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Amongst the rare and truthful posts shared on social media is the one below.
Many Muslims today have developed what can be described as the “frivolous personality”—a personality that is unserious and habitually treats serious matters as a joke. Such a person tries to extract humour from everything, jokes about everything, and fails to respect what deserves to be respected.
Instead, they turn serious matters into objects of amusement. They shy away from seriousness and regard anyone who calls them to dignity and composure as gloomy, uptight, or overly stern.
This is the personality that has been shaped over the years by a culture of comedy shows, theatrical performances, and sitcoms—a personality that cannot tolerate seriousness, not even in places such as funeral gatherings.It flees from its painful reality through stale and tasteless humour instead of striving to reform that reality.
Worse still, it turns that very painful reality into material for jokes.It even turns the oppression of corrupt rulers and their supporters into a source of comedy, releasing feelings of humiliation and anger through pointless and superficial laughter instead of transforming those emotions into a driving force for meaningful change and a concern that lifts one’s aspirations above trivialities.
So do not be surprised when you see a president, king, or minister honouring a writer who jokes about the government or a cartoonist whose caricatures mock society.
For what could be more beneficial to tyrants than for people to be oppressed and humiliated, only to laugh at their own oppression and humiliation?
Those with a frivolous personality eventually reach a stage where they no longer even enjoy their constant joking.
Instead, it causes them disputes, resentment, misunderstandings, the loss of dignity, and the loss of people’s respect—yet they continue joking and behaving frivolously.
They have reached the stage of addiction, where a person fears abandoning a habit they have grown accustomed to, even though it no longer brings them happiness. It is as though they have forgotten the path of seriousness and no longer even think of returning to it.The frivolous personality does not truly hold anything in the reverence it deserves, nor does it honour what ought to be honoured.
Frivolity has spread into every aspect of its outlook.This is the root of the problem with those who joke about verses from the Book of Allah, Islamic terminology, or discussions about the Prophets, the angels, or the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them).
They may not intend to mock these sacred matters, but neither do they give them the reverence and respect they deserve. They have reached the point where anyone who calls them to such reverence is viewed as an extremist or an overly stern person.
Perhaps this helps us understand why our righteous predecessors (the Salaf) warned against excessive joking—lest people’s characters deteriorate into frivolous personalities, empty on the inside and inwardly miserable.
Instead of finding joy in reforming society and guiding people, they resort to shallow humour that gradually expands until it begins to encroach upon their religion itself, ultimately ruining both their worldly life and their Hereafter.
