How Do You Say 'hypocrite' In Persian? (Monafegh)

Quranic word used by the state as code for the MEK opposition. The 1988 prison massacres targeted those labelled monâfeghin.

Editorial note

What it means

Monâfegh is Arabic for hypocrite. The Quran names the monâfeghin as those who professed Islam outwardly while opposing the Prophet inwardly. Iranian state vocabulary has narrowed the word to a single target: members and sympathizers of the Mojâhedin-e Khalq (MEK).

The mechanics

Refusing to use the MEK's actual name is a deliberate choice that strips political legitimacy from the group. Monâfegh travels with hokm-e shar'i (religious ruling) rhetoric that frames execution as a religious obligation rather than a state action. The 1988 prison massacres operated on exactly this rhetorical machinery.

In our voice

The MEK is itself a controversial organization with its own record of violence, but the state's vocabulary is not a neutral description. Calling several thousand executed prisoners monâfeghin instead of human beings is the rhetorical step that made the killings administratively possible. We document the word because the 1988 file is still open.

Why this is in the glossary

Monâfegh sits at the center of one of the most consequential mass-killing episodes in post-revolution Iran. The word still appears in current state media. Recognizing it is part of reading Iranian history at the level of what the state called its victims.

Slur rationale

Who deploys this slurSupreme Leader's office, Friday prayer leaders, judiciary, state TV, IRGC media; historically the death-commission judges including the late Ebrahim RaisiWho it targetsMEK members and family, in 1988 also a broader population of leftist political prisoners who were swept into the same executions. Family members of executed prisoners still face restrictions on grieving publicly or visiting unmarked mass-grave sites such as Khâvarân.Why we glossarize itMonâfegh is the keyword to a still-unaccounted-for mass killing and to ongoing restrictions on the families of the killed. Documenting the word is documenting the linguistic step that made the violence administrable.

منافق

monafegh

hypocrite, state code for MEK opposition

nounb1

Quick Reference

Pronunciationmo-NA-fegh

Meaninghypocrite, state code for MEK opposition

Levelb1

⚫ SLUR. Quranic word the state uses as code for MEK opposition. The 1988 mass executions targeted those labelled monâfeghin.

منافق (monâfegh) is Arabic for hypocrite. The Quran names the monâfeghin as those who claimed to be Muslim outwardly while opposing the Prophet inwardly, and the category carries severe theological weight. In modern Iran the state vocabulary has narrowed the word to a single political target: the Mojâhedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Islamic-leftist opposition group that fought alongside the revolution and then broke with Khomeini in 1981. State media never calls the MEK by its name; it calls them monâfeghin. The 1988 prison massacres, in which thousands of leftist political prisoners were executed in a months-long secret process, targeted people the state classified as monâfeghin. Ebrahim Raisi, who served on one of the death commissions and was president 2021-2024, defended the killings as religiously sanctioned.

Sources

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Dictionary references

Connected Words

منافق

monafegh

کبوتر

kabutar

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