Two honourable choices for the tongue.
Narrated by Abū Hurayrah (أبو هريرة)
مَنْ كَانَ يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ فَلْيَقُلْ خَيْرًا أَوْ لِيَصْمُتْ
"Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him speak good or remain silent."
Imam al-Nawawi said the hadith gives only two options for speech: beneficial or silent. Anything in between — gossip, idle complaint, sarcasm disguised as wit — is placed outside the scope of a believing heart. In the age of limitless speech, this is one of the more radical things any scholar ever said.
Passages that draw on this hadith
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"of his speech, for there was an impediment on his tongue that prevented him from much speech. He asked his Lord to support him with his brother Aaron, to be an aid for him, to speak on his behalf concerning much that his tongue could not articulate. God Almighty"
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"He said, Do not speak ever. They said, We cannot do that. He said, Then do not speak except good. And Solomon, son of David, peace be upon them, said, If speech is silver, then silence is gold. Al-Bara ibn Azib reported that a Bedouin came to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,"
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"Explanation of the great danger of the tongue and the virtue of silence. Know that the danger of the tongue is great, and there is no safety from its peril, except through silence. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, Whoever keeps silent is saved."
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"on earth today? He replied, Yes, whoever's speech is remembrance, silence is contemplation, and gaze is a lesson, he is like me. Al-Hasan said, Whoever's speech is not wisdom is merely idle talk, whoever's silence is"
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"and so-and-so works more. Abu Sulayman said, Knowledge is closer to silence than it is to speech. It was said, When knowledge is abundant, speech is less, and when speech is abundant, knowledge is less."
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"good until it becomes their nature wards off many sins. Whoever is accustomed to seeking forgiveness with his tongue, when he hears a lie from another, his tongue automatically recalls its habit and says, I seek forgiveness from God. And whoever is used to idle talk, his tongue jumps to say,"
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"is an intrinsic attribute of His essence. This speech is neither sound nor letter and does not resemble the speech of others, just as His existence does not resemble the existence of others. The essence of speech is internal, while sounds are segmented into letters for expression,"
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"The movement of the tongue is not the goal. The meanings are the objective. There are three types of people in recitation. One whose tongue moves while his heart is heedless. One whose tongue moves and his heart follows, understanding as if hearing it from another."
More on character
- The Prophet's ﷺ three-word answer for a lifetime."A man said to the Prophet ﷺ: Counsel me. He said: "Do not be angry." The man asked several times, and each time the Prophet said: "Do not be angry.""
- Even slaughter has its ethics — because iḥsān is owed everywhere."Allah has written iḥsān — excellence — upon everything. So when you kill, kill well; and when you slaughter, slaughter well. Sharpen your blade and bring ease to the animal."
- Worth is measured in akhlāq — manners, not titles."Truly, the best of you are the finest among you in character."