al-Baqara 2:8-20 — The hypocrites

This is the longest section in the opening of the sūra. The Qurʾān does not dispose of this type with a ruling; it describes it step by step, then paints it with two long comparisons.

"Among the people are some who say 'we believe in God and in the last day'; yet they are not believers."

The section begins with "among the people are some". No name is given. This will be kept to the end of the sūra: the Qurʾān describes this group, it does not expose it. And there is a reason for this — a description lasts, an exposure passes. Had names been given, the text would have been buried in history along with those persons.

Note: the sentence they utter is in the form "we have believed". Faith is given as a word. The verse's reply comes by way of their state: "they are not believers". This gap between word and condition is the subject of the whole section.

One further detail: they say "in God and in the last day" — the beginning and the end of the chain. What lies between, that is, the prophet and the revelation, is absent from their sentence. Some exegetes count this a fine indication: it is easy to believe in what is abstract and distant; the hard thing is to comply with the concrete call in front of you.

"They try to deceive God and those who believe; but they deceive only themselves, and they do not perceive it."

The root of خدع: to hide, to conceal, to keep covered. Deception, in this root, is "to show a thing as other than it is". The verb is in the mufāʿala pattern (yukhādiʿūna) — it conveys reciprocity and effort: they set about deceiving.

The turn of the sentence is hard: the attempt at deception does not reach its target, it comes back on them. The reason is simple — deception requires a gap in the other party's knowledge. Since there can be no such gap before God, the only real effect of the attempt is that the person hides his own condition from himself.

وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ — "they do not perceive". Root sh-ʿ-r: to perceive the finest thing. From the same root come shaʿr (hair) and shāʿir (poet) — the poet is given this name because he perceives what is fine. The verse does not say "they do not know"; it says "they do not notice it even with the finest perception". That is the definition of self-deception: to be unable to perceive that one is being deceived.

"In their hearts is a disease; and God has increased their disease."

For the unbelievers the image was a seal; for the hypocrites it is disease. The change of metaphor is meaningful:

• A sealed vessel is closed — the situation is fixed.
• But a diseased body is alive; it is neither healthy nor dead. It functions, but it functions faultily. And by the definition of disease it has a direction: it either heals or advances.

The verse states the second direction: "He increased it". A disease left untreated does not stay where it is. This increase too, like the seal in the previous verse, is the consequence of choice.

"When they are told 'do not spread corruption in the earth', they say 'we are only putting things right'. Take note! It is they who are the corrupters, but they do not perceive it."

These two verses are the most modern-seeming place in the whole section.

What is said is this: the corrupter does not define himself as a corrupter. He defines himself as a reformer. The great majority of evil is done not with the intention of doing evil but with the claim of putting right. Almost every great destruction in history had a programme of reform.

The root of فسد: to be spoilt, to rot, to lose its balance — a thing's going out of its own order. صلح, by contrast: to be fitting, to be in its right place, to be repaired. From the same root come ṣulḥ (peace) and ṣāliḥ. Both notions presuppose that an order exists: fasād is the spoiling of an order, iṣlāḥ the setting of it back in place.

The answer is not "no, you are spoiling things"; it is "it is they who are the corrupters, but they do not perceive it". The issue, that is, is not lying but the inability to see one's own condition. This is the heavier diagnosis: the liar knows, this man does not.

"When they are told 'believe as the people have believed', they say 'shall we believe as the fools believe?' Take note! It is they who are the fools, but they do not know."

The root of سفه: lightness. To come out light on the scale, to have no weight. From the same root comes safīh — light of mind, unable to manage himself. The Qurʾān also uses this word as a legal term for a person unable to manage his own property (al-Nisāʾ 4/5).

The attitude here is familiar: to look down on the believers, to place oneself above them. The verse's answer turns the same word back.

The fine difference at the end of the two verses. Verse 12 ends with "lā yashʿurūn" (they do not perceive), verse 13 with "lā yaʿlamūn" (they do not know). The change of word is not idle:

• Corruption is something that cannot be perceived — because it presents itself in the dress of reform; diagnosing it requires a fine perception.
• Foolishness is something that cannot be known — because the instrument by which a person would measure his own mind is that same mind.

"When they meet those who believe they say 'we believe'; when they are alone with their satans they say 'we are with you, we were only mocking'. God mocks them, and leaves them floundering in their excess."

The portrait is completed here: two settings, two languages. The personality changes with the setting, because there is no fixed centre.

The root of طُغْيَان (ṭughyān) is ṭ-gh-y: to overflow, to go beyond bounds. The Qurʾān uses this word for the overflowing of water as well: "When the water overflowed" (al-Ḥāqqa 69/11). Ṭughyān is not fitting inside one's vessel.

يَعْمَهُونَ — root ʿ-m-h. This is not blindness (ʿamā); it is to flounder having lost one's direction. A blind man knows he does not see and acts accordingly; the ʿāmih supposes that he sees, and goes round in a circle. The second is more dangerous, because he asks for no help.

"Those are the ones who have bought straying at the price of guidance. This transaction brought them no profit, and they did not find the way."

Here the Qurʾān moves into Mecca's own language: buying, selling, profit, loss. Mecca was a merchant city; measure, the reckoning of profit, the notion of capital were part of daily speech. The Qurʾān uses this language often — the khusr (loss) of Sūrat al-ʿAṣr, the address in Sūrat al-Ṣaff, "shall I show you a trade that will save you", all come from the same vein.

The description of the transaction must be read carefully: they gave guidance and took straying. That is, they had something in their hands and they let it go. This shows that straying is placed not as "never having had" but as "trading away what one held".