Back to search

What is the ruling on friends playfully insulting each other, exchanging satirical verses as a joke, provided there is no fear of enmity arising?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Lampooning (hijāʾ) is reviling and enumerating faults, often in poetic form. An explicit prohibition against reviling a Muslim has been reported. Lampooning is forbidden by the consensus of the Ummah, whether it is done in jest or seriously, because jesting with vulgar language violates the sanctity of a Muslim. Furthermore, souls are affected by words, even if the opposite is outwardly shown, and a Muslim must ensure that other Muslims are safe from his tongue and his hand.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy