Ibrahim70
05-04-08, 06:57 PM
The Tongue
Allah says: "Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? No, you would hate it." (Qur'an 49:12).
It is narrated that: "Once our beloved Prophet Sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam was sitting with his companions Radiyallahu anhum and one of them was speaking badly about someone who wasn't there. As the man got up to leave the Prophet Sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam said to him: "Pick your teeth!" "But I haven't eaten anything", the man protested. "No", the Prophet said, "You have eaten the flesh of your dead brother!"
• How often do we say a phrase such as "I was only joking". We treat lies as being trivial. However we are told that Allah's messenger did not hate anything more than lying.
• It's one of the greatest sins and yet it's something we do day after day. Sometimes we don't even realize it. You're just chatting away with your friends and you begin to talk about somebody else.
• But what if it's true? The Prophet told us, "Backbiting is to say something about someone they wouldn't like said about them ... If what bad you said about them is true, then you have backbitten and if it is false then you have slandered them!" (Muslim).
• If you're still not convinced of how big a sin backbiting really is, then look at the punishment Allah has in store for the backbiters. The Prophet described: "On the night of Miraaj, I passed by some people who had metal hooks in their hands and were clawing at their faces and their necks with them. I asked Jibraeel 'Who were these people?' He said 'These are the people who eat the flesh of human beings and disgrace them' " (Abu Dawud).
• Just having a laugh! May be we think it's all right to take the 'mickey' out of someone, so long as we say it to their face. We'll make fun of the way someone talks, walks, or how they look. Allah warns us against such behavior: "O you who believe, let not some men laugh at others, it may be that they are better than you. Nor let some women laugh at others it may be that they are better than you. Nor abuse each other, nor be sarcastic to each other by using offensive nicknames..." (Qur'an 49:11)
• Listen to yourself and to your friends speaking one day - nearly every sentence will have a swear word in it, thinking it's cool and macho to swear, copying the idols of TV and the cinema. Is it really 'cool' to swear? Hellfire is far from being cool. The Prophet said that "abusing a Muslim is a sin and fighting with him is disbelief" (Muslim).
• But sometimes you just have to swear! The solution? Don't get angry in the first place. A man came to the Prophet one day and said, "Advise me". The Prophet said, "Don't become angry. Don't become angry. Don't become angry... when one of you gets angry while he is standing up, he should sit down. Then anger will leave him, and if not then he should lie down" (Ahmad).
• The Prophet was once asked "Can a Muslim be a coward?" He replied "Yes". He was then asked "Can a Muslim be a miser?" and the reply was "Yes". The Prophet was again asked "Can a Muslim be a liar?" The Prophet replied "No! A Muslim can never be a liar".
• A well controlled tongue will keep us within Islam but a loose tongue will destroy us. The Prophet said: "Whoever can guarantee me two things I can guarantee them Paradise". One of the two things was the control of the tongue..
• A final word of advice. The Messenger of Allah said: "Whoever believes in Allah and the Last day, LET HIM EITHER SPEAK GOOD OR KEEP SILENT!"
('Summarised Jumu'ah Bayaan' of the [Jamiatul Ulama] Online Newsletter Vol. 3 No. 13)
Allah says: "Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? No, you would hate it." (Qur'an 49:12).
It is narrated that: "Once our beloved Prophet Sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam was sitting with his companions Radiyallahu anhum and one of them was speaking badly about someone who wasn't there. As the man got up to leave the Prophet Sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam said to him: "Pick your teeth!" "But I haven't eaten anything", the man protested. "No", the Prophet said, "You have eaten the flesh of your dead brother!"
• How often do we say a phrase such as "I was only joking". We treat lies as being trivial. However we are told that Allah's messenger did not hate anything more than lying.
• It's one of the greatest sins and yet it's something we do day after day. Sometimes we don't even realize it. You're just chatting away with your friends and you begin to talk about somebody else.
• But what if it's true? The Prophet told us, "Backbiting is to say something about someone they wouldn't like said about them ... If what bad you said about them is true, then you have backbitten and if it is false then you have slandered them!" (Muslim).
• If you're still not convinced of how big a sin backbiting really is, then look at the punishment Allah has in store for the backbiters. The Prophet described: "On the night of Miraaj, I passed by some people who had metal hooks in their hands and were clawing at their faces and their necks with them. I asked Jibraeel 'Who were these people?' He said 'These are the people who eat the flesh of human beings and disgrace them' " (Abu Dawud).
• Just having a laugh! May be we think it's all right to take the 'mickey' out of someone, so long as we say it to their face. We'll make fun of the way someone talks, walks, or how they look. Allah warns us against such behavior: "O you who believe, let not some men laugh at others, it may be that they are better than you. Nor let some women laugh at others it may be that they are better than you. Nor abuse each other, nor be sarcastic to each other by using offensive nicknames..." (Qur'an 49:11)
• Listen to yourself and to your friends speaking one day - nearly every sentence will have a swear word in it, thinking it's cool and macho to swear, copying the idols of TV and the cinema. Is it really 'cool' to swear? Hellfire is far from being cool. The Prophet said that "abusing a Muslim is a sin and fighting with him is disbelief" (Muslim).
• But sometimes you just have to swear! The solution? Don't get angry in the first place. A man came to the Prophet one day and said, "Advise me". The Prophet said, "Don't become angry. Don't become angry. Don't become angry... when one of you gets angry while he is standing up, he should sit down. Then anger will leave him, and if not then he should lie down" (Ahmad).
• The Prophet was once asked "Can a Muslim be a coward?" He replied "Yes". He was then asked "Can a Muslim be a miser?" and the reply was "Yes". The Prophet was again asked "Can a Muslim be a liar?" The Prophet replied "No! A Muslim can never be a liar".
• A well controlled tongue will keep us within Islam but a loose tongue will destroy us. The Prophet said: "Whoever can guarantee me two things I can guarantee them Paradise". One of the two things was the control of the tongue..
• A final word of advice. The Messenger of Allah said: "Whoever believes in Allah and the Last day, LET HIM EITHER SPEAK GOOD OR KEEP SILENT!"
('Summarised Jumu'ah Bayaan' of the [Jamiatul Ulama] Online Newsletter Vol. 3 No. 13)