Allah, in the first twenty verses of the Surah al-Baqarah in the Holy Qur'an, points out that people are divided into three main groups. This division is not based on race, colour, gender, language, physical appearance, or any similar criteria, but rather on faith. It is only from this perspective that people gain value and honour or lose their value and honour.
We refer to these three main groups as ‘believers,’ ‘disbelievers,’ and ‘hypocrites.’ In the first verses of Surah Al-Baqarah, they are listed and described as ‘the righteous,’ ‘the deniers,’ and ‘those who say they believe but do not.’ However, later on, in numerous verses throughout the Qur'an, these groups are described in detail under the names ‘believers,’ ‘disbelievers,’ and ‘hypocrites.’
The subject of believers, disbelievers, and hypocrites is extremely important in Islam. This is because this subject must be thoroughly understood in order to recognise and evaluate people, to understand them and to behave accordingly. Ultimately, our religion determines how we should behave towards believers, disbelievers and hypocrites as Muslims. For this reason, we try to understand who is a believer, who is a disbeliever and who is a hypocrite. Therefore, we use the standards provided to us by the verses and hadiths. This work is an effort to present those standards as clearly as possible.
Since the first verses of the Holy Qur'an mention believers first, then disbelievers, and finally hypocrites, we will follow this order and discuss believers first.
