A single lie creates the chain of lies because the other aspect of the nature of lies is that to cover them up one need more lies to tell and to cover them up he needs even more lies creating a long chain of lies. This is a sin in Islam and a haram (prohibited) act. This is very sad reality that even when we know our religion Islam does not appreciate any lies, even then the today’s muslim society does not care about this rule of Islam which is for our own benefit. A hadith given below points out at telling lies in these words;
Al-Bukhaari (1903, 6057)
Narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever does not give up false speech and acting upon it, and ignorance, Allaah has no need of him giving up his food and drink.”
This hadith speaks about false speech which means anything that has no basis and it includes lies. So if one tells lies and then goes to do ibadah, ALLAH does not need his ibadah if he is not sincere to his own self.
ALLAH swt says in holy quran;
“It is only those who believe not in the Ayah (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allah, who fabricate falsehood, and it is they who are liars."
[Al-Nahl 16:105]
So, liars are those who run away from reality because they cannot dare to face it. And those who do not dare to face life and its realities are wrong doers because they lose courage to challenge life and end up taking their own lives for granted. There is another hadith in which MUHAMMAD s.a.w.w differentiated between liars and truthful people in these beautiful words;
(Muslim, Book 32, Hadith 6309)
'Abdullah reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: It is obligatory for you to tell the truth, for truth leads to virtue and virtue leads to Paradise, and the man who continues to speak the truth and endeavors to tell the truth is eventually recorded as truthful with Allah, and beware of telling of a lie for telling of a lie leads to obscenity and obscenity leads to Hell-Fire, and the person who keeps telling lies and endeavors to tell a lie is recorded as a liar with Allah.
Lying is not limited to the serious matters only but people also lie and make them as jokes. Even this is not permissible in Islam because even in joke, we can hurt someone or might be our own selves.
It was narrated that Ibn ‘Umar said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, ‘I joke, but I speak nothing but the truth.’” (Narrated by al-Tabarani in al-Mu’jam al-Kabeer, 12/391)
This hadeeth was classed as hasan by al-Haythami in Majma’ al-Zawaa’id, 8/89, and classed as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) in Saheeh al-Jami, 2494)
A hadith reported in muslim and bukhair says:
"There are 3 signs of the hypocrite and one of them is that he lies.." (Bukhari, 33; Muslim, 59)
So, it is clear now that telling lie is not good, even in jokes. We can lead a better life only if we avoid telling lies or at least try to be good and truthful. It is always hard to speak truth but it saves us from inviting further discomfort and problems for us.