Laghw
Definition
Laghw is speech that is neither beneficial nor actively harmful — idle conversation, meaningless chatter, the filling of silence with words that have no purpose. Al-Ghazali presents laghw as one of the most significant wasters of the Muslim's most non-renewable resource: time. He quotes the prophetic guidance that 'from the excellence of a person's Islam is their leaving what does not concern them,' and argues that the Muslim who has genuinely understood the value of every moment before Allah will naturally develop an economy of speech — saying what needs to be said and then returning to silence or dhikr rather than filling every moment with noise.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
How the scholars use Laghw.
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"Most of what is revealed to him in his actions is that it is permissible, but it does not concern him, so he leaves it, as the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "From the excellence of a person's Islam is leaving what does not concern him." The second consideration for observation is upon beginning the action, which is to inspect the manner of the action to fulfill the right of Allah in it, to perfect the intention in completing it, and to perform it as completely as possible."
— Imam al-Ghazali, Book 38: The Book of Self-Examination and Self-Reckoning
Appears in
1 book in the library
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