Evils of the Tongue

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem

All Praise is due to Allaah, Lord of mankind and jinn, and may the peace and blessing of Allaah be upon Muhammad, His slave and Final Messenger.

The tongue. This tiny piece of flesh can make a man or break him. It can make him successful or cause his destruction. This small part of the human body that can twist and turn in the most weird and wonderful ways could cause a man to be cast into the Fire or it could save his soul and through the Mercy of his Lord, he could be entered into Paradise.

It is one of the things that our beloved Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) feared most for his Ummah.

Sufyan ibn Abdullaah (may Allaah be pleased with him) related that he asked the Messenger of Allaah (may the peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him):

“O Allaah’s Messenger (may the peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), what is the thing you fear most for me?” The Prophet (may the peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) took hold of his own tongue and replied, “Restrain this.”

[At-Tirmidhi]

So many words roll of our tongues every day, had we stopped to ponder when Allaah, Exalted be He, said:

“Not a word does he [or she] utter but there is a watcher by him ready [to record it]“

[Qaf 50:18]

Then by Allaah, I know I wouldn’t have spoken half the words I do!

On that Day, when we will have to read our books, when even a man that was illiterate in this world would be made literate in order for him to read his book, we will be made to know of every word, every letter that escaped our mouths and we will have to account for it. So I say to myself and to you my dear brothers and sisters in Islaam, take on the advice of Allaah’s Messenger:

“He who believes in Allaah and the Last Day should say what is good, or keep silent.”

[Narrated by Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) and reported in Bukhaari and Muslim]

When Allaah gives a description of the slaves of the Most Merciful (Allaah), one of the things He mentions is the way in which they use their tongue, if this does not show the importance of the controlling the tongue, then what does?

“And the [faithful] slaves of the Most Merciful [Allaah] are those who walk on the earth in humility and sedateness, and when the foolish address them [with bad words] they reply back with mild words of gentleness.”

[Al-Furqan 25:63]

We use our tongues so loosely not knowing the good we do with it or disasters we cause with it. Bilal ibn al-Harith (may Allaah be pleased with him) reported that Allaah’s Messenger (may the peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“A man speaks a word pleasing to Allaah, not realising that it is worth so many rewards, for which Allaah records for him His Good Pleasure till the Day he meets Him, and a man speaks a word displeasing to Allaah, All-High, not realising that it leads to so many sins for which Allaah records for him His Displeasure till the Day he meets Him.”

[At-Tirmidhi]

I leave you with the words of Allaah’s Messenger (may the peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) which Sahl ibn Sa’d (may Allaah be pleased with him) reported him as say saying:

“If anyone guarantees (the chastity of) what is between his two jaw bones (i.e. mouth and tongue) and what is between his legs, (i.e. his private parts) I shall guarantee for him Paradise.”

[Bukhaari]

There are a number of evils that the tongue falls victim to, such as lying, backbiting slandering etc, and by the permission of Allaah, these will be discussed in future posts separately.

And Allaah knows best.

May Allaah enable us to control our tongues. Aameen.

I remind myself first before I remind you. I pray that Allaah does not hold me accountable and count me amongst the hypocrites for speaking of that which I do not do.

Sources:

The Book of Major Sins’ by Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab

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