Does There Exist Islamic Humor?
A good question. One might ask it about many cultures. This article in the American Spectator talks about it, not very usefully, but I’m glad it raised the question. Judaism and Christianity have humor even in the Scriptures, and the Vikings, Greeks, and Romans did. I’m not sure about ancient China, but certainly modern China does. How about the Mahabharata? Traditional Africans joke. People living under Communism joked. American Indians joked. Puritans and monks joked. (I of course do not mean that people don’t object to certain kinds of humor. Hardly anybody likes jokes made at their own expense. The question is whether *any* humor is allowed.) It would be amazing if Moslems, even Wahabis, did not joke, but maybe Islamists do try to suppress humor, as it seems feminists do, perhaps fearing it will be used against them.
What I liked best from the American Spectator article was this joke:
When I first saw the T-shirts and bumper stickers featuring Islamic Rage Boy and the caption “My child beheaded your honor student,” I got a chuckle out of it.
This is funny because one can imagine an Islamist wearing such a t-shirt proudly and without realizing the grim humor. Perhaps it would be “My children will behead your honor student,” though. Or, if I wanted to make a demographic point, it would be “My ten children will behead your honor student”.
July 26th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
That’s not funny.
Actually, lol, Islamists do have humor. I’m just not sure I understand it.
July 26th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Actually, it is funny. Most, if not all, humor is based on “the forbidden”. This is a classic case. Lenny Bruce would haved loved it.
July 26th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Sure there’s Muslim humor. Check out the Nasrudin stories (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasrudin).
July 26th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Reminds me of this:
http://www.lukeford.net/Images/photos/kidsblow.jpg
I wonder if any English speaking Muslims would laugh at this?
July 26th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Bomb Class…
When I was a kid growing up Catholic, we took our religious faith seriously, but we loved a good Catholic joke. Recently, I found myself wondering if Muslims have a tradition of self-deprecating humor. Eric Rasmusen is wondering , too. The cartoon abov…
July 26th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
“There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious.”
— Ayatollah Khomeini
July 27th, 2007 at 9:34 am
I remember seeing a couple of shirts. One said: “My other shirt is a Bomb” Another said: “I’m with the Infidel”. Pretty funny.
July 27th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
A Nasreddin story from WIkipedia:
Once, Nasreddin was invited to deliver a khutba. When he got on the minbar (pulpit), he asked “Do you know what I am going to say?” The audience replied “NO”, so he announced “I have no desire to speak to people who don’t even know what I will be talking about” and he left.
The people felt embarrassed and called him back again the next day. This time when he asked the same question, the people replied “YES”. So Nasreddin said, “Well, since you already know what I am going to say, I won’t waste any more of your time” and he left.
Now the people were really perplexed. They decided to try one more time and once again invited the Mullah to speak the following week. Once again he asked the same question – “Do you know what I am going to say?” Now the people were prepared and so half of them answered “YES” while the other half replied “NO”. So Nasreddin said “The half who know what I am going to say, tell it to the other half” and he left!
July 29th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
In the Arab world, there are many racially insensitive jokes about “dimwitted” [insert minority group here] people asking religious scholars really stupid questions, or jokes about stoned men stumbling into Friday sermons and getting them all wrong
They’re pretty funny too, and most Muslims don’t really take offense… except for fundamentalist Muslims who lost their sense of humor ages ago!
July 30th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I found this Islamic comedy website,
http://www.islamcan.com/cgi-bin/increaseiman/htmlfiles/static/113159680730468.shtml – it has a very interesting section called “Rules of Joking in Islam.”
It begins thusly:
Some people joke too much and it becomes a habit for them. This is the opposite of the serious nature which is the characteristic of the believers. Joking is a break, a rest from ongoing seriousness and striving; it is a little relaxation for the soul. ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azeez (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “Fear joking, for it is folly and generates grudges.”
November 16th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
The Humor of Islam…you’ll die laughing.
First book ever written on islamic humor….why only one book?
First book ever writtten on the humor of islam….no one died.
April 28th, 2010 at 2:52 am
cool article,actually i’m conducting a survey on islamic humor and humor in islam,I wonder wether you could help me,i will be grateful
thanks