“𝘼𝙙𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨!”
He replied: “𝗜 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳.”
Hasan al Basri said: “𝙈𝙖𝙮 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙮 𝙤𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪! 𝙒𝙝𝙤 𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙨 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙨? 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙮𝙩𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙖𝙡—𝙗𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙗𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙡.”
Source: Tafsir al-Qurtubi (2/368)
The fear of hypocrisy should not prevent a person from calling to righteousness, as long as they are striving to improve themselves.