The Consequences & Causes of Lying - Shaykh Aqeel Mahmood

The Consequences & Causes of Lying

Praise be to Allah. We praise Him, ask for His help, and ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the evils of our deeds.

Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whosoever He leads astray, none can guide him. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.

O you who have believed, fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul, and created from it a wife, and spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah, about whom you ask one another, and the Most Merciful. Verily, Allah is ever watching over you.

O you who have believed, fear Allah and say the right words. He will set right for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great triumph.

Verily, the best of speech is the Book of Allah. And the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And the worst of all affairs are newly invented matters. And every newly invented matter is an innovation. And every innovation is a misguidance. And every misguidance is in the Fire.

The Sin of Lying

And from those examples, brothers and sisters, is the habit of lying. A sin in Islam. But something which has become so common in society, and even amongst ourselves, that it's deemed normal. It's not a big deal anymore. A person will lie to his spouse, or he'll lie to his family, or his co-workers, or his relatives, or friends, his neighbours. He'll lie to the government for some personal financial gain. And it's something which is considered to be acceptable.

Allah, in the Qur'an, in around 200 ayat, talks about lying. The evils of lying. The consequences of lying. The seriousness of lying. And how it's something which is forbidden, something which is haram.

Allah Does Not Guide the Liar

Allah tells us in the Qur'an:

Verily, Allah does not guide those who are transgressors and those who are liars. Meaning, from the consequences upon one who lies is that Allah will decrease his guidance and take him away from the straight path — as a result of him lying, as a result of this bad habit of lying. And the one who increases in lying, this person will be further and further away from the truth. He'll be from those individuals who won't be guided by Allah.

And so there's a direct connection between the individual who lies and his faith. His iman. His circumstances. His spirituality. His closeness to Allah is affected as a result of him being a liar, practicing this sin.

The Curse Upon Those Who Lie

Allah also tells us in the Qur'an:

Allah says: may those who lie be cursed. And the word used in the ayah is قُتِلَ, to be killed. But the scholars interpret this to mean that Allah curses those who lie. But again, there is emphasis and there is strong language being used by Allah, showing us the seriousness of those who lie.

Lying Leads to the Hellfire

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would also talk about lying. And he would say:

That lying leads to wickedness. Nothing good comes out of lying, except that it leads to something even worse, which is wickedness. Wickedness in one's nature. It becomes a part of his personality. It's part of his character. An individual, when he lies, it affects not just him or his family — it affects society. And wickedness, the Messenger of Allah said, leads to the Hellfire. And an individual will be lying and going out of his way to lie, lying so much, until he's written as a liar, labeled as a liar, with Allah Himself.

And so, brothers and sisters, this act of lying — no doubt it's something which affects society. And when one commits this act of lying and it's considered to be accepted, those who are watching again think it's normal. And they'll likewise lie to others, until this disease starts spreading and everyone considers it the norm.

And the dangers of that is when someone does lie, and it's a serious lie, or he's lying about something big — especially lying about Allah and the Messenger of Allah. There is no doubt about it — it's from the greatest of lies that a person can commit. But even generally speaking, when someone does lie and it's considered normal, there are no consequences. And we don't think much of it. And that's the danger of living in a society where sins are considered normal. Things that a person shouldn't do are done so often that it's not a big deal when someone commits them.

Why Do People Lie? The Causes

1. Selfishness and Lack of Self-Esteem

From the reasons, brothers and sisters, is that an individual will lie as a result of selfishness. He's thinking about himself. He's worried about his own image. There's a lack of self-esteem. There's a lack of self-worth. He's not comfortable with who he is. He's worried about his reputation. He's scared. And so as a result of this selfishness — thinking about himself — he lies about his family. He lies about his circumstances. He'll lie, for example, about his job, to impress others. He'll lie about material things. He'll lie about many things just to show people an image of himself that isn't true. Maybe because of a lack of self-esteem. He's not happy with who he is. He's not happy with what Allah has decreed for him and given him.

And in fact, as we know, Allah tells us in the Qur'an:

If you are grateful for whatever it is that Allah has given you — whether it's financial things, whether it's family, whatever the case may be — when you're grateful and thankful to Allah for what you have, even if it's little, Allah will increase you. لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ — "If you're grateful, I will increase you," Allah says.

So when a person is thankful to Allah for what he has, he's content with what he has. He's content with the decree of Allah. He's not upset. He's not angry with what Allah has decreed for him. He's not annoyed. He's not feeling a sense of lack of self-esteem or self-worth because of things which he sees other people have that he doesn't have. He's content. When he feels this way, Allah will increase him.

2. Cowardice

Another reason, brothers and sisters, that people lie is cowardice. A person is afraid. He's afraid that if he tells the truth, he'll be accountable for his actions. He'll be accountable for the things that he says. And so he ends up lying because he's worried about the consequences. He's worried about what's going to happen if he does tell the truth.

And we know, brothers and sisters, that the greatest truth that a person could tell is the truth in support of Allah and His Messenger. And the Messenger of Allah was known as as-Sadiq al-Amin — the truthful, trustworthy one. And when he was in Mecca, and the Muslims were few in number, and the non-Muslims were against the Muslims to the extent where they were physically harmed, even killed — even in those circumstances, the Messenger of Allah never lied. And he would always speak the truth. Even if his life was on the line, he would speak the truth.

And of course, there are discussions and conversations that take place amongst the scholars with regards to one lying to save his life. But the general understanding is that when a person speaks the truth, Allah will aid him — just as He aided the Messenger of Allah when he spoke the truth to the mushrikun in Mecca. He never changed, or altered, or watered down the deen for the mushrikun in Mecca. He spoke the truth. He never compromised with the Quraysh. He never changed the deen. And Allah honored the Messenger of Allah as a result of his bravery, as a result of him standing up in front of those who committed shirk, and in front of those who committed sins.

3. Greed

Another reason, brothers and sisters, of why an individual would lie is greed. A person is greedy. And so he lies to others so he can get something from them. He lies to the government. He lies through his business, to other businesses, when doing business interactions — in order to have more wealth, or whatever the case may be. But he wants more. It's as a result of greed. He's not satisfied with what he has, and so he feels like he has to lie in order to get more, in order to have whatever it is that he wants.

And again, brothers and sisters, this is something which is contrary to the mindset of a Muslim. The mindset and the mentality of a Muslim is that he's content with whatever Allah has given him. And in fact, when you're thankful to Allah and when you're grateful to Allah, Allah will give you more. As the scholars would say: when someone chases the dunya, the dunya will flee from him. It'll run away from him. And so you continuously are chasing something you'll never fully attain. But when you flee the dunya, the dunya will end up chasing you.

And so when someone is lying as a result of greed, it's never ending. And those lies may even get worse over time. And they'll increase in number. And they'll increase in terms of the danger that they possess.

The Messenger of Allah would tell us with regards to greed and being content with what you have:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6446; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1051)

That true wealth is the wealth of the soul — the richness of the soul. It's nothing to do with how much money you have, how many zeros you have on your bank account. It's about how content you are with what you have from Allah. The contentment that you have in your heart. The richness of the soul. A person could be poor, but he's rich in terms of his soul. He's happy with what Allah has given him.

And so brothers and sisters, there are no real reasons, as we've mentioned, for a person to lie — unless there are cases which are mentioned in the sharia for a person to do so. But generally speaking, as we've seen, lies can cause more problems as opposed to solving problems that we may be facing.

I say this and ask Allah to forgive me and you. Verily, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

Second Part of the Khutbah

In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the most honored of prophets and messengers — our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.

We were talking about the dangers of lying and how Allah, in around 200 verses in the Qur'an, talks about the dangers of lying and the sin of lying. And how the Messenger of Allah told us about the dangers of lying and how it eventually leads someone to the Hellfire. And how there are reasons for a person to lie — from them greed, or selfishness, or cowardice, being afraid of the consequences of his actions.

And we talked about how an individual, when he lies, it affects not just him — it doesn't just affect his dunya, it doesn't affect his outward life — but it also affects his spirituality. It affects his emotions. It can affect his internal behavior. And no doubt, lying brothers and sisters is going to make someone restless. It's a sin which causes a person to be far away from the guidance and the mercy and the blessings of Allah.

How to Rid Ourselves of the Disease of Lying

1. Increasing in Good Deeds

What are some of the ways that we can get out of this sin and rid this disease from our hearts and from our tongues? From them, brothers and sisters, is increasing in good deeds. We are in the month of Dhul Hijjah, in the first ten days of the month of Dhul Hijjah — the greatest days of the year — where good deeds are encouraged for a person to perform as a result of the blessed time that we're in.

Allah says:

Verily, good deeds remove and extinguish bad deeds. And so when a person increases in good, it's going to remove and filter out the evil deeds that we did. So — increasing in good deeds.

2. Having Taqwa

Likewise, brothers and sisters, having taqwa. Being aware that Allah is always watching, He's always listening, He's always seeing. How Allah sees us and hears us when we're lying. And when a person realizes this, he'll think twice before lying. Allah says:

Whoever fears Allah, whoever has taqwa, Allah will find for him a way out. Meaning, if we feel like we're in a position where we can't tell the truth, where we can only lie — telling the truth in those situations will be from the ways in which Allah will give you a way out. Allah will provide for you a way out, because you're turning to Allah, you're showing your obedience to Allah.

3. Making Du'a

And finally, brothers and sisters, making du'a — asking Allah to cure you of this illness. The Messenger of Allah would say, when he would see his reflection:

O Allah, perfect my character just as You have perfected my outward appearance. (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 3748)

And so he would supplicate to Allah, because what you can see outwardly sometimes isn't the same as what you see inside of the person, if at all. You see a person who is outwardly handsome, he has a positive image, he looks good — but then inside he has traits which are evil. And so the Messenger of Allah would make du'a that Allah perfect his inner character just as He has perfected his outward beauty.

We ask Allah that He removes this evil sin from our hearts and that He increases us in guidance. So remember Allah, the Great, the Majestic, who remembers you — and thank Him for the blessings He bestows upon you. And remember Allah, the Most High, the First, and the Greatest. And Allah knows what you conceal and what you reveal.