Praise be to Allaah, we praise Him and seek His help and forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allaah from the evil of our own selves and from our evil deeds. Whomsoever Allaah guides, none can lead astray, and whomsoever He sends astray, none can guide.
Lying is an evil characteristic, which all religions and systems of ethics warn against and which man's innate common sense (fitrah) agrees that it is wrong. Those who possess chivalry and sound reason also say this.
Truthfulness is one of the pillars on which the moral survival of the world depends. It is the foundation of praiseworthy characteristics, the cornerstone of Prophethood, the result of taqwaa. Were it not for truthfulness, the rulings of all divinely-revealed laws would collapse. Acquiring the characteristic of lying is akin to shedding one's humanity, because speaking is an exclusively human trait.
(Bareeqah Mahmoodiyyah, Muhammad al-Khaadimi, 3/183)
Our purely monotheistic sharee’ah warns against lying in the Qur’aan and Sunnah, and there is consensus that it is haraam. The liar will have bad consequences in this world and in the next.
According to sharee’ah, lying is not permitted except in specific cases which do not lead to loss of rights, bloodshed or slander of people’s honour, etc., but which concern saving lives, reconciling between people, or creating love between husband and wife.
There is a never a day or a moment when sharee’ah permits a person to tell lies or to say whatever he wants based on lies. One of the things that have become widespread among the common people is the so called “April Fool’s Day”, where they claim that the first day of the fourth solar month is a day when lying is permitted without being subject to any shar’i guidelines.
Many bad things may result from this, some of which we will mention below.
The prohibition of lying.
1. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“It is only those who believe not in the Ayaat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allaah, who fabricate falsehood, and it is they who are liars
[al-Nahl 16:105]
Ibn Katheer said:
“Then Allaah tells us that His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is not a fabricator or a liar, because only the most evil of people who do not believe in the signs of Allaah, the kaafirs and heretics who are known amongst the people for telling lies, tell lies about Allaah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). The Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was the most truthful of people, the most righteous, the most perfect in knowledge, action, faith and certain belief. He was known amongst his people for his truthfulness; none of them doubted that, to such an extent that he was known amongst them as ‘al-Ameen (the trustworthy) Muhammad.’ Hence when Heraclius, the ruler of Rome, asked Abu Sufyaan about the characteristics of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), one of the things he asked was, ‘Did you ever accuse him of lying before he said what he said?’ He said, ‘No.’ Heraclius said: ‘If he refrained from telling lies about people he would not go and tell lies about Allaah.’
(Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 2/588)
