—or even uttering falsehood—brings nothing but blame and harm.

Next the author cites the hadith narrated by Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) in which the Prophet ﷺ said, “Shall I not inform you of the gravest of the major sins?” The particle alā is an introductory device the Prophet ﷺ used to alert the listener to a matter of great importance. Thus he asked, “Shall I not inform you of the gravest of the major sins?” They replied, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah!” He said, “Associating partners with Allah.” This is the greatest injustice, the most serious of the major sins, and the offense that carries the severest punishment, for whoever commits shirk—Allah has forbidden Paradise to him, his abode is the Fire, and the wrongdoers will have no helpers.

The second is disrespect toward parents, meaning cutting off the dutifulness owed to them. Parents are the father and the mother, and a person is obliged to honor them, serve them as much as he can, and obey them in everything except what brings harm or involves disobedience to Allah—in that case there is no obedience.

The narrator continues: The Prophet ﷺ had been reclining, then he sat upright to underscore what he was about to say and declared, “And beware of false speech and false testimony!” He magnified their seriousness because they occur so often and people pay them so little heed, wanting to show everyone how momentous they truly are. He had been speaking about shirk and disrespect to parents while reclining, but he sat up, concerned, and said, “And beware of false speech and false testimony!” He kept repeating it until we thought, “If only he would stop.”

This demonstrates the enormity of bearing or uttering false testimony, and a person must repent to Allah from it, for, as I have said, it entails wrongdoing against oneself and against the one on whose behalf the false testimony is given.

Allah alone grants success.