The Shaykh: The author returned to establishing a specific chapter on laughter to clarify what is wrong with laughter, that is, laughter without a valid cause, as we have explained regarding the error and deviation from the Shari'ah.

The Shaykh : The author returned to establishing a specific chapter on laughter to clarify what is wrong with laughter, that is, laughter without a valid cause, as we have explained regarding the error and deviation from the Shari'ah. He narrated in this chapter with a good chain from Abu Hurayrah who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Then he also narrated from Abu Hurayrah, but with an authentic chain, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who said: . The difference between the two hadiths: The first hadith addresses the Muslim and commands him to reduce his laughter, while the second hadith forbids him from excessive laughter. This is because if a person habituates himself to a little laughter, it leads to excessive laughter. The hadith testifies that excessive laughter is one of the causes that kill the heart. Of course, the meaning of the death of the heart is not physical death, i.e., medical death where the heart's pulse stops and the person dies. This is not what is intended, because the heart has two functions. One function is known by all people, even disbelievers, and especially by doctors among them: that it is the cause of the body's life and the natural pump that supplies the human being with the blood that is the cause of his life in the estimation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). As we said, this function is known by all people. The other function is known only by the Shari'ah, known only by the people of the Shari'ah who hold fast to the texts of the Book and the Sunnah. This function is the human being's life from the intellectual and spiritual aspect. The abode of this life is this heart, not as a piece of flesh, but rather it is like the spirit deposited in this body, which no one knows today, and no one will ever know its essence and secret, as He (the Exalted) said: . Similarly, this heart is the cause of this human being's intellectual and spiritual life. A person may live a material life, whether a natural life or a life of... because he lives a material life just as any animal walking on the face of the earth lives. But the intellectual and spiritual life is not lived by anyone except one whose heart is alive with a spiritual and intellectual life. The spirit and the intellect: this hadith gives us that the heart is the cause of the human being's spiritual life, and that there are material causes that put an end to this spiritual life whose abode is the heart. One of these causes is excessive laughter. .
Perhaps many Muslims, let alone others, do not know that the center of the intellect, i.e., understanding, is the heart, and they think that the center of the intellect is the brain. This is negligence, and what a negligence it is, because it has dominated many scholars, writers, and authors, let alone the masses of people. They all imagine that the center of understanding is this brain, and this is an error, because all the texts of the Shari'ah testify that the intellect and understanding are centered in the heart. Therefore, our Lord says: "Or do they have hearts with which they do not reason? Or do they have ears with which they do not hear?" Just as the ear is the instrument of hearing, so the heart is the instrument of understanding and comprehension. Therefore, the hadiths come one after another confirming that this heart is the center of the human being's life in his understanding and in his spiritual life. Perhaps among them is the famous hadith: . So one of the means that help to corrupt this heart and kill it is excessive laughter. Therefore, the Muslim, and especially women, should not engage in excessive laughter, nor should they raise their voices with laughter, even among themselves, even if there is no strange man present. Women are more deserving of modesty and composure. Therefore, they were called "al-mukhaddirat" (the veiled ones) in the past. But, unfortunately, this name has become a name without a referent; it has no existence in our women and daughters today, except for what is few and rare. Those most in need of reducing laughter are women, because the Messenger (peace be upon him) described them as "qawarir" (vessels); that is, they are affected by the slightest thing, whether good or evil. They are more intense and quicker to be affected than men. So if the Messenger (peace be upon him) informs us, and his information is truth and veracity, that excessive laughter kills the heart, then all Muslims, and women in particular, should reduce this laughter so that they may preserve the soundness of their hearts and not be exposed to any weakness or death thereof, may Allah forbid.