Fatima, 7, disappeared yesterday from her mother's sight for three hours causing a commotion in the family. When the family was about to report her disappearance to the police, Fatima reappeared, laughing and saying her disappearance was meant to be just an “April fool” prank. Unfortunately, Fatima and her sisters barely 15 years old, were not aware that such prank could be cause for their mother suffering a heart attack. Wafa, Fatima's eldest sister, said they did not expect that a lie to mark “April fool” could have had such an impact. “I hear stories about ‘April Fool' from my friends in the school.” Fatima said, “We decided to hide our youngest sister, Fatima and say that she has been kidnapped. We were not aware that this lie would cause our mother to suffer a heart attack.” The April Fool ‘phenomenon' has spread greatly in Saudi Arabia among the youth, especially among male and female school and university going students through internet and other social networking websites. Ali Bin Rajab, a student of King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah says: “April fool represents a negative aspect of a society that has spread widely among the Saudi youth,” he said. “I was surprised today to read on FaceBook that one of my friends spread the news that he got engaged to a girl. This was a surprise for me and I was about to congratulate him, but I learnt later that it was a white lie on “April Fool” Day.” Bin Rajab drew attention to a campaign entitled “The World Truth Day” that is launched every year on April 1. He said the idea of the Day, which was launched nearly a year ago, focuses on changing the concept of April Fool so as to spread another idea, which is the “Truth Day”. He stressed the importance of the World Truth Day instead of lying on April Fool Day even if it was for the sake of jest, as lying is undesirable. He said, “We must enlighten the youth that lying does not represent us nor our religion. Truth is the basis of our Islamic morals so that a person does not get used to lying. This characteristic which starts with this day might continue.” Blackberry phones were among the sets that spread lies and rumors the most on April 1, as there were many messages that spread rumors widely. Khalid Hamad, an employee, said he was disturbed greatly on Sunday due to the many messages that came on his Blackberry phone to the extent that he was forced to switch off his mobile throughout Sunday. He said at the beginning he believed some of the messages, but he discovered later that they were “April Fool” lies. __
