Mocking Maariyah

Ask our children:

1. Is it permissible for a Muslim to mock another person?
2. If someone is mocking another person, what should we do?
3. Instead of mocking another person, what should we do?
4. Which action is the most beloved action to Allah Ta‘ala after the fardh actions?

Now tell them the story:

Maariyah was a little girl who was obedient to her parents and always spoke the truth. But, together with these good qualities, she had one bad quality – she would mock and laugh at other people.

Maariyah found mocking people to be funny, and when she would mock and tease someone, then often other people would find it funny as well and would also laugh. However, while they would all be laughing, the poor person who was being mocked would feel humiliated and embarrassed.

Maariyah knew that what she was doing was wrong, but because others would laugh with her and found her mocking to be funny, she continued to do it, as she liked the attention that everyone was giving her.

One day, when Maariyah was sitting in madrasah, waiting for aapa to arrive, Nabeela walked in. One of the other girls greeted her with salaam, and since Nabeela had a stutter, she replied saying, “Wa-wa-wa alaikum s-s-salaam.”

As soon as Maariyah heard this, she saw her chance to make everyone laugh. She called out to Nabeela, imitating her stutter, “H-h-h-how are y-y-y-you Nabeela?” Immediately, some of the other students started laughing at Nabeela, while poor Nabeela turned red in embarrassment. Nabeela did not say anything in reply, but sat in her place quietly, with a few tears of sadness leaking from her eyes.

A few minutes later, Naseemah walked into the classroom. Naseemah had very weak eyesight, and so she had to wear very thick glasses to help her to see. Maariyah thought that Naseemah’s thick glasses looked quite funny and wanted to tease her. So she called out to Naseemah loudly, “Naseemah! Are you wearing glasses on your face or binoculars?” Once again, some of the other children began to laugh, while Naseemah turned red in embarrassment.

A short while later, Maariyah looked around and asked, “Where is our friend today?” One of the other girls asked her, “Which friend? Who are you asking about, Maariyah?” Maariyah did not say anything in reply. Rather, she explained by holding her arms out at her sides, pretending to be a fat person. In this way, she referred to one of their friends who was a little overweight by imitating them.

Some of the other students found this imitation funny and began to laugh, but just at that moment, aapa entered the classroom. Hearing the laughter, she asked, “Children, what is going on?” Immediately, all the children became silent, except for Nabeelah and Naseemah who both spoke up and said, “Aapa! Maariyah is making some of the students laugh by mocking us and humiliating us!”

Aapa was very disturbed to hear this and asked Maariyah, “Is that true, Maariyah?” Though Maariyah knew that she was in trouble, she still spoke the truth. She lowered her head and said, “Jee aapa!” Aapa scolded her saying, “Immediately go to them and ask them for maaf!”

Maariyah immediately went to Nabeelah and Naseemah, and in front of the whole class, she said to them, “I am sorry for being mean to you and mocking you! Please forgive me! Insha Allah, I will not do it again!” As for Nabeelah and Naseemah, then they both forgave Maariyah saying, “Ok Maariyah! We forgive you for the pleasure of Allah Ta‘ala!”

Thereafter, aapa said to the class, “Children! Mocking people, embarrassing them and humiliating them is haraam in Islam and is a big sin! The one who is mocking is sinful, and those who encourage the mocker by laughing and enjoying the mockery are also sinful in the sight of Allah Ta‘ala. If you see someone mocking another person, then do not laugh and enjoy it. Instead, try to defend the person who is being mocked and stop the one who is mocking by telling him that what he is doing is wrong.

“When we mock a person, humiliate him and embarrass him, we cause his heart to pain, and this makes Allah Ta‘ala become displeased with us. If we have mocked any person, we must ask him to forgive us, and we must also try to make him happy in some way, to cover up for the pain we had caused him.

“Instead of mocking people, we should help them at the time of difficulty, and when they are sad, we should cheer them up, and overall, be a means of bringing good to people. In the Mubaarak Hadith, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) told us that the most rewarding action, after the fardh actions, is to bring happiness to the heart of a Muslim. Bringing happiness to the hearts of people will cause Allah Ta‘ala to become happy with us and bless us.”

Maariyah now realized that what she had been doing was a very big sin. Just to make people laugh and get attention, she was mocking others and hurting their hearts. She felt very, very bad for her hurtful and mean behaviour. She made up her mind that from that day on, she would never mock another person again, neither by speaking hurtful words to them, nor by imitating them. Also, she decided that she would buy a present for the people she had mocked so that she could make their hearts happy after hurting their hearts.

Lessons:

1. In Islam, it is not permissible to mock other people. If we have mocked any person, we must ask them to forgive us, and should try to make them happy as well.
2. If we see someone mocking another person, we should defend the one being mocked and try to stop the one who is mocking by telling them that what they are doing is wrong.
3. Instead of mocking people, we should help them at the time of difficulty, and when they are sad, we should cheer them up. This will cause Allah Ta‘ala to be happy with us and bless us.
4. The most beloved action to Allah Ta‘ala, after the fardh actions, is the action of bringing happiness to people’s hearts.