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Fatwa CenterLaughing at skit about drinking alcohol
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. I have sent this question before, but I made a mistake in the question number and accidentally quoted the fatwa number. Please accept my apologies. This is a follow up to question No. 2678145. I did not completely understand the answer, so I hope that you will be able to help me through this example. One of the groups in my class did a skit where two people were being coerced by one another into a more hedonistic lifestyle. So the one coercing them was trying to force them into drinking and partying while the other two were pretending to be coerced into it and started agreeing with the first person. This was done as an act and in jest, and some parts involved the two who were being coerced exaggerating their ignorance, such as mistaking the word "drinking" for drinking chocolate milk etc. All three of the students were non-Muslim, and none of this act involved joking about anyone who refrained from drinking due to their belief in Islam. The two who were being coerced simply pretended to be non-Muslims who had never been involved in a hedonistic lifestyle and were now giving into the temptation. There was no actual reference to the Shariah prohibition on drinking nor to any Muslim who refrains from drinking. However, given the joking nature of this skit, would it be an act of apostasy if a Muslim were to laugh at it or partake in it despite believing that drinking alcohol is a sin and immoral? Thank you.
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, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
First of all, we advise you to beware of Waswaas (obsessive doubts/devilish whisperings) about Kufr (disbelief) and apostasy and of getting carried away with it and asking many questions about it. This opens the door to grave evils.
Kufr is not a slight matter, and no one is to be accused of it for the slightest reason, as apostasy from Islam has many consequences in this life and in the afterlife, including separating the apostate from his Muslim wife, killing him if he does not repent to Allah (from apostasy), not holding a funeral prayer for him when he dies, nor shrouding him or burying him in Muslim cemeteries, in additin to the fact that he would eternally abide in Hellfire.
A Muslim is not to be accused of Kufr merely for laughing at the mentioned scene or partaking in the acting; however, this is prohibited. It is incumbent on the Muslim to avoid the places where sins are committed and keenly stay away from them, let alone partake in them. Allah, the Exalted, says (what means): {And when you see those who engage in (offensive) discourse concerning Our verses, then turn away from them until they enter into another conversion. And if Satan should cause you to forget, then do not remain after the reminder with the wrongdoing people.} [Quran 6:68]
Allah knows best.
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