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Laughing loudly is disliked

Question

Assalaamu alaykum. I would like to know whether laughing out loud is haram in Islam; and secondly, someone mentioned that laughing loudly is a devil's laugh and that we should refrain from laughing loudly. Kindly advise with references. Salaam.

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  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

When that person said that laughing loudly is a devil's laugh, he might have been referring to the hadeeth that reads, “Laughter is from the devil, and smiling is from Allah.” This is a weak hadeeth, as has been stated by Shaykh Al-Albaani in his book Dha’eef Al-Jaami’ As-Sagheer.

Laughing loudly (Arabic: Qahqahah) is not haram, but it is disliked, so a Muslim should avoid it.

The Kuwaiti Fiqh Encyclopedia reads:

Laughing is either smiling or laughing loudly; in principle, if it is smiling, then it is permissible according to the agreement of the scholars, as the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) used to smile and urged us to smile. ‘Abdullah ibn Al-Haarith, may Allah be pleased with him, said, ‘The laughter of the Messenger of Allah  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) was only smiling.’ Moreover, the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said, ‘Smiling in the face of your Muslim brother is an act of charity.’

As regards laughing loudly, the jurists disliked it and forbade laughing loudly too much. The Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said, “Do not laugh too much, as laughing too much renders the heart dead.

Tanbeeh Al-Ghaafileen bi Ahadeeth Sayyid Al-Anbiyaa’ wal-Mursaleen, authored by As-Samarqandi, reads, “This narration is evidence that smiling is permissible. The forbiddance (in the hadeeth) is relevant to laughing loudly, so a sane person should not laugh loudly.

Allah knows best.

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