Allah Almighty says: {Do not follow that of which you have no knowledge} [Surat al-Isrā’: 36] And He says: {Not a single word he utters but there is with him a vigilant watcher, ready [to record it].} [Surat Qāf: 18]
1542/1- Ibn Mas‘ūd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Indeed, truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise; a man continues to tell the truth until he is written as truthful with Allah. And indeed, lying leads to wickedness, and wickedness leads to Hell; a man continues to lie until he is written as a liar with Allah.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri and Muslim]
Righteousness: the term Birr used in the Hadīth (and translated as righteousness) is a noun comprising all aspects of good.
Wickedness: the term Fujoor used in the Hadīth (and translated as wickedness) is a noun comprising all aspects of evil.
1) The Hadīth warns against lying and persisting in it because it is a cause for all evil.
2) Paradise is the abode of good deeds, and Hell is the abode of evil deeds.
1543/2- ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Ās (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) reported that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever has the following four (traits) is a sheer hypocrite, and whoever has one trait of them has one of the traits of hypocrisy until he gives it up: whenever he is entrusted, he betrays the trust; whenever he speaks, he tells a lie; whenever he makes a covenant, he proves treacherous; and whenever he quarrels, he behaves in a shameless insulting manner.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri and Muslim]
It was previously explained with a similar Hadīth reported by Abu Hurayrah in the chapter addressing the honoring of promises.
1) The Hadīth warns against copying the qualities of the hypocrites, one of which is lying.
2) The worst and gravest type of lying is to lie about Allah Almighty and His Messenger (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) by speaking about the religion without knowledge and introducing newly invented matters to it. {Who does greater wrong than the one who fabricates lies against Allah or says, “A revelation has come to me” – whereas nothing has been revealed to him, or the one who says, “I can send down the like of what Allah has sent down.”}
1544/3- Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) reported that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever claims to have seen a dream that he did not truly see will be commanded [on the Day of Judgment] to tie two grains of barley together, and he will not be able to do so. Whoever eavesdrops on people’s conversation when they dislike that, will have molten copper poured in his ears on the Day of Judgment. And whoever makes an image will be punished and will be told to breathe life into it, and he will not be able to do so.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri]
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1545/4- Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) reported that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The most tremendous lie is that a man claims that his eyes have seen (in a dream) what they have not seen.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri]
The meaning is that one says, “I saw a dream,” when he really did not.
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1) Lying about dreams is prohibited and one of the worst types of lying, because it is a lie about Allah Almighty and about people.
2) As you sow, so shall you reap; as he will be punished by being ordered to do something that he can never do, just as he said something that did not happen.
1546/5- Samurah ibn Jundub (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “The Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) would frequently say to his Companions: “Did anyone of you have a dream?’ So dreams would be narrated to him by those whom Allah willed to narrate. One morning, he said to us: ‘Last night, I had a vision in which two visitors came to me, woke me up, and said to me: “Let us go!” So I set out with them. We came across a man lying down and another man was standing over his head holding a big rock. He was throwing the rock at the man’s head, smashing it. When it struck him, the stone rolled away and he (the thrower) followed it and picked it up. No sooner had he returned to the (first) man than his head was restored to its former state. The thrower then did the same as he had done before. I said to my two companions: “Subhān-Allah (Glory be to Allah)! Who are these?” They said: “Let us go, let us go!” So we proceeded on and came to a man lying flat on his back with another man standing over his head with an iron hook. He would put the hook in one side of the man’s mouth and tear off that side of his face to the back of the neck and similarly tear his nose from front to back and his eyes from front to back. Then he turned to the other side of the man’s face and did just as he has done with the first side. He had hardly completed that side when the first returned to its normal state. I said to my two companions: “Subhān-Allah! Who are these?” They said: “Let us go, Let us go!” So we proceeded on and came across something like a furnace. I (the narrator) think that he (the Prophet) said: ‘There was a lot of noise and voices in that furnace. We looked into it and saw naked men and women, and a flame was reaching up to them from underneath, and when it reached them they cried out loudly. I asked: “Who are these?” They said to me: “Let us go, Let us go!” So we proceeded on and came across a river.’ I (the narrator) think he said: ‘…red, like blood.’ He (the Prophet) added: ‘...and in the river, there was a man swimming, and on the bank, there was a man who had collected many stones. While the other man was swimming, the first man went up to him. The former opened his mouth and the latter on the bank threw a stone into his mouth, he then went on swimming again. Then again, he (the swimmer) returned to him (the man on the bank), and every time the former returned, he opened his mouth and the latter threw a stone into his mouth; the process was repeated. I asked my two companions: “Who are these?” They replied: “Let us go, Let us go!” We proceeded on until we came to a man with a repulsive appearance; the most repulsive appearance you ever saw a man having! Beside him there was a fire and he was kindling it and running around it. I asked my two companions: “Who is this (man)?” They said to me: “Let us go, let us go!” So we proceeded on until we reached a garden of deep green dense vegetation with all sorts of spring flowers. In the middle of the garden there was a very tall man and I could hardly see his head due to his towering height. Around him there were children in such an enormous number as I have never seen. I said to my two companions: “Who is this?” They replied: “Let us go, let us go!” So we proceeded on until we came to a majestic, huge garden, greater and better than any garden I have ever seen. My two companions said to me: “Go up!” So I went up. So we ascended until we reached a city built of gold and silver bricks, and went to its gate and asked (the gatekeeper) to open the gate, and it was opened. We entered the city and found there men with one side of their bodies as handsome as the most handsome person you have ever seen, and the other side as ugly as the ugliest person you have ever seen. My two companions told those men to throw themselves into the river. There was a river flowing across (the city) and its water was milky white. The men went and threw themselves in it and returned to us after their ugliness had disappeared, and they came in the best of shapes.’ He (the Prophet) further added: ‘My two companions said to me: “This place is Jannat ‘Adn (Paradise of Eden), and that is your palace.” I looked up and there I saw a palace like a white cloud. My two companions said to me: “That palace is your residence.” I said to them: “May Allah bless you both! Let me enter it.” They replied: “You will not enter it now, but you shall enter it (one day).” I said to them: “I have seen many wonders tonight. What does all that I have seen mean?” They replied: “We will tell you: As for the first man you came upon, whose head was being smashed with the rock, he was a man who learns the Qur’an and discards it, and who sleeps neglecting the obligatory prayers. As for the man you came upon, who was having the sides of his mouth, nostrils, and eyes torn off from front to back, he was a man who leaves his house in the morning and tells lies that are then spread all over the world. Those naked men and women you saw in the furnace, they are the adulterers and adulteresses. The man who was given a stone to swallow was the eater of Riba (usury), and the repulsive-looking man you saw near the fire, kindling it and going around it, was Mālik, the gatekeeper of Hell. The tall man you saw in the garden was Abraham (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him), and the children around him are those who died upon the Fitrah (the innate faith of monotheism).”’ According to Al-Barqāni’s narration: “…were those who were born upon the Fitrah” The narrator added: “Some Muslims asked the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him): ‘O Messenger of Allah! What about the children of the polytheists?’ He replied: ‘And also the children of the polytheists.’ The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) then said: ‘My two companions added: “The people you saw who were half handsome and half ugly were those who had both good deeds and evil deeds, but Allah forgave them.’” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri]
According to another narration by Al-Bukhāri: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Last night, two men came to me and took me to a sacred land.” He then related the same (as the first narration) and said: “After walking for a while, we came upon a pit, like an oven, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, with a fire raging under it. When the flames rose up, they (the people in it) also rose up until they were about to come out of it, and when the fire subsided, they too would go down with it. There were naked men and women inside it.” In this narration, we also find: “We came upon a river of blood,” and the narrator was not doubtful: “... a man was in it, and another man was standing on its bank with stones in front of him. Whenever the man in the river wanted to come out, the other one threw a stone into his mouth which made him retreat to his original position... ” In this narration, we also find: “They made me climb the tree and they made me enter an abode so beautiful, the like of which I have never seen before... Therein were men, old and young.” In this narration, we also find: “As for the one whose cheek you saw being torn away, he was a liar and he used to tell lies, and the people would report those lies on his authority until they spread all over the world. So he will be punished like that until the Day of Resurrection... The one whose head you saw being crushed is a man whom Allah had given knowledge of the Qur’an, but he used to sleep at night (meaning: he did not recite it then) and he did not act upon it (meaning: act upon its orders, etc.) by day. So this punishment will go on until the Day of Resurrection. The first house you entered was the abode of the believers in general and the other house was the abode of the martyrs. I am Jibrīl (Gabriel), and this is Mīkā’īl (Michael). Raise your head.” I looked up and saw something like clouds. They said to me: “That is your abode.” I said: “Let me enter it.” They said: “You have not completed your life term yet. When you do, you will certainly enter it.“ [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri]
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1) The Hadīth warns against missing the obligatory prayer on account of sleep.
2) Highlighting the severe punishment of the liar who walks about with his lie and spreads corruption along with it.
3) The Hadīth warns against Zina (adultery), Riba (usury), and deliberate lying as they are all destructive sins.
4) It is out of Allah’s mercy that he forgives on the Day of Reckoning a slave whose good deeds and bad deeds are equal.