The hedgehog smiled, then continued, "There are several behaviors and types of statements that people may put up with and not consider them as Kadhib. They are as follows,
Calling a child to take something while the caller has nothing to give.
'Abdullah bin 'Amr bin Al-'As رضي الله عنه said, "The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came to our house while I was a young boy. I went out to play. My mother said, "0 Abdullah! Come, so I may give you (something)." The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "What did you want to give him?" She said, "Dates." He said, "If you were not going to do it, it would be written against you as a lie." [Abu Dawud and Ahmad]
So, let fathers and mothers be aware of such wrongful behavior. They may think that such lying will relieve them from the crying or the annoyance of their children, but this is not the case. We should raise our children based on the morals of Islam. We should instill in them the desire for truthfulness above all things. We shouldn't lie to them, for this provides them with a bad example and encourages them to become liars. Children retain experiences, memorize them and mimic them no matter how small or insignificant they may appear to us. This is exemplified by the fact that Abdulah bin 'Amr رضي الله عنه remembered and related the above-referenced Hadith about his mother from when he was a small boy.
The next example of a statement that people may put up with and not consider them as Kadhib, is telling all that is heard. Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه narrated that the Prophet (ﷺ) said,
"It is sufficient to make a person indulge in Kadhib when he tells all that he has heard." [Muslim and Abu Dawud]
Sometimes people relate speeches without verification and say, "this is what I heard and I would not convey other than what I heard." But if what he has heard is slander or an accusation of a chaste person of adultery? Would that person then continue to convey such accusations? Who among us would like to see people talking about him with such an accusation?
Another example, telling lies to make people laugh. Mu'awiyah bin Abu Sufyan رضي الله عنه said that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said,
وَيْلٌ لِلَّذِي يُحَدِّثُ بِالْحَدِيثِ لِيُضْحِكَ بِهِ الْقَوْمَ فَيَكْذِبُ وَيْلٌ لَهُ وَيْلٌ لَهُ
"Woe to the one who talks about something to make the people laugh, in which he lies. Woe to him! Woe to him!" [Jami' At-Tirmidhi; Hasan]
Unfortunately, many who practice such conduct become popular and wealthy. Such are the buzzers and influencers, especially one that reverse the truth but claim that they introduce joy to the life of people. People watch these men and accept what they see, claiming that it is a means of entertainment, joy and relief from the stress of life. Such justification is presented because it agrees with their vain desires and capriciousness.
O my brothers and sisters, Kadhib is also a form of great Kufr. Ibn Qaiyim Al-Jawziyyah said, "The great Kufr is of five kinds, denying or disbelieving; arrogance and pride in rejecting submission; turning away from the truth; doubting in the message; and hypocritical disbelief."
The first kind of Kufr is denying or disbelieving in the Messengers. This kind of Kufr is present in a small portion of those who disbelieve that Allah has given His Messengers sufficient proof and signs to establish the truth, leaving no excuse for anyone to disbelieve. Allah said about Pharaoh and his people,
وَ جَحَدُوۡا بِہَا وَ اسۡتَیۡقَنَتۡہَاۤ اَنۡفُسُہُمۡ ظُلۡمًا وَّ عُلُوًّا
"And they rejected them, while their [inner] selves were convinced thereof, out of injustice and haughtiness...." [QS. An-Naml (27:14)]
And Allah said to our beloved Prophet (ﷺ),
فَاِنَّہُمۡ لَا یُکَذِّبُوۡنَکَ وَ لٰکِنَّ الظّٰلِمِیۡنَ بِاٰیٰتِ اللّٰہِ یَجۡحَدُوۡنَ
" ... And indeed, they do not call you untruthful, but it is the verses of Allah that the wrongdoers reject." [QS. Al-An'am (6:33)]
This is also called Kufr of belying because it is denying by the tongue.
The second kind of Kufr is the Kufr of arrogance which implies rejection and pride to submit to Allah, like the Kufr of lblis. lblis not only denied or rejected Allah's Command, but also he was arrogant and had pride. This is also like the people who know about the truthfulness of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and that his message was the truth from Allah, but they arrogantly rejected to follow the truth. They are disbelievers with this kind of Kufr. This is mostly the Kufr of the enemies of the Messengers. Allah said about Pharaoh and his people,
فَقَالُوۡۤا اَنُؤۡمِنُ لِبَشَرَیۡنِ مِثۡلِنَا وَ قَوۡمُہُمَا لَنَا عٰبِدُوۡنَ
"They said, 'Should we believe two men like ourselves while their people are for us in servitude?'" [QS. Al-Mu'minun (23:47)]
The fourth type of Kufr is the Kufr of doubt and suspicion. A person with this kind of Kufr is in doubt as to whether he should believe or disbelieve in the truth, the Message. Such person will not have any doubt ifhe would contemplate and ponder on the Verses of Allah and the life of the Prophet (ﷺ). These Verses and the truthfulness of the Messenger (ﷺ) are sufficient signs of the truth just like the sun is the sign of the day.
The fifth kind of Kufr is the Kufr of hypocrisy. A person with this Kufr pronounces faith but in his heart he denies the truth, such is great hypocrisy.
A group of scholars said that Kadhib against Allah and His Messenger (ﷺ) is Kufr that takes the person out of Islam. It is no doubt that Kadhib against Allah and His Messenger (ﷺ) in making something lawful as unlawful or making something unlawful as lawful is pure Kufr. The Kufr that is doubtful as to whether it takes the person out of Islam is in anything less than that.
O my brothers and sisters, Kadhib is the source of wickedness and wrongdoing. The first avenue of Kadhib is from the self to the tongue. It corrupts the tongue and then seeps throughout the body spoiling it and its actions. Kadhib spoils both sayings and actions, and destroys the person unless Allah would help him with the cure of truthfulness to uproot Kadhib from his soul.
The foundation of all actions of the heart is truthfulness and the opposite to truthfulness like arrogance, pretentiousness, vanity, cowardice, laziness, weakness and malcontent etc. stem from Kadhib. Every righteous act apparent or concealed stems from truthfulness. And every evil act, apparent or concealed, stems from Kadhib. Allah punishes the liar by impeding him from looking for his good benefits and interests. He rewards the truthful person by helping and supporting him in achieving his interests and needs in the life of this world and the Hereafter. Nothing is like truth as a means to achieve good in both worlds and nothing is like Kadhib in attaining evil and harm in both worlds.
O my brothers and sisters, if you want to see the ugliness of Kadhib, then you may look at others lying and see how displeased and disgusted you are,with them. Muslims should renew their Taubah to Allah every time they commit a sin. Thus, Muslims have to struggle , to employ all means to abandon Kadhib, among these are the following,
- Recognize and call to mind at every time and place the prohibition ofKadhib and the severe punishment prepared for liars;
- Get into the habit of bearing responsibility and telling the truth, even during critical and embarrassing times because the good is in the truth;
- Safeguard the tongue and question it;
- Replace gatherings and meetings where Kadhib, vain and silly talks may be dealt with for gatherings and meetings of knowledge and Dhikr (remembrance of Allah);
- Know that the liar has a quality from the qualities of the hypocrites;
- Learn and be conscious of the fact thatKadhib is the road leading to wickedness and wrongdoing, and truthfulness leads to Paradise;
- Raise your children according to sound Islamic values and train them to be truthful, especially by example;
- Learn that people do not trust the liar and such is the sign of loss in this world and the Hereafter;
- Learn and feel the great harm that a liar may cause to Muslims and the community because of his lies.
O my brothers and sisters, Allah has made the Muslim Ummah a nation of purity in faith, actions and sayings. Truthfulness is the sign for the happiness of the nation and its pure conscience. The key to happiness is truthfulness and belief, while misery is associated with lying and disbelief.
Allah has told us that on the Day of Resurrection nothing would help us except our truthfulness. He will make Kadhib in speech and actions the flag by which the hypocrites will be distinguished. Everything that Allah blames them with has originated within the lying of their speech and actions.
So the truth or truthfulness is the mail of Faith, its guide, mount, drive, leader, adornment and garment. It is the heart and the soul of Faith.
On the other hand, lying is the mail of disbelief and hypocrisy. It is their guide, mount, drive, leader, adornment, garment and heart. The relationship of Kadhib to Faith is like Shirk to Tauhid. Kadhib and Faith can never be together in the same place. If they meet, one of them will push the other out and take its place.
Allah has not blessed any person with a blessing after Islam greater than truthfulness. It is actually the life and the survival of Islam. And Allah has never tried a person with something worse than Kadhib. Kadhib is indeed the disease that may spoil the Faith.
O my brothers and sisters, beware of Kadhib. It spoils the information that you receive and then spoils your presentation to it. The liar makes the false seem true and the true seem false, the fictitious seem real and the real seem fictitious, and the evil seem good and the good seem evil. He confuses himself as well. That is, in reality, a form of punishment for him. He also confuses the person he lies to. The liar has evil intentions inclined to falsehood. He doesn't benefit from his tongue. His actions are also influenced by his lying and consequently he does not benefit from them either.
Allah has made pure love among Muslims stronger through the bonds of our love in Allah. He promises to combine those under the Shade of His Throne, who love one another in Allah's Cause. Islam confirmed these meanings by mandating the preservation and protection of the property, honor and blood of other Muslims. No Muslim may be harmed or touched with evil. However, some persons insist on swimming in dirty waters and quench their thirst for revenge by malice and envy from others whom Allah has given from His bounty. Such attitude will produce evil fruits, among which 'is Ghibah (backbiting), Namimah (calumny) and mockery, etc. No society is free of such low people. And Allah knows best."
