Sunday, 1 April 2012

April fool and lying




Praise be to Allaah, we praise Him and seek His help and forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allaah from the evil of our own selves and from our evil deeds. Whomsoever Allaah guides, none can lead astray, and whomsoever He sends astray, none can guide.

Lying is an evil characteristic, which all religions and systems of ethics warn against and which man's innate common sense (fitrah) agrees that it is wrong.

There is a never a day or a moment when sharee’ah permits a person to tell lies or to say whatever he wants based on lies. One of the things that have become widespread among the common people is the so called “April Fool’s Day”, where they claim that the first day of the fourth solar month is a day when lying is permitted without being subject to any shar’i guidelines.

The prohibition of lying.
“It is only those who believe not in the Ayaat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allaah, who fabricate falsehood, and it is they who are liars
[al-Nahl 16:105] 

This is the excuse that they use for telling lies on April 1st or on other days. This is wrong. Lying is haraam whether the one who does it is joking or is serious.

It was narrated that Ibn ‘Umar said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, ‘I joke, but I speak nothing but the truth.’”

(narrated by al-Tabaraani in al-Mu’jam al-Kabeer, 12/391) 

It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah said: “They said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah, you joke with us.’ He said, ‘But I only speak the truth.’”

(narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 1990) 

‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Abi Laylaa said: the companions of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us that they were travelling with the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). A man among them fell asleep and some of them went and took his arrows. When the man woke up, he got alarmed (because his arrows were missing) and the people laughed. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “What are you laughing at?” They said, “Nothing, except that we took the arrows and he got alarmed.” The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “It is not permissible for a Muslim to frighten another Muslim.”

(Narrated by Abu Dawood, 5004; Ahmad, 22555 – this version narrated by Ahmad)

Lying to make people laugh
It was narrated that Mu’aawiyah ibn Haydah said: “I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: ‘Woe to the one who talks to make the people laugh and tells lies, woe to him, woe to him.’”
(narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 235. He said: this is a hasan hadeeth. Also narrated by Abu Dawood, 4990). 

The punishment for lying:

  It was narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood said:
“The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Truthfulness is righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise. A person will continue to tell the truth until he is written with Allaah as one who tells the truth. Lying is evildoing, and evildoing leads to Hell. A person will keep on telling lies until he is written as a liar.’”
(Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5743; Muslim, 2607) 

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And on the Day of Resurrection you will see those who lied against Allaah (i.e. attributed to Him sons, partners) their faces will be black”[al-Zumar 39:60] 

It was narrated that Samurah ibn Jundub (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him  said during mihraj they came to a man who was lying flat on his back and another man standing over his head with an iron hook, and behold, he would put the hook in one side of the man's mouth and tear off that side of his face to the back (of the neck) and similarly tear his nose from front to back and his eye from front to back. Then he turned to the other side of the man's face and did just as he had done with the other side. Hardly had he completed this side when the first side was restored to its normal state. Then he went back and did that all over again. I said to my two companions, 'Subhaan Allah! Who are these two persons?' They said to me, ‘Move on, move on!' (Then he said, describing how the two angels explained the things that he had seen): ‘As for the man you came across, the sides of whose mouth, nostrils and eyes were being torn off from front to back, he is the symbol of the man who goes out of his house in the morning and tells so many lies that it spreads all over the world.’”

(Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5745)







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