Allah the Exalted said:
٢٦٠ - باب تحريم الكذب
Allah the Exalted said:
And do not pursue1 that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart - about all those [one] will be questioned.
And He, the Exalted, said:
He [i.e., man] utters no word except that with him is an observer prepared [to record].
From Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: «Truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise; a man continues to speak truthfully until he is recorded with Allah as a truthful one. And lying leads to wickedness, and wickedness leads to the Fire; a man continues to lie until he is recorded with Allah as a liar.» Agreed upon (al-Bukhārī and Muslim).
From ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ (may Allah be pleased with them both): that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: «There are four traits: whoever has them all is a pure hypocrite; and whoever has one of them has a trait of hypocrisy until he abandons it: when entrusted he betrays, when he speaks he lies, when he makes a covenant he is treacherous, and when he disputes he is immoral.» Agreed upon (al-Bukhārī and Muslim). Its explanation has already preceded with the hadith of Abū Hurayrah to similar effect in the chapter on fulfilling covenants.
From Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both), from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: «Whoever claims to have seen a dream he did not see will be charged to tie two barley grains together and will not be able to; and whoever listens to people's conversation when they dislike it, molten lead will be poured into his ears on the Day of Resurrection; and whoever makes an image will be punished and charged to blow the soul into it, and he will not be one who can blow.» Recorded by al-Bukhārī. «Claims a dream»: meaning he says he dreamed in his sleep and saw such-and-such, while he is a liar. «Al-ānak» with madd, ḍammah on the nūn, and lightening of the kāf: it is molten lead.
From Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both), who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: «The most audacious of lies is that a man shows his eyes what they did not see.» Recorded by al-Bukhārī. Its meaning: he says «I saw», regarding what he did not see.
On the authority of Samurah ibn Jundub (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used often to say to his Companions: “Has any one of you seen a dream?” And whoever Allah willed would relate to him what he wished. One morning he said to us: “Two men came to me last night, and they said to me: Set off! So I set off with them, and we came upon a man lying down, while another was standing over him with a rock, and he was casting the rock down onto his head, crushing it, so that the stone rolled away over here. He would then follow the stone and pick it up, and would not return to him until his head had healed and become as it was; then he would come back to him and do to him the like of what he had done the first time.” He said: “I said to the two of them: Glory be to Allah! Who are these two? They said to me: Go on, go on! So we went on, and we came upon a man lying on his back, while another was standing over him with an iron hook, and he would come to one side of his face and tear his jaw to the back of his neck, and his nostril to the back of his neck, and his eye to the back of his neck — then he would move to the other side and do to it the like of what he had done to the first side; and scarcely would he finish from that side before that side had healed and become as it was, then he would return to it and do the like of what he had done the first time.” He said: “I said: Glory be to Allah! Who are these two? They said to me: Go on, go on! So we went on, and we came upon something like an oven” — and I think he said — “in which there was clamour and voices. We looked into it, and there were naked men and women in it, and a flame would come to them from beneath them; and when that flame reached them, they cried out. I said: Who are these? They said to me: Go on, go on! So we went on, and we came upon a river” — I think he was saying — “red like blood, and in the river there was a man swimming, and on the bank of the river there was a man who had gathered beside him many stones; and that swimmer would swim as he swam, then come to the one who had gathered the stones beside him, and open his mouth wide for him, and make him swallow a stone; then he would set off and swim, then return to him. Whenever he returned to him, he opened his mouth for him and made him swallow a stone. I said to the two of them: Who are these two? They said to me: Go on, go on! So we went on, and we came upon a man of hideous appearance — or as hideous as you ever saw a man in appearance — and there beside him was a fire which he was kindling and around which he was running. I said to them: Who is this? They said to me: Go on, go on! So we went on, and we came upon a garden, luxuriant, containing every kind of spring blossom; and in the midst of the garden there was a tall man whose head I could scarcely see for its height in the sky, and around the man were more children than I had ever seen. I said: Who is this? And who are these? They said to me: Go on, go on! So we went on, and we came to a great tree — I never saw any tree greater or more beautiful than it. They said to me: Climb up into it. So we climbed up into it, to a city built of bricks of gold and bricks of silver. We came to the gate of the city and asked for it to be opened, and it was opened for us, and we entered it. There met us men, one half of whose bodies were as beautiful as anything you ever saw, and one half of them as ugly as anything you ever saw. They said to them: Go and fall into that river. And there it was a river running across, flowing as though its water were pure milk in whiteness; so they went and fell into it, then returned to us, and that ugliness had gone from them, and they had become of the most beautiful form.” He said: “They said to me: This is the Garden of Eden, and that is your dwelling. My gaze rose upward, and there was a palace like a white cloud. They said to me: That is your dwelling. I said to the two of them: May Allah bless you both — leave me that I may enter it. They said to me: As for now, then no; but you will enter it. I said to them: Indeed I have seen wonders this night — so what is this that I have seen? They said to me: Indeed, we shall inform you. As for the first man you came upon, whose head was being crushed with the rock, he is the man who takes the Qur’an and casts it away and sleeps through the prescribed prayer. And as for the man you came upon, whose jaw was being torn to the back of his neck, and his nostril to the back of his neck, and his eye to the back of his neck, he is the man who goes out from his house in the morning and tells a lie that reaches the horizons. And as for the men and women, naked, who were in the like of the structure of the oven, they are the adulterers and adulteresses. And as for the man you came upon who was swimming in the river and being made to swallow the stones, he is the devourer of usury. And as for the man of hideous appearance who was beside the fire, kindling it and running around it, he is Malik, the keeper of Hell. And as for the tall man who was in the garden, he is Abraham (ﷺ). And as for the children around him, they are every child who died upon the natural disposition (fitrah)” — and in the narration of al-Barqani: “who was born upon the fitrah.” Then some of the Muslims said: O Messenger of Allah, and the children of the polytheists? The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “And the children of the polytheists. And as for the people, one half of whom were beautiful and one half of them ugly, they are a people who mixed a righteous deed with another evil one; Allah has pardoned them.” Narrated by al-Bukhari. And in another narration of his: “I saw this night two men who came to me and brought me out to a holy land” — then he mentioned it and said: “So we set off to an opening like an oven, narrow at its top and wide at its bottom, with a fire kindled beneath it; when it blazed up they rose up until they nearly came out, and when it died down they returned into it; and in it were naked men and women.” And in it: “until we came upon a river of blood” — he had no doubt — “in which a man was standing in the middle of the river, and on the bank of the river was a man with stones before him; the man who was in the river would come forward, and when he wanted to come out, the man would throw a stone into his mouth and turn him back to where he was. So he kept on: whenever he came to get out, he would throw a stone into his mouth, and he would go back as he was.” And in it: “Then the two ascended with me up the tree, and brought me into a house — I never saw any more beautiful than it — in which were men, old and young.” And in it: “The one whom you saw with his jaw being split is a liar who tells a lie which is carried from him until it reaches the horizons; so it will be done to him as you saw until the Day of Resurrection.” And in it: “The one whom you saw with his head being smashed is a man whom Allah taught the Qur’an, then he slept through it at night and did not act upon it by day; so it will be done to him until the Day of Resurrection. And the first house which you entered is the house of the generality of the believers; as for this house, it is the house of the martyrs. And I am Gabriel, and this is Michael. Raise your head. So I raised my head, and there above me was the like of a cloud. They said: That is your dwelling. I said: Let me enter my dwelling. They said: There remains for you a lifespan which you have not yet completed; had you completed it, you would have come to your dwelling.” Narrated by al-Bukhari. His saying “yathlaghu raʾsahu” (he crushes his head): it is with the three-dotted thaʾ and the dotted ghayn, meaning he smashes it and splits it. His saying “yatadahdahu”: meaning it rolls along. And “al-kullub” (the hook): with a fatḥah on the kaf and a ḍammah on the doubled lam, and it is well known. His saying “fa-yusharshiru”: meaning he cuts up. His saying “ḍawḍaw”: it is with two dotted ḍads, meaning they cried out. His saying “fa-yafgharu”: it is with the faʾ and the dotted ghayn, meaning he opens. His saying “al-marʾah”: it is with a fatḥah on the mim, meaning the appearance. His saying “yaḥushshuhā”: it is with a fatḥah on the yaʾ, a ḍammah on the undotted ḥaʾ and the dotted shin, meaning he kindles it. His saying “rawḍah muʿtammah”: it is with a ḍammah on the mim, a sukun on the ʿayn, a fatḥah on the taʾ and a shaddah on the mim, meaning of abundant, tall vegetation. His saying “dawḥah”: it is with a fatḥah on the dal, a sukun on the waw and the undotted ḥaʾ: it is the large tree. His saying “al-maḥḍ”: it is with a fatḥah on the mim, a sukun on the undotted ḥaʾ and the dotted ḍad, and it is milk. His saying “fa-samā baṣarī”: meaning it rose. And “ṣuʿudan”: with a ḍammah on the ṣad and the ʿayn, meaning rising upward. And “al-rabābah”: with a fatḥah on the raʾ and a repeated single-dotted baʾ, and it is the cloud.