The Thematic Analysis of the Political Denotation of The Verses on Hypocrisy in Surah Towba

Surah Towba in the Quran seeks to recognize the social challenges and specifies nifāq (literally, ‘hypocrisy’) as one of its thematic axes. This is because as the history attests wherever Islam is on the scene, hypocrisy also exists and influences the Islamic societies. This article attempts to analyze the political denotations of the verses on ‘hypocrisy’ in Surah Towba in the Quran and investigate its themes in this regard. In analyzing the findings of this article, we have used the method of thematic analysis, dealing with the explanation of dimensions of hypocrisy in Surah Towba upon reaching the network of the themes of hypocrisy. By applying this method, we obtained 16 basic themes on hypocrisy, 5 organizing themes, and 2 overarching themes. On the whole, the political themes of Surah Towba related to hypocrisy were extracted in two aspects of ‘characteristics of hypocrites’, with three subcategories of ‘nature of hypocrisy’ (difference between one’s outer and inner sides, being multilayer); individual characteristics of hypocrites (escape from the field of truth, justifying and overhanging, lying, perpetual fear of disgrace, pretending religiosity and piety, seeking worldly desires and welfare); and the characteristics of a hypocrite in the society (propaganda and psychological warfare, betrayal, enjoining evil and forbidding good, having organization and a base, casting doubts among believers). Also, the ways of treating a hypocrite were extracted in two spheres of intellectual-doctrinal treatment (disclosure) and physical contact (depravity and social boycott, fighting and jihad).