On Memes
﷽
As Muslims, we know that we cannot afford to follow along with whatever the people are doing—we have a clear guidance before us, alhamdulillah; a set of principles by which we measure everything we do.
"Are those who know equal to those who do not know?"
—Qur’an (az-Zumar) 39:9
Once we understand the nature of memes and what’s involved in them, the rulings attached to joking about the religion, the rulings on picturemaking, and the manners of a Muslim, we will see that dedicating too much time to this pursuit is not praiseworthy.
Joking About the Religion
In a world as irreverent and blaisé as ours, it’s easy to see that there are no frontiers which comedy doesn’t violate. Rather, those calling for guardrails to humor are openly vilified. Essentially, we’re raised with the understanding that you can joke about anything.
Of course, this isn’t true, as Allah warns us in the Qur’an:
And if you ask them, they will surely say, "We were only conversing and playing." Say, "Is it Allah and His verses and His Messenger that you were mocking?" Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after your belief.
—Qur’an (at-Tawbah) 9:65-66
Subhanallah, joking about the religion is categorized as kufr, clear cut.
Shaykh ibn Baz brought a consensus from the scholars, who are all in agreement that "if a Muslim reviles Islam, or criticises it, or he reviles the Messenger (ﷺ), or criticises or mocks him, then he is an apostate and a kafir" (Fataawa Noor ‘ala ad-Darb by ibn Baz, p. 139).
Shaykh ibn Jibreen has also explained that this kufr makes an individual’s spouse haram to them (they’re automatically divorced) and the individual is not able to inherit from his Muslim relatives, and so on (Fataawa Islamiyyah, 3/533).
Interesting to note is that mocking the religion is enough to take a person outside of the fold of the religion without the need to refer the matter to scholars / the ulema. It is something which is open and apparent.
With this in mind, is it any wonder that memes and idle internet jokes are a hotbed for this type of fitnah? Imagine how quickly a word of kufr can be uttered in a group, and everyone laughs and all of them have now participated in this?
And when you (Muhammad (ﷺ)) see those who engage in a false conversation about Our Verses by mocking at them, stay away from them till they turn to another topic. And if Shaiytaan causes you to forget, then after the remembrance sit not you in the company of those people who are the Zalimun (polytheists and wrongdoers, etc.).
—Qur’an (al-An’am) 6:68
Some of the students of knowledge have gone on to explain that seemingly "simple" things, such as calling the niqabi a ninja or saying that she looks like a letterbox, denigrating the Sunnah beard, making fun of one who wears his trousers above his ankles, and so on—all fall under the category of mocking the religion.
May Allah guide us all and keep us steadfast upon his religion; may He protect us from every kind of fitnah. Ameen.
Picturemaking
Another aspect of standard-issue memery is picturemaking. As is quite well-known, picture making (and statuary) are not permissible in Islam.
"…a person came to ibn ‘Abbas and said, "I am the person who paints pictures; give me a religious verdict about them."
He (ibn ‘Abbas) said to him, "Come near me (still further)." He came near him so much so that he placed his hand upon his head and said, "I am going to narrate to you what I heard from Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ). I heard him say, ‘All the painters who make pictures would be in the fire of Hell. The soul will be breathed in every picture prepared by him and it shall punish him in the Hell,’ and he (ibn ‘Abbas) said, "If you have to do it at all, then paint the pictures of trees and lifeless things…"—Sahih Muslim 2109c, 2110a
In the hadith, we learn that landscapes and inanimate things (cityscapes, abstract art, etc.) are not forbidden, rather, the prohibition is most stern on living beings, whether human or animal. Though the issue may be somewhat nuanced, the following guidelines are generally agreed upon for the most liberal opinoin on the matter:
- avoid living subjects, especially to draw them in their entirety
- among living subjects, refrain from making a complete face, or including the eyes and nose
- pictures of people or animals must not be hung up in the home or elsewhere
- photo manipulation, especially of living beings, is forbidden
With these above points in mind, let us be honest and realistic about what memes typically entail:
- they almost always involve photo manipulation of living beings
- animal head on human bodies or vice versa (chad doge meme)
- manipulation of living beings for gifs (2 legged horse gif)
- transferring the faces or facial features of one individual onto another (as when combining memes to double up on a sentiment)
- they usually involve living beings, generally; not many memes involve landscapes
- often the meaning of a meme itself can be problematic, wherein someone is being denigrated or slandered unjustly
Manners of a Muslim
From the manners of a Muslim is that she does not engage overmuch in frivolity and idle play. It is permissible to joke around from time to time or as the opportunity arises. But to be a jokester, or someone who is known as such, is not for the Muslim to aspire to.
Oftentimes, one starts off in the permissible bounds of joking around and idle chit chat and ends up where it was unnecessary or even impermissible to go. Because as we know, the tongue is the quickest way to jahannam, and all it takes is a single word to get us there.
(Remember) that the two receivers (recording angels) receive (each human being), one sitting on the right and one on the left (to note his or her actions). Not a word does he (or she) utter but there is a watcher by him ready (to record it).
—Qur’an (Qaf) 50:17-18
The scholars have mentioned, even, that whoever speaks more—fears Allah less. Subhanallah.
Additionally, women should be especially careful with our speech, as we know from authentic hadith that our tongues and our words will cause a large portion of us to enter the Hellfire (may Allah protect us from such a fate, ameen!):
It was narrated that Jabir ibn ‘Abd-Allah (radhiAllah anhu) said, "I attended Eid prayers with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He started with the prayer before the khutbah, with no adhan or iqamah. Then he stood up, leaning on Bilal (radhiAllah anhu), speaking of fear of Allah (taqwa) and urging us to obey Him. He preached to the people and reminded them. Then he went over to the women and preached to them and reminded them. Then he said, ‘Give in charity, for you are the majority of the fuel of Hell.’
A woman with dark cheeks stood up in the midst of the women and said, ‘Why is that, O Messenger of Allah?’
He said, ‘Because you complain too much and are ungrateful to your husbands.’ Then they started to give their jewellery in charity, throwing their earrings and rings into Bilal’s cloak."
—Sahih Muslim 885
In other versions of this hadith as well as the explanations of the people of knowledge, I’ve heard it said that the "complaining" mentioned here includes being quick to gossip, backbite, curse, or be otherwise careless with our tongues.
From what is normal in joking and playing around, is exaggeration or outright lying for the sake of making others laugh. On this, we have a very specific and explicit hadith:
Mu’awiyyah ibn Haydah reported: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Woe to one who tells lies to make people laugh. Woe to him! Woe to him!"
—Sunan Abu Dawud 4990
Whatever is repeated thrice is a dire matter indeed, so it isn’t something we should take lightly or dismiss out of hand.
In Closing
For the reasons listed above, the Sisters in Sunnah Discord server does not have a meme channel, and the subthread which was created was also taken down. I do not wish to encourage that kind of dedicated space and time-wasting on the pursuit of idle joking. Whatever happens to come up in the main lounge chat is more than sufficient (and truth be told, could probably be toned down a bit.)
Because of the world we live in, I respect that submitting to the decree of Allah may be difficult. It may be something that many of us struggle with. But we should not be from the people who reject the truth when it comes to us, aouthubillah. Let us not, in a moment of knee-jerk, emotional reactions, speak a word displeasing to Our Creator.
May Allah rectify all of our affairs and make us from among those He is pleased with. May He take our souls in a good state and accept our sincere deeds from us. Ameen.