Question:
Assalamu alaikum
What is the ruling concerning joking? Is it considered useless and vain speech? Note that it does not contain any ridiculing of the religion.
Jazakum allah alf Khair
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
Wa ‘alaykum al-salaam wa rahmat-Allaahi wa barakaatuhu.
There is no harm in joking by words and anecdotes, if they are truthful and real, especially if it is not done often. The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to joke but he would only speak the truth. If it is with lying, then it is not allowed. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Woe to the one who speaks and tells a lie in order to make the people laugh at it. Woe to him. Then again, woe to him."
This was recorded by Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasal with a good chain.
Shaikh ibn Baz
There are two elements here: laughing and lying. We need to be careful understanding both. This is how webster defines 'lie':
Main Entry: 3lie
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): lied; ly·ing /'lI-i[ng]/
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English lEogan; akin to Old High German liogan to lie, Old Church Slavic lugati
intransitive verb
1 : to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive
2 : to create a false or misleading impression
When we are joking, we don't intend to deceive or give a misleading impression. The same way we understand by default that when we are reading work of fiction or watch movies (some of which are comedies) are not real stories.
At the same time you may be lied to in the news on TV when they try to give you a misleading impression by giving you half-truths. They don't lie in the sense that they don't make false statements but they lie in the real sense of the word that is deceiving.
Now what is that hadith realling saying? At times we gather and we start joking about everything. We pick on one of our friends and say things about him to laugh at him. This is what the hadith is forbidding. Such a practice leaves us with hard feelings and we have all experienced its bad effects on our relationships. People say hurtful things to laugh at you and then they say: we are only joking. This is what is not allowed.
However, nobody can blame you for being extra careful and avoiding such jokes altogether but we should be careful when we are saying this is haram and that is haram.
