Hypocritical Khushu’

The difference between (true) khushu` engendered by faith and the hypocritical khushu` is that the former takes place in the heart to Allah and is conduced by veneration, magnification, sobriety, dignity, and shyness. The heart breaks for Allah, combining dread, bashfulness, love, and shyness with the perception of Allah’s blessings and one’s own transgressions. This necessarily engenders khushu` in the heart which is then followed by khushu` on the limbs.

Hypocritical khushu`, on the other hand, appears on the limbs; it is a mere pretence, the person affecting something that is not there since the heart is void of khushu`. One of the Companions would say, ‘I take refuge with Allah from hypocritical khushu`.’ When asked what it was, he replied, ‘That you see the body humble and submissive while the heart is not.’[1]

The one who has khushu` for the sake of Allah is a servant, in the breast of whom the flames of desires have abated and their smoke has dissipated, replacing in their stead radiance. The blaze of the greatness (of Allah) has been ignited, and the lusts of the soul have died in the face of fear and sobriety which have, in turn, stilled the limbs and quietened the heart. The heart is content and at peace with Allah, and it remembers Him; engulfed in the effusion of tranquillity descending from its Lord, it becomes meek and humble (mukhbit). The heart which is meek is the heart which is at peace and rest for the land which is mukhbit is land which is low-lying to which water flows and settles. The same applies to the heart: when it is mukhbit, i.e. it has achieved khusha`, it becomes like this piece of low-laying land to which water flows and settles.

The sign of such a heart is that (its owner) will prostrate before Allah out of magnification and abject humility, broken before Him, never (desiring) to raise his head till the day he meets Him. This is the khushu` engendered by faith.

The arrogant heart, on the other hand, heaves and swells in its arrogance like a fast flowing river. It is like an elevated portion of the land at which water never settles. This is hypocritical khushu`: the person feigns quietude and affects stillness of limb by way of ostentation. In reality, his soul is raging with lusts and desires; outwardly he displayskhushu`, but inwardly the valley serpent and jungle lion lurk between his shoulders, waiting to pounce on the prey.