145.

١٤٥. عَنْ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُمَا قَالَ: جَاءَ أَعْرَابِيٌّ إِلَى النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَقَالَ:

«يَا رَسُولَ اللّٰهِ مَا الْكَبَائِرُ؟» قَالَ:

«اَلْإِشْرَاكُ بِاللّٰهِ» قَالَ:

«ثُمَّ مَاذَا؟» قَالَ:

«ثُمَّ عُقُوقُ الْوَالِدَيْنِ» قَالَ:

«ثُمَّ مَاذَا؟» قَالَ:

«اَلْيَمِينُ الْغَمُوسُ» قُلْتُ:

«وَمَا الْيَمِينُ الْغَمُوسُ» قَالَ:

«اَلَّذِي يَقْتَطِعُ مَالَ امْرِئٍ مُسْلِمٍ هُوَ فِيهَا كَاذِبٌ».

 

 

145. Abdullah b. Amr (r.a.) narrated: A Bedouin came and asked the Messenger of Allah:

“O Messenger of Allah! What are the biggest of all sins?”

Our Prophet said:

“To associate partners with Allah!”

“Then what?” asked the man.

“To be undutiful to one’s parents!”

“Than what?” asked the man.

“To take an oath al-Ghamus!”

I asked:

“What is an oath al-Ghamus?”

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“It is a false oath in order to grab the property of a Muslim.” (Bukhari, Aiman, 1; Iman, 16; Ad-Diyat, 2. Also see Tirmidhi, Tafsir, 4/3020; Nasai, Tahrim al-Dam, 3/4009; Qasama, 48)

 

Explanations:

Lying is one of the most harmful sins for the humanity. It is an illness that rots the soul. It will be one of the major evidences against humans on the Day of Judgment.

People often lie in order to avoid embarrassment. A person can deceive others by lying but he should think about what to say to Almighty Allah who knows everything. In fact, the lie that people tell in order not to be embarrassed in this life will embarrass them even worse in the Hereafter. What will those who avoid being embarrassed in front of a few people in this world do in the hereafter in front of the whole humanity?  In that crowd, there will be their most beloved ones as well as their biggest enemies. As a matter of fact, a person never wants to show his weaknesses to both of these groups. Those who tell a lie in order to save themselves from a little trouble will face even more troublesome difficulties in the eternal life. That is because each and every word of humans is recorded. This is stated in the following Qur’anic verse:

“Not a word does he utter but there is a sentinel by him, ready (to note it).” (Qaf; 50:18)

For this reason, Almighty Allah, the Most Merciful, warns His servants from the beginning:

“And pursue not that of which you have no knowledge.” (Al-Isra; 17:36)

According to this command of our Exalted Lord, believers should be very careful about their talks and should not tell anything that they are not sure of or express their view about the issues that they are not well informed. (Bukhari, I’tisam, 7)

As a matter of fact “telling everything that he hears is enough for a person as a lie.” (Muslim, Muqaddimah, 5; Abu Dawud, Adab, 80/4992)

Those who lie would harm themselves not others. The lies of a liar are always against him. (Al-Mu’min; 40:28)

Before everything else, angels keep away from the liars. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“When a person lies, due to the bad smell of the wrong deed that he has done, the angels go one mile away from him.” (Tirmidhi, Birr, 46/1972)

On the other hand, lies drag people first to sinful acts and then to Hell. As a matter of fact, it is said in a noble hadith:

“Falsehood leads to al-Fujur (i.e. wickedness, evil-doing), and al-Fujur (wickedness) leads to the (Hell) Fire, and as a man keeps on telling he ends up being recorded before Allah as ‘a liar.’” (Bukhari, Al-Adab, 69; Muslim, Birr, 103-105)^[1]

Telling a lie darkens the heart and constitutes a great hurdle to finding the right path. In this subject, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“When a person keeps lying, a black dot is stricken to his heart. Then the black dot becomes bigger and covers the whole heart. This person finally gets recorded as a ‘liar’ before Allah.” (Muwatta, Kalam, 18)

Allah the Almighty does not help those liars whose hearts are darkened find the true path. (Al-Zumar; 39:3; (Al-Mu’min; 40:28)

For this reason, in our first hadith, it is told that telling a lie and having faith never go hand in hand and turning away from the truth does not befit a believer under any circumstances. A believer temporarily may have some undesirable traits such as being a coward or a miser but telling a lie should not come close to him in any case. That is because telling a lie is not one of the characteristics that a believer can have. As a matter of fact, a believer should be neither coward nor miserly since these are undesirable characteristics. However compared to being a liar, even these characteristics become light. The Prophet (pbuh) used this style to express the magnitude of lying and how far believers should keep away from it; otherwise, none of these can be the characteristics of a perfect believer. As a matter of fact, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“You would never find me miserly, liar, or coward!” (Bukhari, Jihad, 24; Nasai, Hiba, 1)

Umar (r.a.) explained that there is no relationship between believers and lying by saying “you will not find a believer as a liar.”^[2]

As lying is a bad trait that does not befit to a believer, it does not befit to the Paradise, either. As the liar gets away from the Paradise, there is never a place for a lie in the Paradise as well. As a matter of fact, it is told in a noble verse of the Qur’an:

“No vanity shall they hear therein, nor untruth.” (Naba; 78:35)

As the Qur’an associated lying to disbelievers, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) associated it with hypocrites:

In a noble verse of the Qur’an:

“It is those who believe not in the Signs of Allah that forge falsehood: it is they who lie!” (Al-Nahl; 16:105)

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“The signs of a hypocrite are three; whenever he speaks, he tells a lie; whenever he promises, he always breaks it (his promise); if you trust him, he proves to be dishonest. (If you keep something as a trust with him, he will not return it.)” (Bukhari, Iman, 24; Muslim, Iman, 107)

In spite of the mischief and many harms of lying, unfortunately people descend on lies as moths descend on fire and do not take it seriously. In contrast, the exemplary generation of the Noble Companions of the Messenger of Allah was the one which stayed away from lies the most. The following two narrations are the best examples to prove how much they stayed away from lying:

When the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) distributed more of the war booty of the Hunain War among those who were likely to embrace Islam, the youth of Ansar were disturbed and said:

“This is so strange! While our swords are dripping with their blood (of the Quraish), our war booty have been given to them.”

This (remark) reached the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), and so he gathered them and said:

“What is this that has been conveyed to me about you?”

Even though they were so embarrassed, they said with their heads down that:

“Yes, it happened exactly as you heard.”

That is because they were not (the people) to speak lie. (Muslim, Zakat, 134)

The last sentence in this report proves that the Noble Companions of Allah never lied no matter how difficult their situation was.

Another example of this can be seen in the following statement of Anas (r.a.):

“I swear to Allah that not all our reports that we narrate are heard directly from the Messenger of Allah (we were learning the hadith of the Messenger from each other.)  However, we never told a lie to each other.” (Haythami, I, 153)

Hypocrites who did not join the Tabuk Military Expedition thought that they saved themselves by lying, but Qa’b b. Malik (r.a.) told the truth no matter what. Due to telling the truth, he faced with many troubles and life became unbearable for him. However, the reward that he gained in the end was irreplaceable: He was saved from the anger of Allah and the scorn that is expressed in a Qur’anic verse related to the topic and he was blessed with the mercy of Allah. He narrated as:

“I swear to Allah that the biggest blessing that I have received after being blessed with Islam is telling the truth (about the reason why I have not joined the Tabuk Expedition) to the Prophet and saving myself from going astray with the liars. That is because Allah revealed the noble verse scorching those who did not join the Tabuk Expedition and who lied about it with a style that is not used for anyone else in the Noble Qur’an before:

“They will swear to you by Allah, when you return to them, that you may leave them alone. So leave them alone: For they are an abomination, and Hell is their dwelling-place,-a fitting recompense for the (evil) that they did. They will swear unto you, that you may be pleased with them but if you are pleased with them, Allah is not pleased with those who disobey.” (Al-Tawbah; 9:95-96) (Bukhari, Maghazi, 79)

As telling the truth saves people from going astray, it is the first requirement to be a wise person:

When asked to Luqman Hakim, referring to his wisdom:

“What is the secret that made you obtain this high level that we observe?”  He answered:

“Telling the truth, protecting the things that are entrusted to me, and quitting the things that do not concern me.” (Muvatta, Kalam, 17)

In our second hadith, there is a strong warning even for those who lie in order to be funny and make people laugh. People do not take these kinds of lies seriously. After a while, they get used to telling lies, and they start lying easily in other occasions. Due to this and similar dangers of lying as a joke, it is forbidden and strongly warned against. As a matter of fact, the hadith indicates that the punishment of this kind of lying is even bigger than the other kinds. That is because the term “wayl” which means “Woe to him” is used for those whose ends are extremely scary. And this term is repeated three times in the hadith.

In what a pitiful situation those who put themselves in danger just to make others laugh are! That is because they are addressed with the term “wayl” not only by the Prophet but also by Almighty Allah.

 

وَيْلٌ لِكُلِّ اَفَّاكٍ اَثيمٍ

 

 “Woe to each sinful dealer in Falsehoods.” (Al-Jasiyah; 45:7)

The three praiseworthy characteristics of a believer are pointed out In our third hadith. Since it is difficult to achieve them, the Prophet (pbuh) has promised many good rewards in turn.

The first one is to avoid unnecessary quarreling and argument even if the person is in the right side. The human soul likes debates and arguments.^[3] It takes please from winning the debate. The reward of those who discipline their carnal soul and overcome their temptations is a house in the surroundings of Paradise.

The second characteristic of a believer is avoiding lying even if it is a joke. Humans are tempted to make jokes to others and have fun. They usually fall back on lying when doing these. Eventually, it becomes very hard to quit this harmless looking habit. Therefore, the reward of quitting it is a house in the middle of Paradise.

The third one is saving oneself from all the bad traits and moving towards a perfect moral character. Acquiring a good character by acquittal of the human soul requires a serious effort. The reward of this bliss which not many can achieve is a house in the upper part of Paradise.

It is expressed in another noble hadith:

“A person would not have perfect faith until he quits lying even if he is joking and avoids quarrelling even if he is right.” (Ahmad, II, 352, 364; Haythami, I, 92)

As it can be understood from our hadith, a believer should not take lying lightly. As a matter of fact, there are many words that the speaker would not think of as lying but they are recorded in his book of deeds as a lie. Abdullah b. Amir (r.a.) narrated as follows:

One day when the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) was sitting in our house, my mother called me and said:

“Come here and I shall give you something.”

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) asked her:

“What did you intend to give him?

My mother replied:

“I intended to give him some dates.” The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“If you were not to give him anything, a lie would be recorded against you.” (Abu Dawud, Kitab Al-Adab, 80/4991; Ahmad, III, 447; II, 452)

Therefore one should pay attention to stay away from lying even for disciplining the kids and should avoid telling them lies in order to make them happy or scare them.

In our fourth hadith, a different type of lie is mentioned. This hadith talks about how big a sin it is to tell that one has dreamt about something even he has not. That is because this is one of the lies that can be told most easily, and it is impossible to disprove it. Therefore, it causes more damage compared to the other kinds of lies. By this way, many people can be deceived and various benefits may be obtained from them, which violate their rights.

On the other hand, those who lie about their dreams first belie Allah and slander against Him. This slander, in turn, is a greater sin than lying about other people and vilifying. Therefore the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) gave an example to express that there is an unending punishment for those who resort to this type of lying.

In our fifth hadith, taking a false oath in order to grab the property of others is mentioned as one of the major sins. Since this kind of lie makes forbidden things appear to be permissible and wrong thins seem to be right, it means changing the rules of Islam, which drags people into sin in this world and then to Hell in the Hereafter. For this reason, a false oath is called “An oath of ghamus” which means “the oath that drags to sin and Hell!”

Since those who take false oaths try to deceive people by showing Allah as witness, they exploit the name of Allah and, as such, vilify Him. For this reason, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) mentioned taking false oath as one of the greatest sins.

The Prophet (pbuh) said:

“Those who take false oaths in order to grab some wealth of a Muslim will be brought to Allah as a person who was subject to the anger of Almighty Allah.” Then he recited a noble verse of the Qur’an:

“As for those who sell the faith they owe to Allah and their own plighted word for a small price, they shall have no portion in the Hereafter: Nor will Allah (Deign to) speak to them or look at them on the Day of Judgment, nor will He cleans them (of sin): They shall have a grievous penalty.” (Al-i Imran; 3:77) (Bukhari, Ayman, 11, 17; Muslim, Iman, 220, 222)

One day, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“Allah made the Hell necessary and the Paradise forbidden for those who violate the right of a Muslim by taking false oaths.”

Someone asked:

“What if the right that is being violated is something not of importance, is it still the same O the Messenger of Allah?”

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“This rule applies even it is a spring from a miswaq tree.” (Muslim, Iman, 218. Also see Nasai, Adab al-Qudat, 30; Ibn Majah, Ahkam, 8, 9)

Taking false oaths in trading drives off the blessings of the goods and causes their waste. (Bukhari, Kitab Al-Buyu, 44, 26; Muslim, Kitab Al-Buyu, 47)

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) advised merchants who mistakenly involve with untrue speech and swearing in business dealings to compensate this with sadaqah (alms) to purify themselves from these sins. (Abu Dawud, Kitab Al-Buyu, 1/3326-7; Tirmidhi, Kitab Al-Buyu, 4/1208)

One of the proofs that show that taking false oaths is one of the major sins is this:

When a person breaks his promise, he can save himself from its burden by paying monetary compensation. However, taking false oaths is such a great sin that even paying monetary compensation cannot decrease its punishment, so there is no expiation for false oaths. If someone violates others’ rights by taking false oaths, he commits a second sin. Unless he returns the thing that he obtained unjustly to its rightful owner, it is not possible for him to be forgiven by repenting Allah not to do it again (i.e., repenting).^[4]

Being a false witness is also regarded among the major sins just like taking false oaths. It even makes sense to consider them the same thing. One day, after performing the dawn prayer, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) stood up and said:

“False witnessing is considered the same as ascribing partners to Allah” and he repeated this three times. Then he recited the following verse from the Qur’an:

“…but shun the abomination of idols, and shun the word that is false.” (Al-Hajj; 22:30) (Abu Dawud, Kitab Al-Aqdiyah, 15/3599; Tirmidhi, Shahadah, 3/2300; Ibn Majah, Ahkam, 32)

Allah praised those servants who stay away from committing this sin saying:

“Those who witness no falsehood…” (Al-Furqan; 25:72)