Srinagar: Even as social media is exploding with April Fools’ Day memes, Kashmir valley based clerics have termed the practice un-Islamic and asked people to stay away from it.
In a video message on his Facebook page, Mufti Mohiuddin Raheemi said the Quran clearly stated that we should not make fun of people.
He further said people, especially the youth who did not have ‘much association’ with the religion, were observing the day.
“People especially the youth studying in colleges and universities who have much association with ‘deen’ feel it is just like that. The Holy Quran clearly states that we should not make fun of each other. It is possible that the person you make fun of is better than you. There is ridicule and befooling in this. We tell a lie when we fool someone,” he said in the message.
The Mufti’s message has been well received by the followers of his page with some wishing ‘if we could follow the same (message)’.
“Kash hum log is par Amal karte (sic),” Adeem Mukhtar wrote on Facebook.
Another netizen, Mudasir Dar commented: “Nice mufti sob”
In the past too, Kashmir valley based religious heads and scholars have asked the people to shun the practice of fooling people on April Fools’ Day.
In a similar message that had surfaced on Facebook last year a day before April Fools’ Day, Ustaad Dr Manzoor Ahmed Mir too stated that fooling people made us tell lies.
“It is based on a lie and telling a lie is a sin. Shariat does not permit us to tell a lie. Even if it is for fun, it is haram. We have also been told to refrain from making fun and ridiculing….this is the way of the ‘kuffar’. It is also a waste of time and Muslims should not waste time,” he had stated in the video.
