Lying is one of the major elements of
corruption in human society, and the cause of the destruction of social
structure and ties, lying are an immoral and a bad conduct, and it causes a lot
of harm in the society. Hence Islam commanded us to speak the truth and stay
away from making false statement.
Allah
says: “O you who believe! Be afraid of Allah, and be with those who are true
(in word and deeds).” (Al-Tawbah: 119). Allah
warned about telling lies in many verses “And do not mix the truth with
falsehood or conceal the truth while you know [it]." (Al-Baqara:42). And
also Allah said “…Indeed, Allah does not guide
one who is a transgressor and a liar” (Ghafir:28).
From the Sunnah, Abd-Allah
ibn Mas’ood (RA) said: “The Messenger of Allah (Pbuh) 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 Allaah as a liar.” (Muslim,book 32, Had. 6309). In another hadith
the prophet (Pbuh) gave strict warning
about people who lie, It was narrated from Abu Dharr (RA) that the Prophet
(Pbuh) said: “There are three to whom Allah will not speak on the Day of
Resurrection and He will not look at them or praise them, and they will have a
painful torment.” The Messenger of Allah (Pbuh) repeated this three times. Abu
Dharr said: “May they are doomed and lost, who are they, O Messenger of Allah
are?” He said, “The one who lets his garment hang below his ankles, the one who
reminds others of his favors, and the one who disposes of his goods by swearing
a false oath.”(Abi Dawud, book33, Had.4076). Lying is a major sin. When a
person lies, he has to come up with a lot of made up stories to convince
others, to cheat and deceive, and to gain worldly favor.
In the Story of Yusuf alayhi salam, his brothers tried all these motives to
convince their fathers that Yusuf is dead so that they gain his love toward
them but they did not know the consequences. First, they came crying which
shows that crying is not an evidence for truth. They started making up the
story by saying: “We went racing with one another”. Next, they added “and left Yusuf by our
belongings” then they used the same statement that the father said before he
sent him with them “and a wolf devoured him” and they came with proof to help
them to deceive their father “And they brought his shirt stained with false blood”.
Not only the
brothers of Yusuf made a lie in the story, the wife of Al-Aziz also lied about
him when she tried to seduce him and her husband came. She made false
accusation against Yusuf by saying:"What is
the recompense of one who intended evil for your wife but that he be imprisoned
or a painful punishment?" (Yusuf:25). And the end of the story,
Yusuf brothers again accused Him that he was thief while they were unaware of
his identity “They said, "If he steals - a
brother of his has stolen before." But Yusuf Alayhi Salam kept it within himself and
did not reveal it to them.” (Yusuf:77).
There is a situation where person
can lie and that is also explained by the prophet (Pbuh), He said: “It is not
permissible to tell lies except in three cases: when a man speaks to his wife
in a way to please her; lying in war; and lying in order to reconcile between
people.” (At-Tirmidi, Vol.4, book1, Had.1939).
