Is the April Fools Day origin story a prank itself?

Debunking of the hoax about April Fool’s day associating Muslims.
Stakes are too high for Muslims to fall victim to such lies.

Published on: April 1, 2016

April Fool’s Day- a day for which all the pranksters around the globe eagerly wait. In the recent years, elaborate pranks have been devised to fool people, many of which include fake death news of popular figures, too-good-to-be-true offers, unveiling of futuristic products and jokes just to mess with others. But certainly not a single one of them intended to celebrate the fooling of Muslims by the Christians. So why do the Muslims believe the story and why don’t they celebrate the day? Let’s dig deeper.

Summary of the Hoax

The starting of the hoax is unknown but it vastly spread around late nineties when chain e-mails started circulating widely. It describes the story how the Christians spied on the Muslims to get to know about their lifestyle and eventually spoiled the young Muslims of Spain with free alcohol and cigars which lead to the fall of Muslim reign in Granada on 1st of April. Another similar hoax says that after the Muslims were expelled from Granada, they were tricked into getting on to ships for being transported but were burnt alive. A variant of the latter hoax that is widely preached by the Hojors in Bangladesh says that after the Muslims were captured, they were asked to take shelter in mosques. They were promised they won’t be harmed but regardless, were burnt alive on April 1.

The stories are so ridiculous they don’t even need mythbusters. But for the sake of argument lets debunk the hoax. But before that lets look on some historical facts.

Historical Facts

The Muslims ruled Spain from 711-1492. The fall of Muslim reign was marked by the surrender of Muhammad XII to Ferdinand and Isabella on 2nd of January, 1492. [1] The surrender was a result of the Battle of Granada [2] during which the treaty of Granada was signed between Muhammad XII and Ferdinand and Isabella. According to the Treaty of Granada, Muslims were given permission to reside and practice their religion without any intrusion[3]. But soon after, the treaty was broken and Muslims were given a choice of conversion or exile. Many converted but continued practicing Islam in secrecy and became known as crypto-muslims or moriscos. The Expulsion of Moriscos was decreed on April 9, 1609 By King Phillip III of Spain. [4]

Debunking

PictureTwo things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about th’universe!

Is this quote legit? Find out!

The claim that you need to send spies to know lifestyle and weakness of the Muslims is absurd enough to realize the level of lies associated with the story. Then comes the fact that tobacco was introduced to Europe at least 20 years after the fall of Granada, in the beginning of 16th century by Columbus, which he carried back from the Caribbean. [5]
The second claim is also clear as a hoax after you know the history. To quote Wikipedia, “The option of exile was often not feasible in practice because of the difficulty in uprooting one's family and making the journey to Muslim lands in North Africa, the inability to pay the fee required by the authorities for safe passage, and the general tendency by the authorities to discourage and hinder such exodus.” [6] So it’s ridiculous to say that the Muslims were given a chance to be transported. And there is no evidence of fooling in association with the exile. Even the expulsion was decreed on April 9th, not on 1st.

Do the stories resemble any historical event?

PictureNortheast exposure of Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, in the Old City of Jerusalem. Considered to be the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina. Photo by Andrew Shiva

Northeast exposure of Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, in the Old City of Jerusalem. Considered to be the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina. Photo by Andrew Shiva

Now let’s look on if there’s any trickery of the Christians that lead to any massacre of the Muslims. While it is possible that during the last 1406 years of Islam, there may have been some incidents as such but I could not find any. The closest I could find was the Siege of Jerusalem in 1099. After the fall of Jerusalem, the Crusaders massacred thousands of Muslims and Jews [7] to the point of ankle-deep blood. On one account of the siege though, it is described that many Muslims took shelter in Mosque of Al-Aqsa and eventually surrendered to Tancred[8] after promising ransom and flowing his banner. But a band of crusaders against his wish broke into Al-Aqsa and slaughtered all of them. [9] [10]. While it is a grievous story, it is in no account associated with April Fool’s Day and the Muslims were never mocked as being fooled; rather an apology was expressed in a Reconciliation Walk on 1996. [11]

Origin of April Fool's Day

Dont believe everything you read on the internet just because theres a picture with a quote next to it

"I read it in the paper so it must be true. I love newspapers!" -Moriarty

Now let’s look on how the April Fool’s Day came to be. Although the exact source can be hard to trace back, several explanations can be found. Some say that the transition from Julian to Gregorian calendar in 1582 caused all the trouble. The Julian calendar celebrated its new year during the week March 25 to April 1. So when the Gregorian introduced the new calendar with the first day being 1st January, complications arose and those who stuck with the Julian calendar faced some pranks. Although, there’s some confusion with this explanation which you can read here [12]. In France, those who are fooled on April 1 are called the “Poisson d’Avril” (the April Fish). While it is not clear of the origins of fish being associated with April 1, many think the correlation is related to zodiac sign of Pisces (a fish), which falls near April. [13]

Become a responsible citizen

The history has enough evidence for us to not make up fraudulent stories. Yet it’s such a shame that these hoax can survive the lack of reference to support their claim and spread like a wildfire. It’s a shame that an entire book was written describing the ‘original story’ behind April Fool’s Day with reference to fictitious scholars. [14] It’s a shame that Islamic Lecturers of Indian subcontinent still tell these stories during lectures. It’s a shame that even from being only a few clicks away from the truth, we are ignorant enough to believe a hoax. The following verses from Al-Quran are enough for us to contemplate before coming to a conclusion.

Indeed, the worst of living creatures in the sight of Allah are the deaf and dumb who do not use reason.
Al-Anfal (8:22) [15]

And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart - about all those [one] will be questioned.
Al-Isra (17:36) [16]

Or do you think that most of them hear or reason? They are not except like livestock. Rather, they are [even] more astray in [their] way.
Al-Furqan (25:44) [17]

Last but not least, it is not forbidden for making jokes in Islam but it must not consist of any lies and scaring. There are several other things one must keep in mind while joking. [18] Tradition of humor can be traced back to the Prophet Muhammad. [19]

Hope this article clears you of any misconception and helps you be an educated person. With all the anti-islamic propaganda going on all over the world, the stakes are too high for Muslims to fall victim to lies.

References

Further reading:
http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_901_950/truth_about_april_fool.htm
(an article by Muhammad Tariq Ghazi, based in Ottawa, Canada, is a veteran journalist and historian)
http://www.hasaan.com/2012/04/april-fools-day-removing-muslim-worlds.html