Humour As An Encouragement (To Teach)
The objective and mission of every prophet of Allah was to spread Islam to the people they were sent to, and to teach them about Islam. Nabi S.A.W. made an effort to fulfill this objective and sometimes, he would teach Islam and encourage others by using humour.

People have different personalities and when we read through the Seerah, we learn that one great quality of Nabi S.A.W. was the ability to understand each individual’s personality and interact with them accordingly.

As an example, a person once came to Nabi S.A.W. and asked for advice. Nabi S.A.W. said “Do not get angry”. Nabi S.A.W. repeated this advice to him. Scholars mention that the reason why such advice was given is because Nabi S.A.W. knew that this person needed to learn how to control his anger. If another person came to ask for advice, the advice would have probably been different.

In the same way, at times, Nabi S.A.W. taught people by using humour. An incident in this regard is mentioned in the Ahadith…
أَتَتْ عَجُوزٌ إِلَى النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم، فَقَالَتْ‏:‏ يَا رَسُولَ اللهِ، ادْعُ اللَّهَ أَنْ يُدْخِلَنِي الْجَنَّةَ، فَقَالَ‏:‏ يَا أُمَّ فُلانٍ، إِنَّ الْجَنَّةَ لا تَدْخُلُهَا عَجُوزٌ، قَالَ‏:‏ فَوَلَّتْ تَبْكِي، فَقَالَ‏:‏ أَخْبِرُوهَا أَنَّهَا لا تَدْخُلُهَا وَهِيَ عَجُوزٌ إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى، يَقُولُ‏:‏ إِنَّا أَنْشَأْنَاهُنَّ إِنْشَاءً، فَجَعَلْنَاهُنَّ أَبْكَارًا، عُرُبًا أَتْرَابًا‏.
Hasan Basri R.A. says that an old woman came to Nabi S.A.W. and made a request, O Messenger of Allah make Dua that Allah grants me entrance into Jannah.

Nabi S.A.W. replied, O Mother, an old woman cannot enter Jannah. That woman started crying and began to leave. Nabi S.A.W. said, say to the woman that one will not enter in a state of old age, but Allah will make all the women of Jannah young virgins. Allah Ta’ala says, “Lo! We have created them a (new) creation and made them virgins, lovers, equal in age.” (Surah Waaqi’ah, 35-37). [Tirmidhi]

In the above incident, Nabi S.A.W. wanted to teach the lady that the people of Paradise will be young. He used humour to pass on the message. The objective here was not simply to make a joke. The objective was to teach.

Scholars mention that Nabi S.A.W. understood the nature of the lady and that is why he chose humour to pass on the message. Had it been another person asking, he might have not used humour. He also probably sensed that the lady needed some sort of encouragement.

The lesson we can learn from here is to understand people’s personalities before being humorous and making a joke. Sometimes, the person might be such that he/she cannot handle a joke or might take offence to it.

If a person is generally bubbly and makes jokes, then it won’t be a problem to joke with such a person. Some people are naturally not the humorous type. There is nothing wrong with them, it is just their personality. With such people we should abstain from making too much jokes.