Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah

Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Companions came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: “O Messenger of Allah! By the Lord of the Ka‘bah, we have perished.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: “How is that?” They said: “We fear hypocrisy and double-facedness.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Do you not bear witness that Allah is the only true deity and that I am the Messenger of Allah?” They said: “Of course.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “That is not hypocrisy.” They repeated their statement, saying: “O Messenger of Allah! By the Lord of the Ka‘bah, we have perished.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: “How is that?” They said: “We fear hypocrisy, hypocrisy.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Do you not bear witness that Allah is the only true deity and that I am the Messenger of Allah?” They said: “Of course.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “That is not hypocrisy.” They repeated this a third time, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave the same reply: “That is not hypocrisy.” They explained in detail, saying: “O Messenger of Allah! When we are with you, we are in a particular (religious) state, but when we leave your presence, the world and its people make us sorrowful and worried.” The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “If you were to remain in the same (Islamic) state after leaving me as you are in my gathering, then the angels would shake hands with you in the streets of Madinah.”