Jun 6, 2008

The Dangers of Mockery

Assalamu'alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Baraktuh,

Insha'Allah you are all enjoying the blessings of Allah subhnahu wata'ala.

I was taking a break from studying (I have exams coming up :| ) and I came across this hadith:

Imam Al-Bayhaqee narrates in Shu’ab al-Iman, that RasulAllah (saw) said: “Verily those people that make fun of people – for them a gate of Jannah will be opened. It will be said to them: Come (and enter). That person will come with all their anguish and depression – but when he gets close, the gate will be closed in his face. Then another gate (to Jannah) will be opened and it will be said: Come (and enter). So that person comes with all his anguish and depression. But when he gets close, the gate will be closed in his face. This will keep happening to him until it gets to the point where it will be said: Come (and enter), and he will not come from the despair of ever entering paradise.”

And then I found this ayah from the Qur'an:
O you who believe let not one group of people make fun of another, perhaps the (one’s being made fun of) are better then them. And let not women make fun of other women perhaps the (woman being made fun of) is better then them. And do not insult one another and do not call each other by (offensive) nicknames. Wretched is the name (i.e. mention) of disobedience after (one’s) faith. And whoever does not repent – then it is those who are the Dhaalimoon (the wrongdoers).(Al-Hujurat 49:11).

:'(

Perhaps the one that is being made fun of is more beloved to Allah. SubhanAllah, let us remember this if we ever try to make fun of someone, perhaps Allah loves them and does not love us. Didn’t the Mushrikeen make fun of Rasul Allah (SAW) and we know Allah loved him and not them. Didn’t the Munaafiqeen make fun of the Sahabah – and we know Allah loved the Sahabah and not them.

Rasul Allah (SAW) said, “Verily a person will speak words from those that Allah hates, paying no heed to what he is saying, and with those words he will plummet in to hellfire.” [Bukhari]

There are different reasons why a person would want to insult, make fun of and ridicule other community members:

Firstly: They have weak Iman and their fear of Allah is poor. This is one of the major reasons.

Secondly: They spend a lot of their time in gatherings that bring no benefit.

Thirdly: They themselves may want others to praise them. Sadly, when there is a student or a community member that insults others, often it is they that want to be the ‘cool’ one. How can they be ‘cool’ if they are doing something that Allah and His Messenger hate?

Fourthly: They forget the punishment for those that make fun of others.

Fifthly: Those that make fun of others may do so out of love for the Kuffar and a love to imitate them. How many times do we see the comedians mocking people and everyone laughing? Indeed, mocking others and insulting them is a characteristic of Jaahiliyyah and kufr, and it is never a characteristic of a believer.

Allah ta’ala shows us in Surah Al-Mutaffifeen (Ayah 29) how this characteristic of laughing at others is a characteristic of the Kuffar:

“Indeed, those who committed crimes used to laugh at those who believed.”

The seriousness of this sin varies in accordance to the subject being insulted:

On the highest level of seriousness is to make fun of Allah or His Ayaat or His Messenger – (SAW).

A group of Munaafiqeen started joking one day about their Qurr’aa, i.e. the Companions of Allah’s Messenger. They described in ridiculing terms that they were large in stomachs, having lying tongues and being cowardly. Allah ta’ala tells us in the Qur’an (9/65-66):

“And if you ask them, they will surely say, “We were only conversing and playing.” Say, “Is it Allah and His verses and His Messenger that you were mocking?” / Make no excuse; you have disbelieved (i.e. rejected faith) after your belief. If We pardon one faction of you – We will punish another faction because they were criminals.”

Sadly, I’ve come across many people who claim it is hard to hold themselves from laughing because some people are so “laugh worthy”. Well, when in doubt, just think of this:



May Allah subhanahu wata'ala save us from committing these grevious acts with our tongues and may He help us purify our intentions. Ameen.

Insha'Allah, keep this sister in your prayers :)

Was salaamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaathu

source: Last Island

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

striving for paradise is the hardest striving anyone can embark on , its no easy task , it means knowing yourself , it means work and work . I never fully comprehended this until recently . I'm scared .

with regards to muslims making fun of other muslims , thats really sad , thats why some people do not like ummahfilms, due to that , although I do not think that is the intention of the whole ummahfilms

mutmai'naa said...

Mhmm, in a sense, paradise is the hardest thing one can strive for. May Allah (swt) make it easy for you (and all Muslims) and may we be rewarded for the hardships we face. Ameen :)

Yeah though, I don't believe he is really making fun of them. I agree, I doubt those are his intentions. Maybe he goes a little too far sometimes but otherwise, it's all for laughs.

Anonymous said...

GREAT POST! Sorry I haven't commented much/sooner, I haven't been keeping up with reading blogs because I've been relatively busy.

But anyhow, I agree with this post 100%. Laughing at others is an arrogance because you believe that you don't have either the same or other laughable qualities in yourself.

I think laughing *with* others is allowed because this builds communities and relationships.

As far as ummahfilms goes, I'm 99% sure he's making fun of the things people DO not people. There's no one person he ever points out.

Anyhow, great reminder for us all. Sometimes we are guilty of this and we don't even know it or we think it's okay because it was just a "small" joke or something. To hurt another believer's feelings is a great sin. And we never truly know the depth of the damage we deal with our tongues.