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Friday Talks faheemfb@gmail.com

195

In the name of Allah most gracious most merciful. 

The Tongue

Written by:  Sk Subhi Al-Kattaf

Translated by: Dr. Faheem Bukhatwa

 

12  Thel-Qada 1438.

04  August       2017.

All thanks be to Allah the Lord of the worlds. All peace and prayers be upon the most honourable of all messengers.

Dear Muslims, it is true that Allah Has given mankind uncountable number of mercies. One of those mercies is the tongue, which humankind can use; in order to express what they want or need. It is Allah’s grace that He made a tool or mechanism for humankind to use in the art of rhetoric and speech, which is the tongue and lips. Allah says: {Did We not assign him two eyes (8) And a tongue and two lips, (9)} 90:8-9. That is a tongue for speaking used to express what is within his conscience. Two lips assist in the talking as well as consuming food. Allah also says: {He created man. (3) He Has taught him the art of expression and rhetoric. (4)} 55:3-4. Even though languages and speech are not specific to humankind alone compared with other creations. Every other creature has its own language. Allah says: {Everything and anything praise Him with thanks; but you do not understand their praise}17:44. Allah also says: {And there were gathered unto Solomon; his armies of the jinn and humankind, and of the birds, and they were set in battle order; (17) Till, when they reached the Valley of the Ants, an ant said: O ants! Enter your dwellings lest Solomon and his armies crush you, unknowingly. (18) And (Solomon) smiled, laughing at her speech.. } 27:17-19.

Dear Muslims, despite the fact that the tongue is one of the great mercies of Allah, and one of His most gentle creations, yet it is a weapon of two edges. If used in obedience of Allah such as: Reciting Quran, commending good, and deterring evil, support for victims of aggression, this is what’s required of every Muslim. This becomes a way of giving thanks to Allah for this mercy. While if used in obedience of Satan, and dismantling the unity of Muslims, lying, false testimonies, backbiting, spreading rumours, and violation of the sanctity of the honour of Muslims and much more of what Allah and His messenger have prohibited. This is the total demise and loss, and this is denial of this great mercy.

A tongue is small in size; but great in value of obedience or value of evil or crime. It is through tongue that faith or disbelief become very clear. There is nothing that the tongue does not indulge itself into, or gets involved into. It involves itself at anything that exists or does not exist, created or the creator, imaginary or real. It deals with all and it involves itself with all; in either negative or positive ways. Anything that science deals with the tongue expresses it either truthfully or falsely. This is a characteristic, which other organs do not have. For example, the eye only reaches images and colours. The ear reaches and deals with nothing else other than sounds. Hands can only reach physical matter. However, a tongue has a very wide field or spectrum, it has no limits and its arguments have no ends. In good; it has a wide scope; and in evil; it has sweeping tail. It is the hardest organ to keep under control by man; because it does not tire out, no energy is needed to get going. Yet, most people took little care in protecting themselves from its problems, injuries and dangers. They failed to take precautions against its traps and nares. It has become the greatest tool of Satan; used for the temptation of humankind. Because of that, time and time again, statements in the Quran and Sunnah and the early Muslims kept on warning against those problems. The reason is that whoever let his tongue loose, and ignore it to its free will; then Satan will lead it into every arena, and take it to the edge of a cliff, which slides into hell. The messenger ppbu said: {People are dropped on their faces into hellfire for nothing else except as a consequence of their tongues}.

Only those who firmly tie down their tongues with religious controls will be saved. Let it go free only into what will be of benefit in this life and next, and hold it from anything which can have bad consequence sooner or later.

Poetry:

Hey man, hold on to your tongue;; it is a snake that can sting you,

Many were killed by their tongues;; while brave men feared them

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A man may die due to a slip of his tongue,

While due to a foot slip; no man ever dies.

A slip up in words can take a life away,

While a foot slip, would heal in time.

Infections of the tongue are numerous. They include backbiting, slandering, and talking on behalf or about God without knowledge, lying, defamation, rudeness using foul language, arguing, enmity or hostility, disgracing and insulting others by frequently reminding them of a favour, swearing at others, cursing, making mockery of others, demeaning them by name calling, the forbidden dirty singing and poems, and betraying secrets, and refraining from commanding good and refraining from deterring evil, and so many more problems and infections. It is worth knowing that all those problems can be attributed to two main issues. First, talking in evil. And the second, not talking for the truth and the right. The way to be saved in both situations is to refrain from talking, and when talking, only say the truth. The messenger ppbu said: {He is saved, this who remains silent}.

Dear Muslims, our Lord Allah told us in His book that our words are calculated or counted for us: {No words he utters but there is an ever ready observe} 50:18. Whatever man says, good or evil is written for him. Ebn-Masood said: nothing deserves more imprisonment than the tongue.

Slaves of Allah, holding on to the tongue, and only using it to speak good words is a proof of faith. The messenger ppbu said: {Whoever has faith in Allah and the next life then let them say good words or go silent}. Just one word can be a great gate to paradise or can be a great gate to hellfire. The messenger ppbu said: {A man may say a word pleasing to Allah; not thinking it would have such an effect, but Allah decrees His satisfaction because of it to the day He meets him. A man may say a word out of the anger and wrath of Allah; not thinking it would have such an effect, but Allah decrees His anger because of it to the day He meets him}. The messenger ppbu also said: {A man would say a word and he sees no harm in it, but because of it he drops seventy years in hellfire}.

Talking a lot is a blabber; and blabber is highly discouraged from a religious point of view. The messenger ppbu said: {the furthest or most distant from me on the day of resurrection are the blabbers or those who talk a lot}. Allah explains that with some exceptions, talking has no good value: {There is no good in much of their secret conferences except him who enjoins or commands donation and kindness and peace-making among the people..} 4:114.

If one talks a lot; not in what is pleasing to Allah; or not in what gains Allah’s contentment then the heart hardens and the organs become lazy in obedience. The most distant from Allah are those with cruel and hardened hearts. Similarly, silence is a saver in this life and next. So, restraining the tongue from talking will combine the good in this life and next. The messenger ppbu talking to Muad said: {The head of the entire issue (or the most important thing in life) is Islam, and its main column or pillar is the daily prayers, and the peak of its prominence is striving (jihad). And shall I tell you how to control all that? Hold on to (or restrain) this (pointing at the tongue)}. Muad asked: are we going to be judged for the words we say? The messenger said affirming: {People are dropped into hellfire for reasons other than the consequence of their tongues}. The one thing the messenger ppbu fears most for the safety of a Muslim is his tongue. The messenger ppbu said: {every other part of the body suffers and complains from the blabber, sharpness and rudeness of the tongue}. The messenger ppbu also said: {A sign of being a better Muslim for a person is to leave well alone what doesn’t concern him}.

Slaves of Allah, movement of the tongue and the words it generates is a reflection of what is in the heart. Hearts are like a cooking pot boiling with whatever is in it. Tongues are like the ladle or spoon. When one talks then he bringing out what is inside of his heart. It can be sweet, sour, fresh, pure or mudded and others. The taste of the heart is shown by what the tongue scoops. Allah says: {O you who have faith, Be God fearing, and speak words straight and wise; (70) He will put right your deeds for you and will forgive you your sins. Whosoever obeys Allah and His messenger, he verily has won a great victory. (71)} 33:70-71. There is a saying: “if spoken words are silver, then silence is gold”. This is true, and it is a wisdom; which was told about prophet Dawood pbu.

Here are some examples of the early Muslims. They understood how dangerous the tongue is; and the words that it produces, so they took extra precautions. Some dead scholar was seen in a dream; and he was asked how he was. He said: “I am held at a word I said. I said: (people are in a desperate need for some rain). I am told now: (How did you know? Are you more aware of the needs of My slaves than I?)”.

One of companions once said to his wife: Get us the dinner table, let us mess round with it. Then he said: Forgive me God (أستغفر الله). I never speak a word until I muzzle it and I rein it (in other words filter it out well), but this word came out of me without filtering.

Ebn-Abbas was seen holding his tongue and saying: “shame on you. Either say good words; then you will gain; or be silent; off evil then you will be safe. Or else you will be sorry”. He was asked: why do you say that? He said: “I was told that on the day of resurrection, mankind will not be as mad and as annoyed at any part of his body like he would be at his tongue, except him who says good words.”

Younis Ben-Abeed said: Anyone I’ve seen who keeps close control on his tongue then I find him similar on all his other deeds. And anyone I find to have vulgar or rude mouth then I find him the same with the rest of his deeds.

Abu-Baker talking about his tongue said: “this got me into situations”.

Omar ebn-Khattab said: Whoever talks a lot, will fall a lot.

Ali ben abi-Talib said: The tongue is the measure of the body. If the tongue is straight then the organs are straight. And if the tongue suffers then no organ will be safe.

Muhammad ebn-Wassee said: holding on to the tongue is more difficult for people than holding on to money.

Finally, the messenger ppbu said: {there were two men amongst the people of Israel living as brothers. One sinned and the other was actively obedient. Whenever the obedient saw the sinner sinning, he used to say to him: stop that. Once the sinner replied to him saying: “leave me alone. Were you sent to watch over me?” The Obedient said: “Allah will not forgive you, will not bring you into paradise”. They both died and met at the hands of Allah. Allah said to the obedient: Did you have all the knowledge about me? Or were you in control over what I have or what I can do? Allah said to the sinner: Because of My mercy go and enter paradise. And Allah said to the other: take him into hellfire}. Abo-Hurairah said: He spoke one word that wasted both his lives, the first and the next.