Are we allowed to write ficticious stories?

Question:

I am a comedy writer, a stage performer, a director, and a dramatic actor. I read a hadîth in which the Prophet spoke of woe on a person who makes others laugh by speaking lies. I stopped all of my activities and now look forward to you for fatwâ on comedy writing.

Answer:

Al-Salâm `Alaykum wa Rahmah Allah wa Barakâtuh.

The hadîth that you mention is referring to the telling falsehoods about supposedly true events. This could be by changing the facts about something that actually took place or by imagining something that never took place and then telling others that it had actually occurred. The actual forbidden act is to tell others of false and untrue events.

However, if you imagine a story which is known to your readers or listeners to be ficticious , this is not the same as telling lies. This is only an expression of your imagination.

I hold the opinion that it is permissible for you to write comedy stories, particularly if you aim to use them to highlight moral behaviors and for other positive objectives.

Our Islamic nation is in need of intellectual and artistic activities that promote decent values. By doing so, you are in fact providing a lawful alternative to the bad and immoral messages that are so widespread in the arts these days.       

http://en.islamtoday.net/quesshow-7-948.htm

Here's another similar question:

I had been reading some novels that were written with an Islamic outlook. I was impressed by them and recommended them to a friend of mine. When he heard me praising these novelse, he said to me: "Don't you know that fiction is unlawful, becuase it is a type of lie and lying is forbidden?" Please inform me of whether or not what my friend said is true.

Answer:

With respect to fiction as a literary form, it does not constitute a form of lie. The reason for this is that the fictitious narrative does not fall under the category of an allegedly factual “report”. It is more akin to citing parables. The reader is fully aware that the author is not intending to impart a strictly factual account of something that actually took place. The author is merely telling a tale to bring some meanings across to the reader.

Even though the individual events mentioned in the narrative may be everyday events, it is not necessary that they actually took place with the same details and in the same sequence with the same individuals that they occur in the story.

And Allah knows best.

http://en.islamtoday.net/quesshow-7-1873.htm