Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Enter Question
View By Subject
Fatwa Of The Week
Selected Fatwa
Fatwa CenterLaughing at a Joke or a Funny Video Is Not Kufr
Question
Asalaamualaikum, my question is with regards to urges to laugh/smile. I keep coming across videos that I’m unsure if it constitutes mocking religion. An example is one where a guy calls in a talk show asking for a fatwa on if he invalidated his fast after accidentally tripping, eating a whole shawarma, an apple, and 3 liters of water, then there was a re-enactment of the scenario where someone filmed himself doing all of these things. Is this type of video considered mocking? And If someone were to laugh at this video due to the dramatic nature of it, is this blameworthy? Additionally, what guideline can we follow to differentiate with certainty what is actually lighthearted, verses mocking that is blameworthy?
Additionally, whenever people ask questions for fatwa, sometimes I get the urge to laugh because of thinking of the scenario. Would this be blameworthy also? I keep trying to fight urges to laugh but these things keep coming out of nowhere and it takes me by surprise usually.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
You have to repel these whispers because giving in to them leads to a great evil. Mocking the religion and its rituals is forbidden, but if the speaker intended to mock the person who did some acts and not the religious ritual, then this is not Kufr (disbelief) even though mockery and ridicule are totally dispraised.
Allah Says (what means): {…let not a people ridicule [another] people; perhaps they may be better than them.} [Quran 49:11]
Therefore, it is more appropriate for a Muslim to avoid these jokes and the like, although it is not considered Kufr (disbelief) unless the person intended to mock the rituals of the religion and its rulings.
For more benefit on mocking the religion of Islam or its rituals, please refer to Fataawa 5088, 328495, 246388 and 207718.
Allah knows best.
Search Fatwa
Fatwa Subject
