Lying in Islam
by Haroon Saadiq Following are verses from The Holy Quran that throw light upon the issue of lying.
" And those who do not bear witness to lies, and if they
pass by some evil talk, they pass by it with dignity " [Al-Qur'an 25:72]"... So shun the abomination of idols, and shun lying speech " [Al-Qur'an 22:30]
And according to a hadeeth narrated by Abu Bakra, Allah's Apostle said thrice:
" 'Shall I not inform you of the biggest of the great sins?' We said ' Yes, O Allah's Apostle '. He said, ' To join partners in worship with Allah, To be undutiful to one's parents '. The prophet sat up after he had been reclining and added, ' And I warn you against giving forged statements and a false witness; I warn you against giving forged statements and a false witness '. The Prophet kept on saying that till we thought that he would not stop " [Bukhari, Book of Good Manners]
Thus it is quite evident from The Quran and Sunnah that lying is amongst the greatest sins. So can a Muslim be a liar? Of course not! But what about Muslims like us. Do we lie or not?
Types of Lying
Lying can be grouped into three categories, namely:
- Lying against Allah
- Lying against the Prophet
- Lying with common people
1. Lying Against Allah
This is the worst type of lying. The Holy Quran says:
" And who can be more unjust than he who invents a lie against Allah, or says: ' A revelation has come to me ' whereas no revelation has come to him in anything; and who says, ' I will reveal the like of what Allah has revealed' ..." [6:93]
According to this verse, one type of lying against Allah is to say, "Revelation has come to me" whereas no revelation has come. And very close to this would be to say that "I am the Prophet of Allah" but actually he is not. There have been individuals with such claims, but instead of rebuking them, some people accepted them as religious leaders and faith healers.
Some associate partners with Allah and some make humans as sons of Allah and say that this is the truth revealed by Allah. In reality these are all lies invented against Allah. And praise be to Allah who is far from the foul of polytheism which people practice.
Some are trapped in this type of lying but are ignorant about it. For e.g. see the large no of sects based on the names of various scholars and cities, which people have invented in Islam. Each one says that his sect is the right one and is according to the Quran and Sunnah, but the truth is that The Quran only orders people to obey Allah and His Prophet and does not approve of any other submission apart from this. One might quote the verse, which says that Quran has ordered to obey those amongst you who are in authority. For that it should be very clear that according to Allah's law, one may obey a ruling authority only when it is ruling according to the sayings of Allah and His Prophet. If the command is other than this then they are not to be obeyed.
Some alter the original Book of Allah with their own words and say that it is from God (Allah) and some preach religion in a way, so as to give the impression that it is according to Quran and from Allah but actually it is not like that. The Holy Quran says:
" And verily, among them is a party who distort the Book with their tongues (as they read), so that you may think it is from the Book, but it is not from the Book. And they say, ' This is from Allah ', but it is not from Allah. And they speak a lie against Allah while they know it " [3:78]
There is another group who refrains from what Allah has allowed to take benefit of. For e.g. these people would not get married thinking that it is an act of piety, etc. Instead of reproving them, some people have taken them as religious vanguards. Worst scenario is that when some people refrain themselves and forbid others, not only from what Allah has allowed, but in fact from what Allah has commanded or what the Prophet has commanded to do. Allah says in the Quran:
" Indeed they have suffered loss, those who have killed their children foolishly without knowing, and have forbidden that which Allah has provided for them, inventing a lie against Allah. They have indeed gone astray and were not guided " [6:140]
Regarding penalty for such an act i.e. lying against Allah, The Holy Quran says:
"... And if you could but see when the Zalimun (polytheists and the wrong-doers) are in the agonies of death, while the angels are stretching forth their hands (saying): ' Deliver your souls! This day you shall be recompensed with the torment of degradation because of what you used to utter against Allah other than the truth. And you used to reject His Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) with arrogance!'." [6:93]
And at another place The Quran says:
" And on the Day of Resurrection you will see those who lied against Allah - their faces will be black. Is there not in Hell an abode for the arrogant? " [39:60]
2. Lying Against the Prophet
The second type of lying is to lie against the Prophet. It is also a great sin. Lying against the Prophet means to say something on behalf of the Prophet, which the Prophet never said. For e.g. The Prophet of Allah Isa (Jesus - peace be upon him) never asked anyone to worship him or his mother or that he was a son of God. But there are people who hold these polytheistic beliefs, and for authenticating their faith, ascribe this towards Isa (Jesus - peace be upon him). The Holy Quran says:
" And behold! God will say, O Jesus the son of Mary! Did you say unto men, ' Worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of Allah?'. He will say, Glory to you. Never could I say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, You would indeed have known it. You know what is in my heart, though I know not what is in Yours. For you know in full what is hidden " [5:116]
The last Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:
"... Whoever tells a lie against me intentionally then (surely)
let him occupy his seat in Hell-fire " [Bukhari - Book of Knowledge]
It is important to know why anyone would ascribe something towards the Prophet, which he never said? The answer that comes to mind is simple i.e. to prove oneself right or to take advantage of the Prophet's decision in one's favor.
Regarding this act the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:
" You people present your cases to me and some of you may be more eloquent and persuasive in presenting their argument. So, if I give someone's right to another (wrongly) because of the latter's (tricky) presentation of the case, I am really giving him a piece of fire; so he should not take it " [Bukhari - Book of Witnesses]
So what about narrating fabricated ahadeeth (sayings) ascribed towards the Prophet, to prove the authenticity of one's erroneous religious beliefs or man made religious sects? Is it not the same as ascribing lies towards the Prophet? One should not even narrate weak ahadeeth, in order to avoid the possibility of ascribing doubtful statements towards the Prophet. But who listens! No one is interested in the truth. To support one's sect, people narrate weak ahadeeth in the presence of Sahih (correct) ahadeeth!
Allah says in The Quran:
" Of those who split up their religion and became
sects, each sect is rejoicing in that which is with it " [30:32]
3. Lying With Common People
This third type is the one that impinges on human rights i.e. "Haqooq ul Ibaad", since by lying people are deceived and deception is one form of violation of human rights. Regarding the importance of human rights, following hadeeth alone would Insha Allah be sufficient to throw light upon the subject.
" Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) as saying: Do you know who is poor? They (the companions of the Holy Prophet) said: A poor man amongst us is one who has neither dirham with him nor wealth. He (the Holy Prophet) said: The poor of my Ummah would be, he who would come on the day of Resurrection with Prayers and Fasts and Zakat. And (he would find himself bankrupt on that day as he would have exhausted his funds of virtues) since he hurled abuses upon others, and brought slander against others, and unlawfully consumed the wealth of others, and shed the blood of others, and beat others. His virtues would be credited to the account of one (who suffered at his hand). And if his good deeds fall short to clear the account, then the sins (of one who suffered) would be entered in (the account of one who was guilty) and he would be thrown in the Hell-Fire." [Muslim]
One might think that the above mentioned evil acts like abusing, slandering, shedding blood, beating and unlawfully consuming other's wealth have got nothing to do with speaking lies. Though these acts like beating and shedding blood may be performed without the involvement of lies, but if we deeply think, we will come to know that these acts can also be the by-product of lies which we speak daily.
Let us take these evil acts (those mentioned in the above hadeeth) one by one and see if they can be an outcome of speaking lies.
First comes abusing. I don't think anyone will argue, saying that abusing has got nothing to do with lies. Just bring into mind various statements which people use for abusing and decide for yourself whether those statements are true or not! Then comes slandering, which means nothing but lies, it does not need an explanation.
Next is shedding of blood. Although majority of the cases may be due to anger or revenge but still there is some portion that is based upon lies. For e.g. If a pharmaceutical company manufactures a fake drug and sell it as if there is nothing wrong in it, then would it not be lies? And if people die because of using that fake drug then would it not be called bloodshed? If not! Then what would it be called? There can be many examples of selling fake commodities that are injurious to mankind, other than selling fake drugs. All of this is based on lies.
One can even cause bloodshed by making two groups or parties fight against each other, by speaking lies. Similarly one can incriminate others by speaking lies against them and ultimately getting them assassinated, and this would be bloodshed by speaking lies. No different from bloodshed is the act of beating another person. The only difference is that in one case the person dies and in other he does not, but rather gets injured or hurt. The procedure is the same for both i.e. by speaking lies against someone.
And finally some words about unlawfully consuming other's wealth. This is easily done by speaking lies or writing lies as it is a common practice now a days to gobble up someone's wealth or property. And who can argue that it is not based upon speaking lies? In fact, bribery (another curse and a sin) is used as a tool to make others lie, in order to consume unlawfully other's property or wealth.
Thus we see that by speaking lies we may impinge on human rights and if we impinge on human rights then according to the above mentioned hadeeth, our fate can be Hell-Fire. May Allah protect us from it.
Up to what Level can Islam Tolerate a Lie?
Islam wants to eradicate lies right from its roots. In a hadeeth of Muslim, Sa'id b Musayyib reported:
" Mu'awiya came to Medina and he addressed us and took out a bunch of hair and said: What do I see that one of you does, but that what the Jews did? When this act (adding of artificial hair) reached Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him), he named it as Lies (Cheating)" [Muslim, Book of Dress]
This clearly shows that Islam cannot tolerate a lie, even if it is at a diminutive level.
Some Exceptional Cases
There are some exceptional cases in which a person is allowed to speak lies. In a hadeeth of Sahih Muslim, Umm e Kulsum said that she heard Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) as saying:
" A liar is not one who tries to bring reconciliation amongst people and speaks good (in order to avert dispute), or he conveys good. Ibn Shihab said, he did not hear that exemption was granted in anything what the people speak as lie but in three cases. (1) In Battle, (2) for bringing reconciliation amongst persons, and (3) the narration of the words of the husband to his wife, and the narration of the words of a wife to her husband (in a twisted form in order to bring reconciliation between them)" [Sahih Muslim, The Book of Virtue, Good Manners and Joining of the Ties of Relationship, Chapter: Forbiddance of telling a lie and the cases in which telling of lie is permissible]
Another exception can be evolved from Surah An-Nahl in the Quran, Allah says:
" Whoever disbelieves in Allah after his belief - not he who is compelled while his heart is contented with faith, but he who opens (his) breast for disbelief - on them is the wrath of Allah, and for them is a grievous chastisement " [16:106]
Thus one who is forced to, can utter some words of disbelief to save his life, but should feel bad about it in his heart and should be satisfied and contented with the true faith. Based on the analogy of the above mentioned cases as in The Quran and Hadeeth, one may speak lies for saving the life and honor of innocent persons from the highhandedness of tyrants and oppressors if one finds no other way to save them. And surely Allah knows the best.
Level of Ignorance
A lie is a great sin that most of us ignore. Unlike other religious matters for which we hold difference of opinion, there is none amongst us who would dispute against the fact that speaking lies is a great sin. But then why is it that majority of us speak lies? Our ignorance level is so high that we are prepared to accept an Imam who is a liar but cannot accept an Imam who prays without a cap!
Narrated Abu Huraira, the Prophet said:
" Whoever does not give up speaking lies and (does not give up forged) acts with it, Allah is not in need of his leaving his food and drink." [Bukhari, Book of Fasting]
So what have we decided by now, to give up Lies or to give up our Fasts and demolish one pillar of Islam?
