Chapter on the exhortation to be careful in what one says and reports: Allah the Exalted said: ((Do not stand [as a witness] for that of which you have no knowledge)).

The reader: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet, his family, and all his Companions.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Chapter on the exhortation to be careful in what one says and reports. Allah the Exalted said:

And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge

ولا تقف ما ليس لك به علم

[Al-Isra 17:36]

And Allah the Exalted said:

Man does not utter any word except that with him is an observer prepared [to record].

ما يلفظ من قول إلا لديه رقيب عتيد

[Qaf 50:18]

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

It is enough for a man to prove himself a liar when he goes on narrating whatever he hears.

كفى بالمرء كذبا أن يحدث بكل ما سمع

Riyad as-Salihin 1547

Muslim narrated it.
And Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

He who relates from me something which he deems false is one of the liars.

من حدث عني بحديث يرى أنه كذب فهو أحد الكاذبين

Riyad as-Salihin 1548

Muslim narrated it.
And Asma (may Allah be pleased with her) reported:

a woman who said, “Messenger of God, I have a fellow-wife; will it be wrong for me to boast of receiving from my husband what he does not give me?” He replied, “The one who boasts of receiving what he has not been given is like him who has put on the two garments of falsehood.”

أن امرأة قالت يا رسول الله إن لي ضرة فهل علي جناح إن تشبعت من زوجي غير الذي يعطيني فقال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم المتشبع بما لم يعط كلابس ثوبي زور

Mishkat al-Masabih 3247

Agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim."

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his book *Riyad al-Saliheen*: "Chapter on being careful in what one says and speaks". When he (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned the prohibition of lying, and lying is informing about what did not happen in a clear manner, he followed it with this chapter, indicating that a person should be careful in what he transmits and speaks, especially in the time of desires and much talk and reporting of what happened or did not happen. Then he provided evidence for this with verses and hadiths.
Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said: "Do not stand" means do not follow what you have no knowledge of, and do not speak except about what you know. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And He, the Exalted, said: meaning that there is an observer with Him who watches and monitors what is said, ready and present, so it does not escape Him. This is a warning against a person speaking about something he does not know, because by doing so he commits a sin.
Then he mentioned the hadith: meaning that if a person starts narrating everything he hears without verification and caution, he becomes susceptible to lying, and this is the reality. Therefore, some people come to you and say such and such happened, and when you investigate, you find it did not happen. Or they come to you and say so-and-so said such and such, and when you investigate, you find it did not happen. The greatest of these matters is when it concerns the ruling of Allah and His Shari'ah, by lying about Allah, saying in the Qur'an according to his opinion, or interpreting the Qur'an other than what Allah intended. Or lying about the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), saying the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said such and such, while he is a liar. Or transmitting a hadith that he considers a lie, and he did not... but he says so-and-so said such and such from the Messenger of Allah, while he considers it a lie. Then he is one of the liars, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) clarified. The sin of speaking also increases when a person boasts of what he has not been given, as in the hadith of the woman who has a co-wife, meaning another wife with her husband. She says, "My husband gave me such and such, he gave me such and such," and she is lying, but she wants to irritate her co-wife and spoil her relationship with her husband. This is as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: meaning lying. The conclusion is that it is obligatory for a person to be careful in what he says and to be careful about the one from whom he receives the news, whether he is trustworthy or not, as He, the Exalted, said: And especially when desires increase and people become confused and engage in much talk without verification or proof, then being careful becomes more obligatory so that a person does not fall into destruction. And success is from Allah.