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The way that you joke actually says a lot about you, and joking is something that we should really take serious in terms of the ethics that surround it, right?

Sometimes jokes can actually really humiliate someone. Sometimes they can honor someone.

Sometimes jokes can take away from your own dignity, right? Because they display something about you that's actually not that pleasant.

And sometimes jokes can be used to bring joy. So it's really about how you're using the joke, who you're joking with, and what the intention of the joke actually is.

Now the first time the Prophet ﷺ would joke with you, it would probably take you back. Why? Because he's also Allah ﷺ, right?

So you hold him in such high esteem, as you should ﷺ. You've seen him in such a noble way, as you should ﷺ.

And the first time he jokes with you, you're going to be taking it back. And the Prophet ﷺ had that experience with some of the companions.

So he would tell a joke ﷺ and some of the sahabah said, Ya Rasulullah, you're joking with this? Like, are you really joking with us?

And the Prophet ﷺ said, Ya Joke, wa la akhuru illa s-sidhqah.

Ya Joke, but I only speak the truth, even when I joke. So the first thing about the joking of the Prophet ﷺ is that the Prophet ﷺ,

Asad al-Ameen, the honest and trustworthy one, the truthful one, would not tell a joke with a lion, meaning he wouldn't deceive you with a joke.

And so the Prophet ﷺ set that standard. And by the way, he also guaranteed alaihi s-salatu wa s-salam, a home fee wasat al-Jannah,

a home in the middle of paradise, liman tarak al-Kedib, wa incan amazihan, for someone that leaves off lying even if they are telling a joke.

Now when you actually start to get to the specific jokes of the Prophet ﷺ, I don't want you to feel bad if you don't find them funny.

Why? Because jokes usually don't translate well across culture and language, right?

So your parents' jokes are probably not funny to you, and your jokes are certainly not funny to your parents, right?

It's kind of all over the place. So when you start talking about jokes across culture and language, and you're talking about 1400 years ago,

obviously there's a context to it. There's something that people would have found funny, that you would not find funny.

But at the same time, it's just the idea of how the Prophet ﷺ used to joke that was so beautiful.

And it starts off with his family. A'ish ala wa ta'ala, and she tells us that if it wasn't a serious matter,

the Prophet ﷺ always found a way to tell a joke about it.

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