My elder brother does not pray and I want to do something about that. May I tell a lie and tell him that I had a bad dream about him just to frighten him and encourage him to pray? Please advise me.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and messenger.

First of all, we ask Allaah The Almighty to guide your brother. Furthermore, you should try every available means to convince your brother of the importance of adhering to the religious commandments, the most important of which is performing the daily prayers.

You could, for instance, remind him of death, the reckoning of the grave and its punishment, the horrors of the Day of Judgment and such frightening matters that only upright Muslims will survive. You may also relate to him stories of sinners, upon whom signs of a bad end were clear at the time of their death. Hopefully this will have an effect on him.

As for lying and claiming that you have seen a dream which you have not really seen, then this is not permissible because lying is one of the graves major sins.