Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymîn:
I warn my Muslim brothers
against what some stupid people
do when they narrate april jokes.
This lie have they taken from the
jews, the christians, fire-
worshipers (Majûs) and other
disbelievers.
Not only is this act a lie, which is
in itself forbidden according to the
Sharî’ah, it also involves imitating
the disbelievers, which is
forbidden. The prophet (sallâ
Allâhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said:
“Whoever imitates a people
belongs to them.”
Shaykh-ul-Islâm Ibn Taymiyyah
(rahimahullâh) said:
“Its chain of narration is good.”
The least one could say is that it
is forbidden, even if it seemingly
entails disbelief.
Together with these two sins, the
Muslim becomes humiliated
before his enemy. It is generally
known that the one who is
imitated boasts before the imitator
and sees himself as being in front
of him. The imitator thus becomes
weak so that he imitates him. The
believer thusly becomes
degraded since he subjugates
himself and follows the
disbelievers.
The fourth sin is that this filthy lie
is often about taking someone
else’s money unjustly and scaring
the Muslims. They maybe lie and
tell the family that they will be
having guests. As a result thereof
they prepare a great meal and
meat and the like. They might
also lie and tell them horrifying
news of a relative being run over
by a car or the like. This is not
allowed.