(259) Chapter: Condemnation of Double-faced People

Muhammad bin Zaid reported:
Some people said to my grandfather, 'Abdullah bin 'Umar (May Allah be pleased with them): We visit our rulers and tell them things contrary to what we say when we leave them. 'Abdullah bin 'Umar (May Allah be pleased with them) replied: "In the days of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), we counted this act as an act of hypocrisy."

[Al-Bukhari].

Commentary: This Hadith points out that to praise the rulers in their presence and to condemn them in their absence amounts to practical hypocrisy because what one has in his heart does not find expression in his speech, and what one expresses in his words does not agree with what one has in his heart. The conduct of a true Muslim should be that if a ruler is noble, just and pious, he should admire him even in his presence (when there arises a need for it, and not for the sake of flattering him) and he should also praise him in his absence. If the ruler is bad, he should warn him of the evil consequences of his bad conduct to his face, and the same attitude should be maintained when he is not present because this is the well-meaning attitude which has been ordained to every Muslim. Against this, the attitude of the first kind is a mark of hypocrisy which has been strongly condemned in the preceding Hadith.