provoked against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) and the Muslims. Moreover, in some verses of the Holy Quran, Allah (SWT) has severely threatened the hypocrites to seal their hearts, cover their ears and eyes, deprive them from His light of guidance, let them alone in darkness, so that they would not find the way to salvation, and place them in the lowest levels of the Hell in the Hereafter. This punishment is for nothing but the harms they do against Islam and the Muslims, and the animosity they have towards them.
The intrigues and conspiracies of the hypocrites became apparent soon after Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) had migrated to Medina. That is why the Holy Quran has referred to their plots and conspiracies in various Chapters. Examples of such conspiracies include their refusal to join the army of Muslims in the battle of Uhud (they were almost one third of the army), signing a treaty with the Jews (4), building the mosque of Dirar (5), spreading the story of Ifk(6), planning to assassinate Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP)(7), and etc. They made so much corruption and disorganized the affairs of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) that Allah (SWT) threatened them in the following verse:
“If the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, and those who spread false news among the people in Medina, cease not, We shall certainly let you overpower them, then they will not be able to stay in it as your neighbors but a little while. Accursed, wherever found, they shall be seized and murdered, a (horrible) murdering (8)”.
An important and crucial question rises here: How is it that after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP), there is no mention of the hypocrites and their conspiracies in the history? Did they get rid of their hypocrisy after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP)? Or did those who welcomed the difficulties of the Muslims and constantly prevented the progresses of Islamic community change their viewpoints suddenly after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) and gave up their hypocrisy?
Was the cease of the signs of hypocrisy after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) because all the hypocrites converted to true Islam, gained a genuine belief, and were moved by the demise of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) in a sense they were not moved during his life? Or was it because after the demise of Prophet or even before that, they reached a deal (gave something and earned another) with those in power?
Perhaps if we look carefully into the incidents which happened towards the end of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH&HP) life and after his demise, we may come up with the answers to these questions…
(The above is a selection taken from “Tafsir al-Mizan”, by Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Hussain Tabataba’ei (with some changes))
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Footnotes:
1. These are the words said by Amir al-Mu’minin (PBUH) when he was busy in the funeral ablution of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP), quoted from Nahj al-Balaghah, Sermon 235.
2. “Perhaps you will kill yourself because they do not believe.”, The Holy Quran, (26:3)
3. Nahj al-Balaghah, an excerpt from Letter 27.
4. For further information, please refer to Tafsir al-Mizan, discussion of the beginning verses of Chapter 59 of the Holy Quran.
5. The hypocrites built a mosque called “The Mosque of Dirar”, which served as a place for their gatherings and meetings and to distract people from the Mosque of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) (Masjid al-Nabi). However, in the 107th verse of Chapter 10 of the Holy Quran, Allah (SWT) has referred to this mosque as a center for conspiracy against Islam, and revealed their plot (for further information, please refer to Tafsir al-Mizan, discussion of the aforementioned verse).
6. In this incident, the hypocrites accused one of the wives of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) for misconduct. Allah (SWT) has mentioned this incident in verse 11 and 12 of Chapter 24 of the Holy Quran (for further information, please refer to Tafsir al-Mizan, discussion of these verses).
7. According to narrations from authentic Shia and Sunni sources, on the final years of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH&HP) life, a number of the hypocrites decided in a meeting to assassinate Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) in order to achieve their inauspicious goals. Therefore, they hid in a strait overlooking a deep valley in the path of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP), and planned to assassinate him by throwing rocks to stampede his camel. However, Allah (SWT) neutralized their conspiracy and revealed the identity of these hypocrites to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) and one of his companions. (Among the Sunni references, the following have mentioned this incident: Musnad Ahmad, vol. 5, p. 453; Majma’ al-Zawa’id, vol. 1, p. 110; Maghazi Waqidi, vol. 3, p. 1042; Tafsir Durr al-Manthur, vol. 3, pp. 258-259, Tafsir Qurtubi, vol. 8, p. 207…)
8. The Holy Quran, If the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease (evil desire for adultery, etc.), and those who spread false news among the people in Al-Madinah, cease not, We shall certainly let you overpower them, then they will not be able to stay in it as your neighbours but a little while. Accursed, wherever found, they shall be seized and killed with a (terrible) slaughter.(33:60-61)