The situation is hopeless, but not serious

Impudence, injustice, shamelessness, relentless price increases, poverty and fatal accidents: the article opens with a catalogue of realities it says cannot be swallowed or dismissed. It also mocks the familiar attitude that nothing serious will happen, even as people die in preventable accidents on land, at sea and in the air.

The answer it turns to is humor, described as both a way to prevent emotional explosions and a language through which society expresses itself. The article presents humor as a form of resistance from below against oppressive rule, using jokes and wit to expose social flaws and press for correction.

Drawing extensively on the Türkiye Diyanet Foundation’s Encyclopaedia of Islam, it distinguishes humor from more hostile forms of ridicule. Humor, the quoted definition says, does not arise from hatred or revenge and does not seek to humiliate. Its source lies in wordplay and verbal jokes that push beyond the rigid limits of expression.

The article also examines humor within Islamic thought. It notes that the Quran is understood to command reflection and prohibit mockery and satire, while accounts also describe the Prophet Muhammad as approving jokes and making them himself. It quotes a saying attributed to Ali: “Hearts become tired just as bodies do, so refresh them with wise words; the person who jokes does not grow old.”

The text then turns to the foundation’s work, noting that it commissioned theologian Esra Düzce Baş to write a 2021 book titled Humor in the Life of the Prophet. Its central idea, the article says, is clear: humor existed in Muhammad’s life, but it was not uncontrolled. It could make people smile and bring them closer together.

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Hearts become tired just as bodies do, so refresh them with wise words; the person who jokes does not grow old.