MANNERS OF SPEECH

THE PROHIBITION OF RELATING ALL THAT ONE HEARS

The sum of all that you hear from people is made up of truths and lies; this is obvious, for the world is inhabited with both people who are truthful and people who are liars. Therefore, if a man relates all that he hears, he will inevitably end up speaking untruths, and because of this lack of care, he would be considered to be lying. Abu Hurairah (RA) related that the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “ It is sufficient sin for a person to relate all that he hears,” and in another narration, “A person is sufficiently considered to be lying when he relates all that he hears.” (Muslim)

A warning of the dangers of lying

A lie is to give information that does not correspond to the truth. Allaah forbade lying both in His Book and on the tongue of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Allaah says: “O you who believe! Be afraid of Allaah, and be with those who are true (in words and deeds)” [Q9:119].

The implied meaning of the verse is, don’t be with those who are liars. Ibn Mas’ood (RA) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Verily, truthfulness leads to righteousness and righteousness leads to Paradise. And a person continues to tell the truth until he is written with Allaah as a truthful one. Verily, lying leads to wickedness, and wickedness leads to Hellfire. And a person continues to lie until Allaah (i.e. according to His complete knowledge), writes his name down with Him as a liar.” (Bukhari and Muslim).

A person who lies, therefore, possesses one of the characteristics of the hypocrite. In  narration by Samarah Ibn Jundub, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)described a dream he had: “I saw in the night two men come to me; they took me by hand and escorted me to the sanctified land; there before us was a man sitting down and another one man standing, with hook of irons in his hand- and some of our companions said from Musa-and he insert those hooks in his mouth (the mouth of the person sitting down) until they reach the back of his neck, then he does the same with the other side of his mouth. Meanwhile, the other side of his mouth heals and returns (to its normal healthy state), so that he returns to it and does the same (repeating the process over and over again). I asked (the two men that accompanied me), ‘What is this? They said ‘Proceed…’”

At the end of the hadith, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) related that he said to the two men, “You took me about tonight, so now inform me about what I saw.” They answered him, ‘Yes, as for the one you saw having his mouth ripped apart, he is a liar; he speaks a lie, and it is conveyed from him until it reaches the various region (of the earth). That (i.e. what you saw being done to him) will be done to him until the Day of Resurrection…” (Bukhari and Muslim)