What is the ruling on laughing at a questioner's question, and is it mockery?
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The questioner: Your Eminence, first, regarding the inquiry about laughing, is this permissible, and is there any Shari'ah evidence regarding mocking a believer?
The Shaykh: You mean laughing is not permissible, but the laughing might be of the nature of "forcing your brother to do something does not make him a fool."
The questioner: No, this is mocking laughter; it seems to me that it is mockery.
The Shaykh: You say "no," what are you denying? What are you denying from what I said? Meaning, you have now fallen into what you fled from, namely your word "no."
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: It resembles the laughter of those people, but those people did not intend mockery, and you did not intend to respond to the so-called Shaykh.
The questioner: I did not intend to respond.
The Shaykh: And what am I saying? I am with you now.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: But I am not with you, because you made a mistake.
The questioner: Okay, how do we interpret this meaning? What do we interpret the hand to be?
The Shaykh: What meaning? We must conclude that matter, we must conclude that matter before anything else, then we return to your saying "no," what does it deny from my speech? It denies nothing, but this is idle talk. Many people, when I respond to them or others say "no," what does "no" mean? For example, I say the correct narration is to say "There is no god but Allah alone, having no partner, His is the dominion and His is the praise," and they say "no," what does "no" mean? It denies "There is no god but Allah," this is a mistake.
The questioner: I do not mean that.
The Shaykh: May Allah guide you. I told you beforehand not to intend that, but this phrase, you forgot it as soon as I said it. I said those people do not intend by their laughter the mockery that you said they intend. Likewise, when you said "no" after my speech, you do not intend to respond to me, but you should not say "no." In any case, you do not understand this speech now.
The questioner: No, I understood the speech, I understood.
The Shaykh : If Allah wills.
The questioner: But I do not want to waste the discussion on this issue; I want the essence.
The Shaykh: Well done. But the word "laughing," you interpreted it as mockery, this is a mistake from two aspects. First: You know this Islamic principle. Second: Beware of bad suspicion. What is the most false?
The student :Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1988Sahih (Darussalam) .
The Shaykh:, Second: I wanted to cite for you a story that occurred in the presence of the Messenger (peace be upon him), a story where people laughed at a questioner's question, and he did not rebuke them except with his known etiquette: "A man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said to him: O Messenger of Allah, are the clothes of the people of Paradise woven or what? The people present laughed, and he (peace be upon him) said: Why do you laugh at an ignorant person asking a scholar? He said to him: ; meaning ready-made, tailored, and ironed with the best ironing.
The summary and the point is that a person may laugh without intending to laugh; it is just a slip of the mind; so we should not interpret it at all as mockery. My words do not mean that laughing is part of the etiquette of the gathering, no, this is not what it means.
The questioner: It is not among the etiquettes of the gathering.
The Shaykh: Yes, indeed, it is not among the etiquettes, but we do not want to have bad suspicion of our brothers if they laugh at a question. This is the intended point.
The Shaykh: You mean laughing is not permissible, but the laughing might be of the nature of "forcing your brother to do something does not make him a fool."
The questioner: No, this is mocking laughter; it seems to me that it is mockery.
The Shaykh: You say "no," what are you denying? What are you denying from what I said? Meaning, you have now fallen into what you fled from, namely your word "no."
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: It resembles the laughter of those people, but those people did not intend mockery, and you did not intend to respond to the so-called Shaykh.
The questioner: I did not intend to respond.
The Shaykh: And what am I saying? I am with you now.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: But I am not with you, because you made a mistake.
The questioner: Okay, how do we interpret this meaning? What do we interpret the hand to be?
The Shaykh: What meaning? We must conclude that matter, we must conclude that matter before anything else, then we return to your saying "no," what does it deny from my speech? It denies nothing, but this is idle talk. Many people, when I respond to them or others say "no," what does "no" mean? For example, I say the correct narration is to say "There is no god but Allah alone, having no partner, His is the dominion and His is the praise," and they say "no," what does "no" mean? It denies "There is no god but Allah," this is a mistake.
The questioner: I do not mean that.
The Shaykh: May Allah guide you. I told you beforehand not to intend that, but this phrase, you forgot it as soon as I said it. I said those people do not intend by their laughter the mockery that you said they intend. Likewise, when you said "no" after my speech, you do not intend to respond to me, but you should not say "no." In any case, you do not understand this speech now.
The questioner: No, I understood the speech, I understood.
The Shaykh : If Allah wills.
The questioner: But I do not want to waste the discussion on this issue; I want the essence.
The Shaykh: Well done. But the word "laughing," you interpreted it as mockery, this is a mistake from two aspects. First:
Actions are only by intentions
إنما الأعمال بالنياتThe student :
Beware of Zann (suspicion), for indeed Zann is the falsest of speech.
إيَّاكُم والظَّنَّ ؛ فإنَّ الظَّنَّ أكذبُ الحديثِThe Shaykh:
The most false of speech.
أكذب الحديثO so-and-so, the clothes of the people of Paradise come out of the fruits of Paradise.
يا فلان ، ثياب أهل الجنة تخرج من ثمار الجنةThe summary and the point is that a person may laugh without intending to laugh; it is just a slip of the mind; so we should not interpret it at all as mockery. My words do not mean that laughing is part of the etiquette of the gathering, no, this is not what it means.
The questioner: It is not among the etiquettes of the gathering.
The Shaykh: Yes, indeed, it is not among the etiquettes, but we do not want to have bad suspicion of our brothers if they laugh at a question. This is the intended point.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.