Page 26 - What the Qur'an Says about Liars and Their Methods

WHAT THE QUR'AN SAYS ABOUT LIARS AND THEIR METHODS
guarded from the avarice of their own selves who are
successful. (Surat al-Hashr, 59:9)

To show off:
One of the most common reasons for lying is to show off
to one another. As Allah tells us in the Qur'an, these people are
very prone to boasting and showing off:
Know that the life of this world is merely a game and
a diversion, ostentation, and a cause of boasting
among yourselves, and trying to outdo one another in
wealth and children: like the plant-growth after rain
that delights the cultivators, but then it withers and
you see it turning yellow, and then it becomes broken
stubble. In the Hereafter there is terrible punishment
but also forgiveness from Allah and His good pleas-
ure. The life of this world is nothing but the enjoy-
ment of delusion. (Surat al-Hadid, 57:20)
You are obsessed by greed for more and more until
you go down to your graves... (Surat at-Takathur,
102:1-2)
When people who are so given to boasting think that they
do not have enough to boast about, they resort to lying right
away by pointing to things they do not really own. For exam-
ple, in order to suggest that a perfectly ordinary item is more
valuable than it really is, they boast that they paid quite a bit
more for it than they actually did. They also exaggerate their
position at work by implying that they hold a higher post, one
with greater responsibility, than they actually do.
They do this in the mistaken belief that they will thereby
convince others that they possess the same material or moral
characteristics as those people who are respected. And so they

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