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What is the ruling on brandishing a weapon in someone's face as a joke, and what are the consequences for someone who does that?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It is not permissible for a Muslim to brandish a weapon in the face of his Muslim brother, even from a distance, because modern weapons can strike from afar. Whoever does this must seek forgiveness. As it is stated in the Hadith: "Whoever carries weapons against us is not one of us." And "Whoever points an iron object at his brother, the angels curse him until he puts it down, even if he is his full brother." In another narration: "None of you should point a weapon at his brother, for none of you knows, perhaps Satan might cause his hand to slip, and he would fall into a pit of Hellfire." The prohibition is general and includes jesting and playing, because terrifying a Muslim is forbidden, and because a weapon might discharge prematurely and lead to unintentional killing.

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

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