﷽
Assalamu alaykum wrwb
My dear brother’s and sisters,
Today, I am writing about the tongue and its dangerous consequences.
See, when a man begins to speak too much there is a sensory overload in his mind. A huge load of sorts surrounds the mind. Major diseases happen as a result of this sensory overload. Imagine, if just talking could prove this detrimental to our health and come with such disasters hidden inside, what other ways can man think of.
Man suffers a loss because of solely because of himself. And through talks, other talks become alive and through deeds, deeds become alive. The problem with someone who talks a lot is that he listens less. A person must listen. سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا (Sami'na Wa Ata'na). “We hear and Obey”. If he begins to talk, he will lessen his deeds. This is his loss. For one to talk, he has to think. This is a load on the mind too. What he talks, develops as thoughts in his heart & mind, and this keeps circulating in his mind. How then will he perform deeds? He will only occupy himself with talks. The one who talks does not do deeds. Keeps talking and talking. We are to work on the responsibility of Akhirah. We need to commit to deeds. The Sahaba were people of the field. Doers. Unfortunately we have become people of the dais. Orators before bringing it into practice. I might be writing this to express this but I myself don’t enjoy just writing for the sake of it. We need to be people of the field and the ground. Personally I would much rather prefer doing amaal than just sit, write and talk about it.
All the strategies I have prepared, when you log onto darulqulub.com are based around core action taking. I am only talking in the hope that it might benefit the Ummah and gives me a chance to earn a few rewards from Allah. But to talk is not the priority, to do is. As a generation we have become talkers and too idealistic.
Most people who will enter hell will do so because of their tongue. For some people it is the pleasures they enjoy their tongues with. While for some it is oppression and cruelty that the tongue is used in. To hurt people, to dagger their hearts with harsh language, this is due to the tongue. Stop and look at this piece of flesh. Once it’s done its harmful act and caused rifts between people, silently caves back between the teeth. The teeth protects in a way that no one should say anything to it. The tongue happily remains protected between the teeth and causes rifts around the world. Sometimes the tongue does the work of a sword or even worse. There is such fitnah that is caused by it, fights etc. We have reduced ourself to hearing and speaking. All we occupy ourselves with is – hear and use our tongue. It is not what we are here for. We are here for deeds. The environment has been ruined because of this tongue. And because of excessive talking the qualities that were supposed to be cultivated in the heart & mind are far from becoming. The pressure cooker that whistles often is not considered cooking worthy. Similarly the one who talks often, cannot cultivate the good inside. And no one in the world likes someone who talks a lot.
One who talks, leaks much important information. What was supposed to be hidden is now out in the open. Family affairs become public affairs. Your private issues between your wife and you become public. Women are something that are to be protected and their secrets kept hidden. You cannot discuss her affairs publicly. Due to excessive talking things are getting leaked and out in the public. Amidst our friends etc. The other is a spiritual loss of Noor of Eimaan, which is destroyed from the heart due to excessive talking. My father has spent a lot of time with prominent Mashaikhs and pious men but has never once come across a single mashaik or shaykh that talks a lot. They were extremely silent in nature and would prefer remaining quiet. The foolish man speaks a lot. Most major sins such as shirk, bit-biting, snitching all happen from the tongue. The one who speaks a lot doesn’t do the Zikr of Allah. And unfortunately this is becoming a habit, such cells are getting developed in the mind, habits get formed, the moment the senses hears something or sees something, immediately it speaks something. Once these habits are formed, all your life it continues, therefore right from childhood don’t let your child become habitual of talking excessively. If you speak a lot, your child will imitate you. It is often seen in families that parents keep talking, whistling in order to entertain the child, be warned this will develop as a habit of talking in the child. The child’s upbringing and nurturing must be done in an extremely decent way. Don’t let the child fall prey to excessive eating and talking. Sorry, but the mothers are to be blamed. They feed the child excessively, feed them chips, chocolates and other junk foods, and slowly this becomes a habit in the child. Therefore don’t let the child become a victim of pleasures of the tongue, and neither in excessive talking. Their lives will get spoilt and will be regretful. Unfortunately in the era of WhatsApp there are only talks and talks and talks around the world.
The other concern is of those talks that get leaked and are circulating outside. Divorces happen as a result and major rifts in families, discord etc. We have a phone today and like it or not, things get circulated. What one hears, one is inclined to think about. Major stress related ailments such as high blood pressure, heart diseases happen as a result of excessive talking. Due to stress, the kidneys release the stress hormone – adrenaline.
Allah does not like the one who talks a lot. Even people don’t like them and are avoided by others.
One of the famous principles of Tabligh is, timely action, and wisely timing things but this gets destroyed due to excessive talking. One must know when to speak, when to remain quiet. Know how is the hearers temperament, when it’s best to talk to the person, what time is good, but one who talks a lot forgets and crosses all limitations in talking, soon as something comes in the mind he blurts it out. Shaytan puts a wasavis, something is triggered from the memory and immediately he voices it out. The Prophet sws was a very silent man. He was enamoured by the garment of silence, tranquility and honour. But look at the state of the Ummah today. We have crossed the Prophet sws. We have crossed our limitations. Who is going to pay the price? It is we who will have to. Crucial time is getting wasted.
At night, when he is trying to sleep, he is often lost in deep thinking, as a result his sleep is affected. When you lie down to sleep, it is time to cut off from the world. Even during Salah this must be practiced – No Ghayr (outsider) must touch me, and my heart must not go towards the Ghayr (outsider). Please practice this during Salah and while trying to sleep. Nothing must come from the wasavis or get retrieved from the memory, or from the senses or environment. Just keep the state of the inside in a state of calm. My father often says this, “The Ghayr must not touch me, and I must not go towards any Ghayr.” The only things that are allowed to touch you are the Quran, Sunnah of Prophet sws, his character, manners & etiquette. Unfortunately it is the other things that are touching us and spoiling us. Today we are affected by the pandemic of touch – Corona or Covid 2019. What was supposed to touch us, is not touching us. What was supposed to touch us was love, service to others, generosity but this isn’t touching us. And these are the disasters we are faced with.
And InshaAllah we will see, if we can put even one thing to practice, it will be better than trying to practice a thousand things. If one man practices silence, the whole environment under his influence around him becomes silent. Everyone please put silence to practice in our lives. Silence must be the prevailing virtue of our family, not talking. There are hidden losses in the excessive talking. Become performers. Perform deeds one after another. If at all you need to talk, speak something good, and worthy of hearing, in a few words, succinct, to the point, with softness not with harshness, and not something which will hurt the other.
May Allah help us put this to practice from today itself. And make a determination to speak less. Life will improve each day InshaAllah, and a lot of work will get done. This world is a place to perform deeds. We have to leave this earth so we must prepare for Akhirah, but if we limit ourselves to only talk, all important things will be left out. We have a lot to do in our lives.
May Allah help us put this to practice more than merely speaking about it. May it reflect in our lives. Ameen.
اللهم بارك
JazakAllah Khayr