There was a group of students of Islamic Knowledge who went to see a Sheikh, whom they have heard a lot about. They have decided to visit him one day, to seek some knowledge from him. Eagerly, they brought their books amd pens to jot down any notes during their lesson with the Sheikh.
When they reached the Sheikh’s house, they saw him pulling a big bucket with wheels. This bucket usually is used to carry feed for animals in one’s farm. He was shaking and pulling the bucket in front of his mules, as if enticing them to follow him. It seemed as if he wanted the mules to follow him so that he would pour feed from the bucket and feed the mules at a nearby location.
His mules started to follow him faithfully. The students walked towards the Sheikh to introduce themselves to him but as they came closer, they noticed that the big bucket was empty! They were shocked! They immediately turned round and walked away from the Sheikh. The disappointed students then made their way home!
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Moral of the story
The students came to study and learn a new Hadeeth from the Sheikh. But they decided not to do so when they discovered that the Sheikh was lying to his mules.
Many people back home in the students’ village were curious. They wondered why the students left without learning any lessons from the Sheikh. Well, the students’ reason is simple actually. They reckoned that, if the Sheikh could easily lie to his mules, how could they trust him with teaching them an authentic hadeeth! His hadeeth may be a fabricated one. (ie a false hadeeth). In other words, this Sheikh may lie about the hadeeth too. The Sheikh may not be trustworthy!
In Islam, we cannot lie, even to an animal! Let alone a child or a grown up!
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Hadeeth
There are a few ahadeeth about lying. Here are a few, in shaa Allāh.
The first Hadeeth is…
Al-Bukhari (6094) and Muslim (2607) narrated that Ibn Mas‘ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “I enjoin you to be truthful, for truthfulness leads to righteousness and righteousness leads to Paradise. A man may continue to tell the truth and endeavour to be truthful until he is recorded with Allah as a speaker of truth. And beware of lying, for lying leads to wickedness and wickedness leads to Hell. A man may continue to tell lies and endeavour to tell lies, until he is recorded with Allah as a liar.”
What is the worst type of lying?
The worst kind of lying is telling lies about Allah and His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), then spreading lies among people in order to cause trouble between them. Habitually telling lies when speaking is one of the characteristics of the hypocrites.
Here’s the second hadeeth…
The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “There are four characteristics, whoever has them all is a pure hypocrite, and whoever has one of them has one of the characteristics of hypocrisy, until he gives it up: when he is entrusted with something, he betrays that trust, when he speaks he lies, when he makes a covenant he betrays it, and when he disputes he resorts to obscene speech.” (Narrated by al-Bukhari (34) and Muslim (58)
What must the one who has lied do?
Well, even if he just told a single lie – he needs to repent to Allāh, may Allāh be exalted. Why? It is a major sin and it is hated very much by Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). As mentioned in the third hadeeth.
Here’s the third Hadeeth…
At-Tirmidhi (1973) narrated that ‘Aishah said: No characteristic was more hateful to the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) than lying. If a man told a lie in the presence of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), he would continue to feel some unrest in his heart until he knew that the man had repented. (Classed as sahih by al-Albani in as-Sahihah (2052)
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