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Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in Surah as-Saf يَأَيُّهَاالَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوالِمَتَقُولُونَ مَالَاتَفْعَلُونَ (ya ayyuha allatheena amanoolima taqooloona ma la tafAAaloon) كَبُرَمَقْتًاعِندَاللَّهِ أَن تَقُولُواْمَالَاتَفْعَلُونَ (kabura maqtan AAinda Allahi antaqooloo ma la tafAAaloon) - Believers, why do you profess that which you do not practice? كَبُرَمَقْتًاعِندَاللَّهِ (kabura maqtan AAinda Allahi) - it's the most detestful thing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that you profess that which you do not practice. So, in this ayah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is warning against saying what we don't practice, or just doing things that we don't really preach, and so on. This is a very dangerous thing, specifically when you say things that you know you don't practice yourselves. When you invite people to qiyam al-layl and you don't do qiyam al-layl yourself. You ask people to fast on Monday's and Thursday's, and you don't do that yourself. You tell people to wake up for Fajr, and you're always oversleeping for Fajr. Then you start feeling and wondering if this is hypocrisy. How can we balance activism with a personal schedule in our lives?
Alhamdulilah, Allah created us as human beings, not angels, and we cannot accept ourselves to be perfect. The only example of perfection that we should look for is the human perfection. Human perfection is that you expect mistakes and errors, and the way you fix that error is by repenting to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Part of the human perfection is the struggle over and over again. In one of our presentations, we spoke about trials. You're going to be in constant trials, and you will deal with challenges. I don't want you to be disheartened by this feeling of hypocrisy. This feeling of hypocrisy is really coming from shaytaan. He's very clever. As the Prophet (salla Allahu alay-hi wa-salam) described shaytaan by saying that the wolf preys only on the stray sheep. Meaning, shaytaan is just like the wolf that looks into the flock, and they see the weakest and they try to pry in between to make one of these sheeps go astray, and then they attack it. That's exactly what shaytaan is trying to do with you. He's trying to take you away by those feelings of �doubts in your mind and your heart. "I'm a hypocrite, I'm not genuine, I'm not this or that..." Eventually, it will lead you to stop doing that good deed that you're doing.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah) was asked about this ayah, and he gave a beautiful understanding for this. He says, this ayah was applied to those who lie about what they do, so it's pure hypocrisy, meaning you keep preaching something, and deep in your heart you're happy with not really doing what you preach. Meaning, people are happy with their sins, happy with their bad life style, and so forth, and they only show off their good deeds. This ayah applies to those type of people. But if you're that person who is struggling so much to maintain a good and healthy spiritual lifestyle, but on the way they trip here and there, they fall and make mistakes, and they keep struggling.
The Messenger of Allah (sallAllahu alayhi wa salam) said if you are pleased by your good deeds, and you're saddened by your bad deeds, that's a sign of belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
