عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ زَيْدٍ: أَنَّ نَاسًا قَالُوا لِجَدِّهِ عَبْدِ اللّهِ بْنِ عُمَرَ رَضِيَ اللّهُ عَنْهُمَا: إِنَّا نَدْخُلُ عَلَى سُلْطَانِنَا فَنَقُولُ لَهُمْ بِخِلافِ مَا نَتَكَلَّمُ إِذَا خَرَجْنَا مِنْ عِنْدِهِمْ؟ قَالَ: كُنَّا نَعُدُّ هَذَا نِفَاقًا عَلَى عَهْدِ رَسُولِ اللّهِ صَلَّى اللّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. رَوَاهُ الْبُخَارِيُّ.
Muhammad ibn Zayd reported that some people said to his grandfather Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both): "We enter upon our rulers and say to them the opposite of what we say when we leave their presence." He said: "In the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) we used to count this as hypocrisy." Reported by al-Bukhari.
الشرح · explanation
سلاطيننا: أي أصحاب الولاية علينا. نقول لهم بخلاف ما نتكلم إذا خرجنا من عندهم: أي نثني عليهم بحضورهم، ونذمهم إذا خرجنا. كنا نعد هذا نفاقًا: أي نفاقًا في العمل.
"our rulers": that is, those who hold authority over us. "we say to them the opposite of what we say when we leave their presence": that is, we praise them in their presence and disparage them once we have left. "we used to count this as hypocrisy": that is, hypocrisy in one's conduct.
الدروس · lessons
الصدق في الحضرة والغيبة شأن المؤمنين الصادقين، أما المدح عند الحضور والذم بعد الخروج فهو شأن الجبناء المنافقين. المسلم يبذل النصيحة للحاكم، ولا يذل له لقاء منفعة زائلة.
Truthfulness in a person's presence and absence is the way of the truthful believers, whereas praise in their presence and disparagement after leaving is the way of cowardly hypocrites. The Muslim offers sincere counsel to the ruler and does not debase himself before him in exchange for some fleeting benefit.