Is it permissible to circulate this joke: "A Bengali muezzin at a mosque in Jeddah, a worshipper entered and asked him: How much time is left until the Iqamah? The Bengali replied: Three months and six days"?

The answer can be summarized as follows: There is no harm in narrating a true joke as long as it does not involve belittling an individual or a group. However, anything that involves belittling or ridiculing people is forbidden, especially if the person harmed is a scholar or a memorizer of the Quran, because Islamic law encourages respecting and revering scholars. It warns against fabricating false jokes, as a person who speaks fabricated stories to make people laugh is disobedient to Allah and His Messenger. Lying is not permissible, neither in seriousness nor in jest, and it is prohibited in Islam whether for joking or otherwise. Severe warnings have been reported against those who lie to make people laugh.