Ibn al-Qayyim: The World Cannot Function Upon Lying and Lying Destroys the World Order

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Ibn al-Qayyim: The World Cannot Function Upon Lying and Lying Destroys the World Order

Ibn al-Qayyim (رحمه الله) said:^[1]

LYING INHERENTLY CORRUPTS the orders of the world, and the world is unable to function upon it, not in their worldly life, nor the hereafter. Rather, it inherently corrupts the world and the hereafter. The inherent evils of lying are known to both the elite people and their common folk.

How (could it be otherwise) when it is the source of every evil, and the corruption of the limbs is [but through] a lying tongue? How many nations and kingdoms have been ended by lies? How many lands have been destroyed by (lies), and how many blessings have been pillaged?

It has cut off livelihoods, corrupted (people’s) beneficial interests, sown enmities, severed the bonds of love, impoverished the rich, humiliated the powerful, violated (the honour of) the chaste, and accused the virtuous.

Because of it, homes and palaces were made vacant, graves were filled, friendliness was ended and people were estranged. By way of it, discord was sown between son and father, and brother and brother. It turned a friend into an open enemy, and rendered a wealthy, powerful man into a pauper.

And how many lovers has it separated, causing ruin to their lives and making their lives miserable. And how many homelands has it emptied, and how many faces has it blackened, and how many a light has it extinguished and how many an insight has it blinded, and [how much has it] brought corruption of intellect, alteration of original disposition (fiṭrah), drawing of humiliation, cutting off of paths, and obliteration of the signposts of the beneficial interests of the servants in the world and the hereafter.

This and multiple times more is merely a speck among all of its corruptions and only a fly's wing of all of its harms and [apparent] benefits. Indeed, what it draws of the anger of al-Raḥmān and the deprivation of Paradise, and dwelling in the abode of disgrace is greater than that.

And is Hell filled except with those given to lying, who lie upon Allāh, His Messenger, His religion, and His pious friends, and who reject the truth out of zealotry and ignorant fanaticism?

Notes

Implicit^[2] trusworthiness and truthfulness are the foundation upon which the world functions and this enables just and beneficial interactions among mankind, and upon trustworthiness in the hearts did revelation descend, and was received, carried and conveyed, and it is part of uncorrupted disposition (fiṭrah).

In the absence of truthfulness, the world is ruined, with the meaning that mens’ lives and livelihoods and their relationships are corrupted and turned into their opposites. For this reason, the liars are most destructive because lying implies inherent corruption in human nature.

This is why the reports of those who were misguided in some areas of creed, but who retained their integrity, truthfulness and trustworthiness were accepted in subject matters outside of their deviation. As for the liar, then knowledge cannot be taken from him at all, even if his creed is sound, and this is what is found in the speech of the Imāms of the Salaf, from them Imām Malik (رحمه الله).

The liar is abandoned.

Additional

01 The inclination, propensity and tendency to lie develops at an early age. Children are able to detect and recognise inconsistencies in parental behaviour, leading to a subconscious acceptance of contradiction between speech, action and reality. Thus, preventing this from developing requires care and caution from parents in what they say and do. Subsequently, children should be taught the virtue of truthfulness and the repugnance of lying through suitable reward-discipline incentives.

02 From the arenas in which lying can enter and become normalised in the arena of trade and commerce, wherein, through the incentive of wealth acquisition, half-truths and lies are told, and if the young are trained upon this, they will find it easy to lie later in life. Hence, the importance of truthfulness in dealings, and raising children upon that.

03 From the arenas in which lying can enter is through a child’s fear of punishment and rebuke. Children should be told that no matter what the consequences, no matter what they have done, they should never lie under any circumstances, except when there is tangible, immediate danger to life and limb, this being the exception. Lying is a pit that continues to grow deeper and deeper until it ruins a person’s character and life, after starting off innocuously. Hence, children should be raised with both fear of doing wrong (disincentive) and pleasure in doing right (incentive), along with generous pardon, especially in the earlier years, before the age of ten, all in balance—and this is from the nurturing of the parents—so that excessive fear does not create the propensity and inclination to lie.

04 From the avenues through which lying enters is bad company. When you mix with people who are accustomed to lying and think nothing of it, desensitization occurs and this is more profound among children, as they learn norms and behavious in their childhood. Hence, good company should be kept for children.

05 From the things that prevent lying is cultivating the quality of investigating and corroborating objective facts^[3], as well as basic principles of sound reasoning on the basis of those facts, the most foundational of which is that of ilzām (i.e. does this necessitate that or not). By teaching and nurturing children upon this at levels suited to each age makes them love and value pursuit of truth, and eliminates the need or desire for lying.

Footnotes

1. Miftāḥ Dār al-Saʿādah (2/474-475).
2. Meaning, always found, being essential.
3. aAn objective fact is a statement that is true and verifiable, existing independently of personal feelings, opinions, or beliefs, meaning it's universally valid and provable through evidence, observation, or reliable data.