The questioner said: "I am a young Salafī and Allāh has granted me the blessing of seeking knowledge, praise be to Him. However, sometimes when I am alone, I disobey my Lord. Is this hypocrisy? And what is the way to abandon this?"
Response by Shaykh ‘Abdullāh al-Bukhārī:
We have mentioned several times that a person must hold himself accountable and instill fear of Allāh within himself, and he must realise that Allāh ﷻ is aware of him and sees him: {Allāh knows the fraud of the eyes, and all that the breasts conceal.} (40:19) And He ﷻ says, {Truly, nothing is hidden from Allāh, in the earth or in the heaven.} (3:5) He ﷻ also says, {Should not He Who has created know? And He is the Most Kind and Courteous (to His slaves), All-Aware (of everything).} (67:14)
Thus, a person must keep this in mind, remember it, and be filled with love for Allāh ﷻ, loving Him more than oneself, one’s children, and all the people. They should also hope in Him, the Exalted and Mighty, while fearing Allāh, a fear that makes you run towards Him, not away from Him! {So flee to Allāh..} (51:50) When someone fears something, they run away from it; however, if you fear Allāh, you run towards Him. As I said, the closer you are to Allāh, the further you are from the things that anger Him.
It is a belief of the Ahlus-Sunnah wa al-Jamā’ah that faith increases with obedience and decreases with disobedience, right? This is established and written down. This is not just a theory that you write down, but also a practice that you should implement!
“When you find yourself alone one day, do not say "I am alone", but say "I have a Watcher over me."”
“And how many a disgraceful act has kept me from committing it except for modesty? It was the remedy for it, but if modesty departs, there is no remedy.”
My brother, remember that Allāh ﷻ is aware of you. Here lies the true struggle (mujāhadah) in restraining the self and its aspirations and desires, curbing them with the truth.
To this brother who asked that question, we say: he must be close to Allāh, renew his repentance and return to Him, the Exalted, and hope in Him. He should stand before Him, the Exalted, in the last third of the night, for He, the Exalted, says, {Is not He (better than your gods) Who responds to the distressed one, when he calls on Him..} (27:62) So he should call upon Him ﷻ and hope in Him, while striving against himself to abandon these actions he may fall into. By Allāh’s permission, if he is sincere and truthful with Allāh, he will find the sweetness of distancing himself from these destructive evils. We ask Allāh for well-being and safety. There is no power and no strength except with Allāh!
Translation: Yasin ibn Jamal
Source: see attached audio file (mp3)