true ones." – Quran 9:119
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,
"You must be truthful, for truthfulness leads to righteousness and
righteousness leads to Paradise. A man will keep speaking the truth
and striving to speak the truth until he will be recorded with Allah
as a Siddeeq (speaker of the truth). Beware of telling lies, for lying
leads to immorality and immorality leads to Hellfire. A man will keep
telling lies and striving to tell lies until he is recorded with Allah
as a liar." (Muslim)
Ali Ibn Abi Talib (ra) said: "The truth teller achieves three things:
trust, love, and respect."
You know the expression, "The truth shall set you free?" It might be
amended to say, "Telling the truth shall set you free."
Being honest is liberating. It might be difficult or emotionally
uncomfortableat times, but it's so much more freeing to the spirit
than lying, or living a lie. We don't have to remember what lies we
told to whom, or whether someone will uncover something from our
pasts. We don't have to feel like hypocrites for speaking words we
don't really mean.
The Body Tells the Truth
Did you know that a liar is betrayed by his own body?We all know about
the obvious signs that are monitored by lie detectors, such as
increased body temperature (manifested visually as sweating), and
raised blood pressure. But there are many other signs that are
detectable visually.If you live in the USA you may have seen the
television drama "Lie to Me", about a scientist who acts as a human
lie detector by studying body language and facial "micro-expressions".
This is based on real science.
For example, when people are lying, they generally avoid eye contact.
Frequently, liars will gaze downward and to the right. Another sign is
that liars often fidget, moving hands or feet, drumming fingers, or
adjusting clothing. Also, liars may subconsciously try to "hide" the
lie by covering their mouths, or making a motion that is symbolic of
covering the face, such as touching the nose or an eye. These are all
attempts to cover up the lie, and are a subconscious expression of
shame. Lastly, the liar may fold his arms or cross his legs, which are
defensive gestures, as if he is trying to cover himself up.
SubhanAllah. Even when a person's mind is willing to lie, the body is
not. It's as ifa part of him is adhering to fitra , the pure nature of
every human being, and is unwilling to go along with the sin.
After all, the body is alwaysin a state of submission to Allah. The
heart beats as Allah made it to do, the blood flows, the nerves fire,
the cells generate energy, carry oxygen or process waste, white
bloodcells attack invaders… all these autonomous processes go on
without conscious thought, obeyingthe imperatives given to them by
Allah. This is an expression of Islam at the most basic level. So even
when a person's tongue may commit a sin by lying, on a deeper level
the body is still in submission.
In fact, everything in existence submits to Allah and praises Him, and
functions as a sign of His power. Allah says,
"Do you not see that Allah is exalted by whomever is within the
heavens and the earth and [by] the birds with wings spread [in
flight]? Each has known his [means of] prayer and exalting [Him], and
Allah is Knowing of what they do.
And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and to
Allah is the destination.
Do you not see that Allah drives clouds? Then He brings them together,
then He makes them intoa mass, and you see the rain emerge from within
it. And He sends down from the sky, mountains [of clouds] within which
is hail, and He strikes with it whom He wills and averts it from whom
He wills. The flash of its lightening almost takes away the eyesight.
Allah alternates the nightand the day. Indeed in that is a lesson for
those who have vision.
Allah has created every [living] creature from water. And of them are
those that move on their bellies, and of them are those that walk on
two legs, and of them are those that walk on four. Allah creates what
He wills. Indeed, Allah is over all things competent." ( Quran 24:
41-45)
All of the things described in these verses exist in submission to
Allah. Only we, children of Adam (and the jinn), have been given the
ability to disobey. When we rebel – and that includes lying – we come
into conflict with Allah, with society, with all other living
creatures, with the weather that surrounds us, and even with the night
and day!
Last but not least, we comeinto conflict with our own bodies. How
could that be anything but harmful? Isn'tit a sign to us that lying is
wrong on a very deep level?