Beware of transgressions
of the tongue
By Khalid Baig
Friday, April 25, 2008
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•Khalifat
of Ahmadiyya Muslim community world-wide, Hadrat Mirza
Masroor Ahmad (right), with Nigeria Amir, Dr Moshood
Fashola, during his arrival at the Murtala Muhammed
Airport, Ikeja for the celebration of 100 years anniversary
of the Islamic organisation.
PHOTO: WALE OLUFADE
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"Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should say
something good or keep quiet," says Prophet Muhammed.
Famous companion, Muaz bin Jabal once asked the Prophet Muhammed
(peace be upon him), "Tell me about an act that will
cause me to enter Paradise and be protected from the Fire."
"You have indeed asked something profound," responded
the Prophet, "But it will be easy on whom Allah makes
it easy.
Worship Allah and do not associate any partners with Him.
Establish regular Salat, pay Zakat, fast during Ramadan, and
perform Hajj."
Then he asked Muaz, "Shall I not tell you about the doors
of good: fasting is a shield (against sins and against Hell-fire),
charity extinguishes sins like water extinguishes fire; and
the midnight prayer (the voluntary Tahajjud Salat)."
Then he recited this verse: "Their limbs do forsake their
beds of sleep, while they call on their Lord, in Fear and
Hope: and they spend (in charity) out of the sustenance which
We have bestowed on them." [Qur’an 32:16]
The Prophet continued: "Shall I tell you about the beginning,
the mainstay and the high point of these? The beginning is
(acceptance of) Islam; Its mainstay is Salat; its highest
point is Jihad (striving in the way of God)."
The Prophet asked: "Shall I tell you about the thing
on which all these depend?" He held his tongue and said,
"Guard this."
Muaz bin Jabal asked: "Shall we be questioned about our
utterances?"
On this the Prophet said, "Most people will be thrown
into Hell---face down---because of the transgressions of their
tongues."
The ability to speak and express themselves separates human
beings from animals. The proper use of this great gift---or
its absence---separates the good and successful people from
the bad and unsuccessful ones.
Muaz's question was about eternal success. In response, the
Hadith (the saying of the Prophet) mentions both mandatory
and voluntary good deeds that cover a person's entire life.
But then we are reminded that the outcome of all these depends
upon guarding our tongue. In other words carelessness with
the tongue can poke holes in all of our good deeds.
Another Hadith highlights the same issue in a different way:
"Every morning all the limbs of a person plead with his
tongue: 'Fear Allah for our sake, for our fate is tied to
yours. If you follow the straight path so shall we. And if
you go astray so shall we.'"
Yet another Hadith reminds us about the far reaching consequences
of the words we utter. "Sometimes a person says something
good but he does not realize how far will his words go. Yet
it earns him the pleasure of Allah till the day he will meet
Him. On the other hand sometimes a person says something bad,
although he does not realize how far his words will go. Yet
it earns him the wrath of Allah till the day he will meet
Him."
The pre-Islamic Arab society was a very vocal society. While
reading and writing were not that common, people did pride
themselves in their facility with words---both prose and poetry.
A person commanded respect based on his command over words.
Using power of words only, they could sink reputations, start
wars, and impact life in a similar fashion as modern media
has come to demonstrate on a much larger scale.
Then, as now, it was raw power like the power of the beasts
of the Jungle. Islam tamed this beast. It reminded us that
each and every word we utter is being recorded by the angels
and one day we will have to stand accountable for all this
record. It reminded that a person's greatness lies not in
how powerful he is with words but in how careful is he with
them. It reminded that it is better to keep silent than to
say something bad. And it is better to say something good
than to keep quiet.
The social revolution it engendered was unprecedented. It
produced a people who truly understood the value of words
and who were as pious with them as they had been powerful.
Their silence was the silence of quiet reflection. And they
spoke only when they could improve the silence. Is it any
wonder that even their extempore statements were pearls of
wisdom?
Today, everywhere there are schools that can teach one how
to read, write, and speak a language. But their students would
never learn how to civilize this raw power; to use it only
in promoting truth and spreading virtue; to never use it for
promoting falsehood or spreading evil.
There is a lot of unlearning we have to do if we want to get
out of this. It is a costly mistake for a believer to think
that talk is cheap; that you can say whatever is expedient
without any concern for any consequences beyond the immediate
ones.
Such attitudes, prevalent today, lead to all kinds of sins:
vain pursuits, gossip, dishonesty, insincerity, arrogance,
belittling others, backbiting, spreading scandals and corruption,
telling lies. Each of these has been clearly defined as a
deadly sin by the Qur'an and Hadith. The treatment for each
of these sins begins with learning the Islamically responsible
use of the tongue. Then there are secondary problems caused
in turn by these. In fact most of the problems in the family,
in the society, and even between countries are either created
or augmented by the irresponsible use of the tongue.
Modern communication technologies have made it possible for
messages to be transmitted instantaneously all over the globe.
But as the world marvels at these achievements, it continues
to confuse the speed of a message with its quality and value.
We pride ourselves on the ability to spread trash around the
world at the speed of light. Witness the rubbish that continues
to dominate the Internet alone. We are amazed by the sophisticated
techniques of telling lies in a convincing manner. Witness
the modern mainstream media machine and its hold on our thoughts
and actions.
The "information age" is begging for the moral guidance
of Islam.
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