Harm caused by Idle talk

Allah’s favourite religion is Islam. This religion wants to see its believers happy and prosperous in their homes as well as in the society. In Islam, where it has been taught to inculcate love, brotherhood, respect and honour in the hearts, Muslims have also been ordered to refrain from all such things that may destroy the peace and tranquillity of the society and break the relations to love and affection. In Quran and Hadith, the protection of the tongue has been strongly emphasised because tongue is the organ that commits most of the sins among other organs of the body. It is very difficult to avoid the sins of the tongue. Its mischief is more than other sins, so guarding the tongue is very important.

Attributes of Believers

One of the attributes of successful believers mentioned by Allah in the Holy Quran is to refrain from useless and idle talk.

Allah says:

وَ الَّذِینَ ہُم عَنِ اللَّغْوِ مُعْرِضُوْنَ

Meaning: And those who (always) keep away from absurd talk. (23:3)

Believers avoid idle talk and futile actions. Language plays an important role in speaking. He whose tongue is correct, all his actions will be corrected likewise whose tongue is wrong, all his actions will be wrong. He who lets his tongue loose takes him to the brink of death. Muadh ibn Jabal narrates that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: ‘Is there anything that throws people into hellfire upon their faces except the harvests of their tongues.’ (Jami at Tirmidhi 2616)

Banes of the tongue

There are countless evils of speech such as error, lying, gossip, backbiting, hypocrisy, obscenity, arguing and self-justification etc. These are the bad actions that are directly related with the tongue.

Al-Ghazali has mentioned 20 disasters of languages in “The Revival of the Religious Sciences”, some of which are listed below:

1. Superfluous Speech

A conversation that is unnecessary and does not benefit anyone is futile conversation. While the speech which is useful but unnecessary is superfluous speech. Abu Huraira narrates about the person who avoids idle talk that the Holy Prophet said:

“Part of a person’s goodness in Islam is his leaving alone which does not concern him.” (Sunan Ibn Majah 3976)

Ibrahim Tamimi says: “When a believer wants to speak, he sees that if it is beneficial then he speaks otherwise he remains silent. The tongue of the sinner is active, he says what comes into his mouth.”

He also said, “Two things kill a person, excessive wealth and superfluous words.”

Imam Hasan says, “The person who talks more, lies more.”

2. Delving into Forbidden Activities

Abundance of futile talk, involvement in the forbidden things in Islamic law, mentioning modernization and corrupting the religion such as the conditions of women, gatherings of alcohol and fornication, revelry of people, bad customs and undesirable situations, all these things are undesirable acts.

Muawiya narrates the Holy Prophet said, “Death to the person who tells lies in front of others to make them laugh, death to him, death to him.” (Ahmed 19174)

“Allah does not like vulgarity and obscenity.” (Ahmed 16964)

3. Disputation (Khusuma)

Scorning the work of others, making objections to their work, disrupting the intentions or creating hurdles in their way, disparaging others, showing one’s superiority and sticking to one’s word is called hostility or disputation. Aisha bint Abu Bakr narrates in a hadith that the Holy Prophet said,

“The most hated person in the sight of Allah is the most quarrelsome person.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 2457)
“The one who will have the worst position in Allah’s court on the Day of Resurrection will be the one whom people left alone for the fear of his ribaldry.” (Sunan Abi Dawud 4791)

The evil of the tongue is going to kill a man. The only cure is that a person should stop being arrogant, showing superiority over others, stop considering others as inferior, avoid looking for faults in others and all such habits. The cure for every disease is removal of the cause.

4. Pretentiousness in Speech

Self-proclaimed rhetoric influencers often use an open-mouthed and frank speech that rhymes, eloquently exaggerating with pretentious purposes and promises. It is the habit of orators that are very fluent in speech. All these things are related to false pretenses and it is such an affliction that invites wrath. The Holy Prophet said, “To me, the most beloved of you and closest to me in the Hereafter will be those of good conduct. To me the most depressed among you and farthest from me in the Hereafter will be those who are ill-mannered, talk nonsense, are open mouthed, outspoken speakers who indulge in useless long talks.” (Musnad Ahmed 17069)

5. Abusing and Cursing

It means to reveal something that makes a person feel ashamed and regret. The basis of bad language and abuse is inner and outer deficiency. Abdullah bin Masood says that the Messenger of Allah said, “A believer is not a slanderer, a cursing person, an obscenity speaker and a blasphemer.” In a tradition, Abdullah ibn Umar said,

اَلْجَنَّۃُ حَرَامٌ عَلٰی کُلِّ فَاحِشٍ اَنْ یَّدْخُلَہَا

Explanation: Anyone who utters obscene words cannot enter paradise.

Ibrahim bin Maysara says, “On the Day of Judgement, a person who speaks obscenities and vulgarities will be transformed into a dog or will be enclosed in a dog’s belly.” (Ihlya ul Uloom jild 3)

The purpose of obscene language is to hurt the addressee. Abusive speech and cursing become the habit of immoral people, so one should avoid the company of these people. A person who gives free rein to the tongue cannot be safe from its evils. If he keeps quiet, he can avoid all these calamities.

Wisdom of talking less

The Holy Prophet said, “Al-Haya (modesty) and Al-ly (less talk) are two branches of faith and obscene talk and talking too much are the two branches of hypocrisy.” (Jami at-Tirmidhi 2027)

Through modesty and less talking, a person saves himself from many sins. This prevents a person from committing many sins. Due to vain talk a person also commits lies, speaks against what is in his heart that is hypocrisy. It is quite obvious that engaging the tongue in a speech that neither benefits nor harms is just a waste of time. Abdullah bin Amr narrates that the Holy Prophet said, “Whoever is silent is saved.” (Jami at-Tirmidhi 2501)

By choosing silence, keeping the tongue safe from bad words one gets rid of many calamities in the world and the evils and misfortunes of religious matters and Hereafter. Most of the evils that man suffers from are due to language. Well said, “The size of tongue is small but its sins are very big.”

Silence

Silence is very important in Islam. It is a good deed in itself, so he who adopts it, surely, he will be able to perform many good deeds. To be silent is to think and in a way to contemplate or meditate which is a favourite act in the court of Allah. In the Holy Quran Allah says, “Have they not meditated within themselves that Allah has not created the heavens and the earth and whatever is between the two except with (a system of) truth and for a fixed term? And surely, most of the people do not believe in the meeting with their Lord.” (30:8)

Silence leads to Concentration

By refraining from idle talk and being silent, one gets the great blessings of contemplation. The Holy Prophet says, “Concentration of a moment is better than worship of both worlds.” At another occasion, he said, “Even a moment’s concentration is better than seventy years of worship.”

We can concentrate and reflect in this universe only if we adopt silence instead of idle talk. It should also be clear that keeping quiet does not mean that a person should not speak at all, but it means that a person should talk about what is necessary and refrain from idle talk. That is why it is said, “Speaking evil is a sign of immaturity rather than maintaining silence, and it’s better to speak good than to remain silent.”

Why is Silence so powerful?

Abu Dharr narrated that I asked Messenger of Allah to give me some advice. He said, “Obligate long silence upon yourself as silence drives away Satan and helps in religious matters. By practicing silence, you will have more opportunities to meditate and reflect on the blessings of Allah. The greatest advantage of silence is that you will be able to protect yourself from Satan’s temptations, embedded in the practical life through language which causes great loss in this world and the hereafter. The second is that silence will also be the guarantee of your religious as well as hereafter well-being and happiness. It will keep you safe and sound from the calamities of the tongue. The focus of heart should only be on Allah. This thing will be in your favour due to the secret remembrance, leading to the acquisition of knowledge and enlightenment of the inward. (Miskat ul Masabeeh 4765)

Protection of speech

By studying the lives of the ancestors, we should learn how they took care of the language, saved themselves from idle pointless words and taught the same to people. The exemplary examples our forefathers have presented regarding the protection of tongue are a guide for us.

Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani

Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani says, “O people! Abandon vain desires and greed, remember Allah. Talk to those who benefit you, keep silent among those who can harm you. When you want to talk, think about it first then speak with good intentions. As it is said that the ignorant has his tongue before his heart, while the wise keeps his behind. Remain silent. When you are meant to speak by Allah’s will, you will feel compelled to talk. If He intends to accomplish a task through you, He will prepare you for it. Silence is a condition for His love and presence. When a person adopts perfect silence then If Allah wills, he will speak or he will remain silent until the Hereafter.” (Al-Fath ar-Rabbani)

مَنْ عَرَفَ رَبَّہٗ فَقَدْ کَلَّ لِسَانُہٗ

Meaning: One who recognises his Holy Lord becomes silent.

Holy Prophet pbuh

Sultan Bahoo

Sultan Bahoo says:

Talking uselessly and excessively causes spiritual demotion. The imperfects have no gnosis of Allah as they are void of the wisdom gained through Divine presence and closeness of Allah. (Qurb-e-Deedar)

ہر کہ گوید غیر او شد خر آواز

خاموشی خلوت خانہ شد حق براز

Explanation: Whoever keeps talking about other than Allah, his voice becomes like that of donkey. Silence is seclusion with Allah in which He reveals His secrets.

سر ز تن گردد جدا سخنش مگو
عارفان ہمسخن باحق گفتگو

Explanation: The Mystics keep conversing with Allah and never reveal the Divine secrets even if they are beheaded. (Qurb-e-Deedar)

Therefore, it is better that if there is a conversation in the inner or outer self, it should be only about Allah, otherwise it is better to adopt complete silence.

“People are killed in large numbers because of their tongues,” according to Ali ibn Abi Talib.

Disadvantages of Idle talk

A person who talks and argues without a reason, sometimes due to excessive talking things come out of his mouth that make him a sinner before Allah and dishonoured before the creation.

Saad Shirazi narrates a story of a dervish who used to be silent. People knew him as Dervish because of his silence. Then he became proud and thought the crowd was due to his own perfection. He broke the fast of silence and spoke, people judged him to be ignorant from his speech. If he really was a dervish then his words would be of wisdom and insight. Instead of knowing this crowd of people as his own perfection they should consider it the gift of Allah Almighty. Silence is the root of all good things. According to scholars:

“A person stays safe from many evils if he sleeps less, eats less, and speaks less.”
“Silence is something that hides ignorance.”

Types of Silence

Sultan Bahoo says:

Silence is of different kinds. Some people with dead soul adopt silence out of cunningness and pretense while the Mystics are silent due to their gnosis of ‘none but Allah’ and Tauheed. (Kaleed-ul-Tauheed Kalan)

Know that there are four kinds of silence:

Negative Silence

First is the silence of the arrogant and cruel worldly people. They do not talk to the humble, and oppressed due to the haughtiness of their inciting self.
One adopts the second kind of silence to conceal one’s shortcomings. This person uses his silence for self-exhibition and is like a self-seller. Inwardly, he is perplexed because he lacks gnosis of Allah, and outwardly he displays himself as a composed person. Piety and dervishism of such people are just a deceit. While they create the illusion of their knowledge through silence, superficial clemency and peaceful attitude. They use it as a snare to trap people, but in fact, it is just out of their arrogance.

Positive Silence

Third is the silence of those who are ever attentive towards their enlightened inward, engrossed in concentration, invocation, reflection and meditation. Such an inward perpetually remains with Allah. It gets inspirations about the Divine command “Be” and messages from the day of Divine covenant. They remain silent because their eyes are ever occupied in having the candid vision of Allah. Divine propinquity conjoins them.

Silence is golden for Mystics

Fourth is the silence of those who behold Allah unveiled and whose souls are passionately blazing due to His ardent love. They suffer agonies for the Beloved. They have absorbed themselves in the gnosis of Allah forgetting their self, the creation, Satan and the world. The immortal Mystics are required to maintain such silence when immersed in Divine Oneness and the light of vision of Allah. Silence is their seclusion with Allah. Spiritually, they are ecstatic for Allah. Physically they are vigilant in following sharia and repent thousand times from heresy and disobeying sharia. Their invocation contains boundless passion for Allah which makes them unique with Allah. Talking uselessly and excessively causes spiritual demotion. (Qurb-e-deedar)

Silence of mind

There is also a type of outward silence which is apparently not so dangerous but becomes a hindrance in progress of inward journey. The seeker does not have any opposition or arrogance towards the perfect Spiritual guide. However, his external quietude belies the fact that his thoughts are preoccupied with the world and worldly matters. Moreover, even if he is talking to Allah in his inner self, then he is only talking about worldly matters, worries and such desires. It is also very important to avoid such silence.

When is Silence Haram?

There are some occasions in a person’s life where it becomes a great sin to remain silent for example, if there is an unjust talk in a gathering or if there is violation of Sharia then it would be wrong not to speak the truth on such occasions. As is the Hadith, “He who refrains from speaking the truth is a silent Satan.”

Bayazid Bastami says, “A righteous person who follows the path of righteousness should not leave the house unnecessarily and should not sit among people unnecessarily. Yes, go to the gatherings of the saints, but do not indulge in idle talk. Then see what colour his worship brings and how bright and pure his conscience becomes.”

Ism-e-Allah Zaat

Faqr is related to the inward relationship between Allah and man. In order to strengthen this relationship, it is necessary to avoid unnecessary talk and adopt silence. A person must be silent to save themselves from moral and spiritual diseases caused by idle talk. Such as lying, backbiting, gossip, complaining and slander, etc. All these diseases cause hindrance to the inward journey. A person cannot invoke Ism-e-Allah Zaat with his breaths, nor can he reflect within himself until he becomes outwardly silent. As a result, one fails to attain gnosis of Allah.

The Perfect Spiritual Guide Sultan-ul-Ashiqeen says:

“The Divine Essence is like a seed inside a person. It flourishes with the invocation and contemplation of Ism-e-Allah Zaat.”

He who wants to observe Allah in his inward should invoke Ism-e-Allah Zaat and remain silent. Because the more you water the plant, the more it will grow.

Therefore, it is better to shut down the tongue and adopt silence and seclusion. Certainly, it is important for invocation of Ism-e-Allah Zaat to enrich and enlighten your inward. Moreover, when a person is enlightened within (state of Divine Essence) and begins conversing with Allah in the inward, they should avoid worldly thoughts. One should adopt complete silence so that he can understand the words of Allah in a better way.

Tawus ibn Kaysan says, “The tongue is a beast, if I let it lose it devours.” (Ihya ul Uloom)

The Greek scholar Hippocrates heard a person talking too much and said, “O person, God has made for man one tongue and two ears so that he speaks less and listens more.”

Reflection and meditation

In the path of Faqr, silence has special importance. It is the foundation as by remaining silent one can concentrate on meditation and reflection. Only by meditation and reflection can one find the purpose of life.

What is the significance of silence in Islam?

Silence is a form of worship that angels cannot write about, Satan cannot corrupt it, and none but Allah knows about it. Hence, it should be one’s motto so that people are safe from the evils of speech. Surely, if people remove backbiting, slander, defamation, lies etc. from their conversations only silence remains which is the best form of worship.

An individual keeps their mouth closed to ensure their safety. The fish’s mouth being shut prevents it from being caught in the hook. (Plato)
Accent is the DNA of the word, which captures the coldness of sight, insincerity of intentions and the thief of the heart. (Mushtaq Ahmad Yusufi)

Conclusion

The bottom line is that silence in every situation is better. Basically, a means of salvation because the evils of tongue are countless. It is very difficult to avoid them. Therefore, it is better to remain silent. We pray that may Allah Almighty grant us the ability to avoid idle talk and be safe from the evils of speech.

Note:

This is English Translation of Urdu Article فضول گوئی کے نقصانات that appeared in August 2024 issue of monthly Sultan ul Faqr Magazine. Mrs Faqih Sabir Sarwari Qadri authored the original article. Abeeha Malik Sarwari Qadri has translated it in English.