Guiding the Youth Away from False Jokes and Backbiting

The questioner : Your Eminence the Shaykh! We ask Your Eminence to guide the youth regarding what happens among them, some of the forbidden things they have taken lightly. I mean the youth who are committed to the law of Allah, and by forbidden things I mean the false jokes they tell to make people laugh and the backbiting, as well as their failure to advise one another when such things occur.

The Shaykh : As for advising one another, I have already spoken at length about it. As for what was mentioned about telling jokes intended only to make people laugh, it is reported in a hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) repeated the warning three times. This is the ruling for one who lies to make people laugh. I am surprised that a student would descend to this, to the point of lying to make people laugh. I hope that the gatherings of students for scientific research, such as posing a question among them that contains some element of eloquence or riddle, will open up their understandings and minds. It is possible to pose a question among them in grammar, for example. The poet said: "Indeed, 'Abd Allah circumambulated the House seven times, and the noble, distinguished people among the people performed Hajj." What is the interpretation of this verse? "Indeed, 'Abd Allah circumambulated the House seven times, and the noble, distinguished people among the people performed Hajj." What is the interpretation of this verse? I am posing the question to you now. Is there no one from the Faculty of Language? Please. Standing up. No, no, the condition of the eye is a matter. Do not rush the question on us. Okay, here. Well done. "And the noble, distinguished people among the people performed Hajj." So, is "Mina" the object of "performed Hajj"? And "the people" is the subject? May Allah bless you. The first condition, well done. "Indeed, 'Abd Allah circumambulated the House seven times." I didn't see a hand, please. He is one of the students. Yes. Dual, so is it the subject, the subject, or the object? The House. Yes, meaning the meaning of the verse is that two men carried him and he circumambulated the House with them. Perfect, may Allah bless you. I say that such jokes and riddles are a substitute for jokes that are only for laughter. If someone said, "A man has a father through breastfeeding but no mother?" He has a father through breastfeeding, but no mother through breastfeeding. Please. The father has his wife. A man has two wives. And he was breastfed by one of the wives, and the other, he and his father, listen, please. Four wives. How many Ramadans? He breastfed him. Okay. They did not pray over the son of the light. Because the spirits must be five or more. Make the four wives secret. These are four wives and his mother is the one who keeps them secret, okay. One suckling from each, so he has a father. Okay, if he had only two wives, one breastfed him three times and the other three times? He has a father through breastfeeding but no mother. I say that such questions open up minds and engage people, and at the same time, that is also a form of entertainment. This can also be in what they call poetic exchange, poetic exchange, where one says a verse and then the second says a verse after it, starting with the rhyme letter of the first verse, yes, as if I said, "Let the fates do what they will, and be at peace with what the decree has done." Who will respond to it? Who will engage in the exchange? Yes, "with what the decree has done." Please. Answer with one verse. Okay. Like this. May Allah bless you. Perfect.
But I brought this verse, "Let the fates do what they will," to show that there is an error in it. What is the error? The error is in creed. Who knows the error? Are the fates the ones who do, or the One who decrees? Therefore, a thing is not attributed to the power of Allah unless it is said, "The power of Allah necessitated such and such." But to attribute it to power as if it did it, that is not allowed. Therefore, one errs when he expresses it by saying, "The decree willed such and such." This is wrong, because the decree does not will and does not act independently; rather, the One who wills and acts is Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). Okay, the answer to this question is finished. So, the one who tells jokes in order to make the people laugh is threatened with woe. As for backbiting, it is more severe, because backbiting is among the major sins that are not erased except by repentance, and it becomes more ugly if it is directed at scholars or rulers, or at people of good in general.