Among the Sins of the Tongue is Lying

Dear brothers in Islam, today’s khutba is about one of the tongue’s sins, lying.

Lying is among the sins of the tongue. It is to utter false information while knowing that what one is saying is not the truth. It is sinful(haram) whether done seriously or jokingly.

The Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said:

لاَ يَصْلُحُ الْكَذِبُ فِي جِدٍّ وَلاَ فِي هَزْلٍ

Which means:“ Lying is not good, whether inseriousness or joking.” (Related by al-Bayhaqiyy).

The Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, also said what means:“ Truthfulness leads to piety and piety leads to Paradise. The Muslim who continues to be truthful will then be recorded as a truthful person. Do not ever lie, because lying leads to very abhorrent sins, and thosein turn lead to Hellfire. One keeps on lying and seeks to do that until one isrecorded as a liar in some books of Allah.” (Narrated by Ibn Majah).

In this honorable saying, the Prophet, may Allah raise his rank and protect his nation from that which he fears for it, urged us to speak the truth and warned us against lying. Lying is saying what is different from the truth. This act is forbidden in serious and joking matters.

If a Muslim says what is different from the truth, knowing this, then he has fallen into the sin of lying. An example of a lie is for a person to say, ‘I hit that person’ when the truth is he did not do it.

If a lie causes harm to another Muslim, then this is a great sin.

There are many things that are among thesins of the tongue and fall under the category of lying. They include: swearingby Allah to a lie, false testimony, and falsely attributing something to Allah and His Prophet.

An example of this lying is if someone says: Allah created in such and such a direction a mountain of gold. Although we know that Allah has the power to create it, if this mountain does not exist, this person’s claim is contrary to reality.

Falsely attributing something to the Prophet is when someone lies and says that the Prophet said a statement that hedid not say.

The Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said:

إِنَّ كَذِباً عَلَيَّ لَيْسَ كَكَذِبٍ عَلَى أَحَدٍ،

فَمَنْ كَذَبَ عَلَيَّ مُتَعَمِّداً فَلْيَتَبَوَّأْ مَقْعَدَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ

Which means: “Falsely attributing something to me is not like falsely attributing something to anyone else. Let the one who knowingly lies about me take a place in Hellfire.” (Related by Muslim(.

Attributing a false matter to Allah may resultin blasphemy, like if one claims that Allah made something halal when one knowsthat it is haram, or vice versa.

So, it is important to train your tongue to speak the truth and to avoid lying. Lying is an ugly habit. There are many people who have the habit of lying a lot, making others call them liars and unable to trust them.

In the end we wish to warn you from what people call an “April Fool Joke” as many people have been harmed or hurt due to many lies that people spread on the 1st day of April.

May Allah protect us from putting ourselves in such dishonest activities and may Allah give us the strength to withstand such practices when they tend to infect our Muslim Society. Ameen