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Tuesday 31 May 2022

Believers!! Do not Lie as lying opens many doors of Evil

There is no religion, whether Divine or man made, that supports or encourages their followers to lie - in fact no parents do so when it come to educating their children.  But despite so much emphasis on truthfulness and stopping from lying, we still find a lot of people lying about many things in their lives. 
When you have to lie about someone, you have a diseased heart. You may get temporary euphoria but it won’t last. It’s a sign of their success and your failure. Sooner or later, it will all come back to you. Don’t rob others of what is theirs. Fear the Almighty. He is All-Seeing. (Mufti Menk)

When someone lies, he is in fact is being dishonest for his lying may deceive someone and lure into what mischiefs he intends playing and misleading someone. Typically lies aim to deceive, when deception is successful, the hearer ends up acquiring a false belief (or at least something that the speaker believes to be false). When deception is unsuccessful, a lie may be discovered.

If lying becomes one's habit, then gradually he drifts from the path of truth and falls into the lap of the evil for lying step by step keeps opening varying shades of evil. And a time comes when a person is fully immersed in evil, and  finds his actions as correct. Many big and notorious thieves and frauds started stealing and committing frauds from smaller things. And each success gave them impetus and courage to cheat and fraud more till they are so much intoxicated into evil doings that they continue their journey more into cheating and fleecing. 

Lying take many forms like misinterpretation, exaggeration, defamation, deflection, fear of embarrassment, protecting ourselves or others from harm, or even cover ups of one's crimes and evil doing. By telling lie after lie, we eventually can suffer from building a false version of reality that increasingly distances us from our real selves. After repeatedly lying about the same thing, we may even come to believe it is true.

Islam, like all religions never encourages liars and lying. The major thrust of Divine commandments in Qur'an is about truth and being truthfulness for Allah likes those who speak the truth even under the most trying conditions.

يٰۤـاَيُّهَا الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللّٰهَ وَكُوۡنُوۡا مَعَ الصّٰدِقِيۡنَ‏  

Believers! Have fear of Allah and stand with those that are truthful. [Surah 9. al-Tawbah:119]

It means: be truthful and adhere to truthfulness, and you will be among its people and will be saved from calamity, and this will make a way out for you from your problems.

Allah (SWT) says in 10th verse of Surah 2. Al Baqarah (The Cow):

فِىۡ قُلُوۡبِهِمۡ مَّرَضٌۙ فَزَادَهُمُ اللّٰهُ مَرَضًا ​ۚ وَّلَهُمۡ عَذَابٌ اَلِيۡمٌۙۢبِمَا كَانُوۡا يَكۡذِبُوۡنَ‏ 

(2:10) There is a disease in their hearts and Allah has intensified this disease.12 A painful chastisement awaits them for their lying.

That is Lying leads to inner turmoil and chaos. It topples our inner balance. It festers the soul of the individual and continues to taint the soul as many times as the individual engages in lying. Getting into the habit of lying can become toxic for the individual and those around him. Evil and sinful acts such as cheating, deceiving, fraud, forgery etc. are essentially all carried out by liars. 

And:

(Surah Al-Ankabut 29:2-3) Do people think that they will be let go merely by saying: “We believe,” and that they will not be tested, for We indeed tested those who went before them? Allah will most certainly ascertain those who spoke the truth and those who lied.

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is reported to have said: 

You must be truthful, for truthfulness leads to righteousness and righteousness leads to Paradise. A man will keep speaking the truth and striving to speak the truth until he will be recorded with Allah as a siddeeq (speaker of the truth). Beware of telling lies, for lying leads to immorality and immorality leads to Hellfire. A man will keep telling lies and striving to tell lies until he is recorded with Allah as a liar.

Save yourself from lying because it leads one towards sin and sin leads towards the Hellfire. A man will continue to lie and he will pursue his lie to the extent that, in the court of Allah Almighty, he is recorded as a great liar. (Tirmizi, vol. 3, p. 391, Hadees. 1978) 

Once Prophet Muhammad ﷺ visited a market place where sacks of grains were stored. He saw some good grains, but when he put his inside the sack to check the quality, he found the lower layers were wet with an evil intent to add more weight to the grain. He was annoyed and admonished the seller for deceiving the buyers and making ill gotten profit. Today we find so many traders and sellers deceiving buyers by displaying quality stuff and supplying lower quality content. Such profits may buy them luxury, but the blazing fire of hell awaits them for deceiving and dishonesty.

The excellence of a believer is elevated beyond lying and is evident from the following saying of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ . A question was raised in the court of the Prophet: O Messenger of Allah! “Can a believer be a coward?”  He ﷺ replied: “yes.” It was asked: “can a believer be miserly?” He replied: “yes.” Someone asked: “Can a believer be a liar?” The noble Prophet ﷺ stated: “No.” ( Muwatta Imam Malik, vol. 2, p. 468. Hadees 1913) 

Remember,  lying is one of the signs of hypocrisy and we have seen how hypocrites of Medina bluffed and deceived Prophet Muhammad ﷺ umpteen number of times which harmed the interests of Muslims despite (false) assurances  by the hypocrites to stand by the Muslims. Thus if a Muslim lies, he moves a step towards hypocrisy, something detest by Allah and His Prophet ﷺ.

So believers, if you are true Muslim and have total faith in Allah, then do not lie. If you have wronged someone, have the courage and character to stand up and own your mistake rather than telling hundred lies to cover up your crime. 

Please watch an enlightening video below by one of the most eminent scholars of present times,  Mufti Menk:
Ismail ibn Musa Menk (إسماعيل إبن موسى منك), generally known as Mufti Menk (born 27 June 1975), is a Zimbabwean Islamic Scholar. He is widely known internationally. Menk has been named one of The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the world by the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Jordan in 2013, 2014 and 2017.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the video above are that of the concerned scholar . We have shared these view as added information in better understanding of Islam. The reader may or may not agree with the view owing to their own perception. If any one differs with the material contained in this post, one may consult the references and their authors.  If someone has more material about the subject, he/she is most welcome to share in the comments box to make the post all encompassing.

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