If he speaks of it again...

If he speaks of it again, it will be omitted and “hypocrisy” shall be written for him.”[^7] There are many traditions on hypocrisy, but the following is a story related by Sayyed Jaza’iri: “Some man, who was used to hypocrisy, said to himself: ‘I would better go to the so-and-so mosque in the outskirt of the city and offer the prayer there, in order not to be seen. When he reached the mosque, he began offering prayer until it got dark.

He was offering prayer when he heard the sound of the opening of the door. He became happy saying to himself: ‘Thanks to God, I was seen here while offering prayer.’ He prolonged his prayer until dawn. When it was morning and somehow clear, he saw a black dog that had found refuge in the mosque from rain! He said to himself: ‘Alas!

Even one night that I wished to pray for the sake of God, I actually prayed for the black dog.”[^8] It has been narrated that a worshipper had to re-offer his prayers that he had offered for thirty years. He always attended the congregational prayer in the first row. One day when he failed to take part in the prayer on time, he became annoyed. He came to know that all his prayers had been affected by hypocrisy. [^1]: Qur'an, 107:4-7. [^2]: Qur'an, 4:142. [^3]: Qur'an, 2:264. [^4]: Qur'an, 8:47.

[^5]: Wasa’il al-Shiah, vol. 1, p. 51 [^6]: Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 69, p. 301. [^7]: Ibid., p. 324. [^8]: Anwar al-Nomaniah, p. 251. Previous…