EVIL CONSEQUENCES OF LYING
By Muhammad al Neemyat
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O people! Fear Allaah and be among those who are truthful in their worship to Allaah and in their treatment of His servants. Be sincere to Allaah in your worship, with no showing off or seeking of reputation. Abide by the commands of Allaah in order to attain nearness to Him and obtain His good rewards; shun His prohibitions in order to avoid being far from His mercy and being liable to His punishment. Do not seek anyone's praise for your worship of Allaah, for He is the One Who does not stand in need of a partner. If anyone does anything in which he associates anyone else with Him, He shall abandon him to the one whom he associates with Allaah.

Be truthful to the Messenger of Allaah sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam without failing to follow his Sunnah and without introducing innovation to it. Be truthful to people when you deal with them, telling them the truth and explaining to them the reality. Allaah the Almighty orders you to be truthful when he says that which means: “O you who have believed! Fear Allaah and be with those who are true [in word and deed].” (At-Tawbah: 119).

The Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said: “Stick to truthfulness, as it leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise; and a person will keep on telling the truth until he becomes a truthful person.” In this Hadeeth the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam explained that there is an end for truthfulness, which is righteousness that leads to Paradise and a rank within it for the truthful, which is Siddeeqiyyah, or trustworthiness, that is next only to the rank of the prophets.

A truthful person is held in reverence among people in his life and after his death. He is the object of their confidence and praise and they supplicate to Allaah to bestow His mercy upon him after his death.

O Muslims! Beware of treachery in your worship of Allaah! Do not blemish your worship by showing off, pretence and hypocrisy. Beware of deceit in your adherence to the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam; do not introduce innovations in his Sunnah and do not contradict his line of conduct. Beware of falsehood in your treatment with other people; do not tell lies, rather, tell the truth and only the truth. A believer can never be a liar, since dishonesty is a quality of the hypocrites.

Allaah the Almighty says that which means: “… And Allaah testifies that the hypocrites are liars.” (Al-Munaafiqoon: 1) and also: “In their [i.e., the hypocrites] hearts is disease, so Allaah has increased their disease; and for them is a painful punishment because they [habitually] used to lie.” (Al-Baqarah: 10) and also: "They only invent falsehood who do not believe in the verses of Allaah, and it is those who are the liars.” (An-Nahl: 105).

A believer can never tell lies because he believes in the signs of Allaah and His Messenger sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and he believes in the Prophet’s saying: “Falsehood leads to Al-Fujoor (i.e. wickedness, evil-doing), and Al-Fujoor leads to the Hellfire, and a man will keep on telling lies until he is written off by Allaah as a liar.” How awful is falsehood and how base is the rank of the liars! Falsehood leads to wickedness, which is the deviation from the straightforward path, which in turn leads to the Fire of Hell, and woe to the denizens of Hell! A liar is mean-spirited, since he is notorious for falsehood in the sight of Allaah. How ugly is the description of falsehood, which is always avoided and feared to be known about among people. How can a person feel any peace of mind while he is branded as a liar in the sight of Allaah? A liar is always doubted by people, who often suspect his statements and transactions and even dispraise him after his death.

In the Qur’aan, Allaah mentions falsehood alongside idolatry when He says that which means: “… So avoid the uncleanliness of idols and avoid false statement.” (Al-Hajj: 30).

Knowing all this, is it appropriate that a Muslim can adopt falsehood as a guide to his behaviour or a methodology for his life? Even the disbelievers in the pre-Islamic era did not foster falsehood as a method of life, or as a means of attaining their goals; when Abu Sufyaan, may Allaah be pleased with him, who was still a disbeliever at the time, was asked by Heraclius the Roman Emperor about Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, he told him the truth, he later recalled this incident saying: “I swear by Allaah that if I did not fear becoming notorious for falsehood, I would have lied about him (i.e., the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam).” This was the case of the disbelievers in the pre-Islamic era; they kept aloof from falsehood and felt embarrassed lest falsehood should be ascribed to them. What then is the matter with you believers, who are endowed by Allaah with the perfect religion that enjoins and entices you to be truthful and tells you about its good fruits, and forbids you from falsehood and clarifies its evil consequences? Abu Sufyaan, may Allaah be pleased with him, who was still a disbeliever at that time, kept aloof from being described as a liar, even once, though he knew that there was great benefit for him to tell lies about the Messenger of Allaah sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.

Some weak-minded people from the Muslim Nation may satisfy themselves with falsehood convincing themselves that it is lawful for them because of their carelessness, or a false belief that falsehood is lawful as long as it does not lead to usurping the rights of others, or to seek material gain for their enjoyment in this worldly life, or as result of blind imitation of others. All these false excuses are self-deception and delusion of thought. Carelessness as regards falsehood is the epitome of indecency, since telling a lie even only once penetrates the barrier between man and falsehood, bringing him face to face with it.

Like all other sins, falsehood is abhorred by the souls of the believers. However, if it is committed once, it becomes easy for man to commit it again, and if it is committed again, it will be easier for man to commit it over and over, until it becomes a part of one’s instinct and he commits it on purpose, and thus he will be held a liar in the sight of Allaah.

A person may tell lies for fun to entertain his companions, and thus become accustomed to telling lies and feel no grievousness in this. It was related in a Hadeeth: “Woe to one who tells lies to entertain people! Woe to him! Woe to him!”

Some people may tell lies to small children because they know that such children will not criticise them. However, by doing this they embed lying in their character from a very early age. ‘Abdullaah bin ‘Aamir reported that his mother once called him, promising to give him something, and the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam heard this, so he said to her: “What will you give him?” She answered: “I will give him some dates.” So he sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said to her: “If you were not to give him (what you promised), it would be recorded as a lie against you.” (Abu Dawood & Al-Bayhaqi).

So fear Allah, O Muslims, with regard to yourselves, your community and your religion! Do you not know that a religion is reflected and represented by its followers? If the Islamic nation is distinguished by falsehood, blind imitation, and seizing of the properties of others unlawfully, then where will the true Islamic characteristics be? If Muslims are to appear with such disgraceful characteristics then is this not a means of keeping people away from the religion of Islam? This will mean that Muslims will be held in contempt by their enemies, who will feel superior when they realise that the Muslims are adopting their indecencies and bad morals which are condemned by Islam. What a disgrace for those who followed the way of those destined to ruin and kept themselves away from the path of those on whom Allah conferred His favours to - the prophets, the trustworthy, the martyrs and the righteous!

FOR AN EASY DEATH
ALLAHUMMA AINNY ALAA GHAMARAUTIL MAUT WA SAKARAUTIL MAUT

O Allah! Help me against the severity of death and from the pangs of death.

Refreshing Fresh Fruit Juice
Ingredients
1 Large Pineapple cleaned and cut into cubes - 1 x 410g Peach can Fruit - Pulp of 10/12 granadillas - Liquidize separately.

Method
Liquidize pineapple can fruit and syrup together with water and strain. Liquidize granadilla pulp with water and sugar to taste. – Strain and add to pineapple & peach. Serve with crushed Ice and Mint leaves.

The sun shone brightly on this beautiful Saturday morning. Muna didn't want to miss a second of it! She ate her breakfast of hot, golden pancakes with syrup, drank a cold glass of milk, and then put her dishes in the dishwasher. Even though she could eat more, Muna didn't fell like eating. She was too excited about going outside. So she ran to her room and put on some comfortable clothes so that she could play and run easily out in the sun. But what exactly would she do today? Stopping to think for a moment, Muna went to her big wooden toy box. She started searching through all the toys, looking for the answer of what she would do.

She finally found a light blue straw basket and she got an idea. She would pretend to go on a picnic! After all, she was still a bit hungry and it was a perfect day to have a little picnic. Muna went to ask her mother if she could go outside and pack a picnic lunch to take with her. Mother smiled, because she knew Muna was still probably hungry. "Go for now and get an old blanket for you to sit on when you eat. I'm going to make you a surprise lunch," she said. "Oh! How neat" Muna exclaimed. "I just love all kinds of surprises!" And then she ran off to find a blanket like her mother had said.

When she came back, her lunch was already neatly packed in the basket. So Muna went outside and sat under the shade of a big, leafy tree. Part of Mother's surprise for Muna was tuna sandwiches. As she was eating, happily looking at all the birds flying and singing in the tree, a cat suddenly jumped in front of her! Its coat had splashes of many colors-black, orange, brown, and white. It was a calico cat, and its big eyes were a glowing yellow. "What a colourful little cat! I'll call you...Chip!" Muna gave her new friend some of her tuna sandwich. The cat gobbled it up and cried for more. Muna noticed how small and skinny the homeless cat was. You could see its ribs. Muna didn't have any food left to give to Chip, but she still felt sorry for him. "I'm sorry, Chip, but I ate everything form my lunch. Wait right here!" She ran inside to the kitchen, made sure no one was around, and poured some fresh milk into a bowl for the starving cat. She walked back to the tree- as quickly as possible without spilling the milk- and set the bowl in front of Chip. The cat nearly leaped off of its feet when it saw the milk. It lapped up every last drop of the milk from the bowl in a terrible hurry. Then he sat down and started licking his paws, full and content.

Once Muna's parents had found out about Chip, they said that she could keep him as long as she took good care of him and her grades in school didn't go down. Muna was so happy to have a pet of her own. She held Chip, petted him behind his ears, and took him to her room. For the rest of the night, Chip remained in Muna's lap, purring, as Muna told him of all the things they'd do together-camping, going on adventures, running and playing outside together-there was so much fun to be had!

In the days after, the cat and girl became as close as an animal and human could ever be. They did nearly everything together. But unfortunately, Muna forgot her studies for school. At the end of the school semester, when report cards were given out, Muna gasped when she saw hers. Her grades had really dropped!

That night after getting her report card, Muna was nervous and couldn't even swallow as her parents looked at her report card. "Well," her father said with a sigh, "We didn't expect this when we let you keep that cat. If your grades don't go back up I'm afraid we'll have to give Chip away." Muna burst into tears. She couldn't think of giving away Chip! "Now! Now! Muna. Just work hard during and after school and then you'll have nothing to worry about," Mother said to try to comfort her.

The next six weeks, Muna worked very hard, because she was very behind in her studies. She had to make up for not studying during the end of the last semester. Sometimes Chip would look at her, upset, as if he were asking her, "Why aren't you playing with me like before?" Seeing Chip like this, Muna would say, "Oh Chip, I'm sorry I've been ignoring you lately, but if I don't get good grades we'll lose each other forever!" And then a big tear would roll of her cheek and splash onto her homework.

Soon came the last day before report cards would be given out again. Muna gave Chip some tuna to eat before she went to bed. It reminded her of when she first saw Chip and how thin and scrawny he was. After he finished eating, he jumped into her lap. He was so beautiful and his spotted, colourful fur was soft and shiny. "Oh Chip," she sobbed, "I can't lose you! I wish there was something I could do to keep you!" She hugged him and then brushed his lovely coat of fur, as he looked around with his yellow eyes that shone like a far away light. She wiped her tears and then tried to sleep. Tomorrow would be a big day.

The next day, 10 minutes before the end of school, Muna's teacher stood in front of the class with a pile of report cards in her hand. As Muna's name was called, she walked quickly to the front of the room to get her report card. Her heart started pounding as she opened up the envelope. Then a wave of happiness fell over her. She had gotten all good grades!

When her parents saw her grades this time, they both gave her a hug. "I'm glad that you learned to be responsible about two things at once: your grades and a pet. We are very proud of you," her father said. Chip meowed in agreement.

Johnny was placed in a mental institution. It has been 2 months already. The institution decided to buy another location to accommodate more of their patients as it was overcrowded by then, so the institution management decided that they have to take the patients to the new institution by plane because it’s much quicker, so they took all the patients to plane together along with Johnny of course.

So while in the flight the (Mental) patients were very excited by now singing and dancing in the plane and the sounds were disturbing, when one of the nurses sent Johnny to keep them quiet at the back.

Johnny went and after a few minutes came back smiling and it was all quiet at the back. The nurses wondered what Johnny had done to keep them quiet, so they asked Johnny what had he done to keep them quiet?

Johnny said with a smile in his face “I TOLD THEM TO GO PLAY OUTSIDE.”