It’s another ‘event’ again, April the first, a day when people play tricks on people- in other words a day that you are ‘allowed’ to lie. It does not matter what the origins of this event are. As Muslims, we will look into this matter from Islamic point of view.
It’s really ‘amazing’ to see how the growing number of Muslims is getting involved in this event. Personally, being an individual that usually loses track of dates, I was once tricked by a Muslim brother. I kept on believing in ‘something’ that the brother had told me, until the same brother clarified to me that he was just ‘fooling’ me. I felt horrible and I just diffused the embarrassment by being silent.
But is this event halaal (allowed)? Can we say it’s ‘cool’ because a growing number of people are doing it? What does Allah say about telling lies?
The Qur’an states that;“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]
If we examine this verse with unbiased minds then it automatically becomes clear to everyone that what we do on ‘April fool’s day’ is literally lying for it involves fabricating falsehood.
It’s important that Muslims should firstly look into every matter from Islamic perspective even though the ‘matter’ may appear to be done by a majority. There is no ‘democracy’ in the law of Allah!. And Allah affirms this fact in Chapter 6 of the Qur’an Verse 116 by saying;
“And if you obey most of those upon the earth, they will mislead you from the way of Allah. They follow not except assumption, and they are not but falsifying”.
Some people think that it is permissible to tell lies if it is in jest. This is the excuse that they use for telling lies on April 1st or on other days. This is wrong. There is no basis for this in the pure sharee’ah. Lying is haraam whether the one who does it is joking or is serious.
The prophet said; “‘I joke, but I speak nothing but the truth.” This hadeeth was classed as saheeh (authentic) by Shaykh al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami, 2494.
The evidence quoted above is enough to keep a good Muslim away from this ‘April fool-event’. It is also of great importance for a Muslim not to underrate the magnitude of a particular sin, but rather he should think about the One to whom he is sinning.
A Muslim has to ask him- or herself
why they want to take part in it. They
have to think twice about it and ask
those who do urge or encourage them
to do so. When they do, there they will
discover that the real fools are the persons who foolishly follow this
practice while they have no idea why
they are doing it..
Allah knows best.
