Saturday, 3 April 2010

The Prohibition of Lying

Assalamu Alaikkum,

Lying is an evil characteristic, which all religions and systems of ethics warn against and which man's innate nature (fitrah) agrees that it is wrong. Those who possess chivalry and sound reason also say this. Our purely monotheistic sharee‘ah warns against lying in the Qur`aan and Sunnah, and there is consensus that it is haraam. The liar will have bad consequences in this world and in the next.

April Fool's Day!
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. Many bad things may result from this, and we will mention some of these.

Who is a Liar:
Allaah,the Exalted says in His Noble Quran : “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” [ Surah alNahl (16):105].
“Allaah tells us that His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is not a fabricator or a liar, because only the most evil of people who do not believe in the signs of Allaah, the kaafirs and heretics who are known amongst the people for telling lies, tell lies about Allaah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). The Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was the most truthful of people, the most righteous, the most perfect in knowledge, action, faith and certain belief. He was known amongst his people for his truthfulness. Hence when Heraclius, the ruler of Rome, asked Abu Sufyaan about the characteristics of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), one of the things he asked was, ‘Did you ever accuse him of lying before he said what he said?’ He said, ‘No.’ Heraclius said: ‘If he refrained from telling lies about people he would not go and tell lies about Allaah [Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 2/588].

Also, Allaah's Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The signs of the hypocrite are three: when he speaks, he lies; when he makes a promise, he breaks it; and when he is entrusted with something, he betrays that trust.”[ alBukhaari 33; Muslim 59].


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