The Beginning of Guidance with Shaykh Sulaiman Moola | Session 3

The Beginning of Guidance — Session 3: Guarding the Senses

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi ta'ala wa barakatuh. So, firstly, let me apologize for the glitch and the snag that we encountered last week and we were unable to do our session last Saturday. But inshallah, hopefully, we can compensate for that in this final segment of ours and that we could have a more meaningful segment.

Just to recap for those that have joined on and just participated now, we were speaking from the book of Imam Ghazali, rahimahullah, on Ijtinabul Ma'asi — abstinence from sin, vice, and transgression. And as we draw towards the culmination and the final moments in the blessed month of Ramadan, I just want to remind fellow viewers, and I had this flash yesterday and I was sharing it with some friends.

The Fast of Life

In the month of Ramadan, with the grace of Allah, many of us in our homes encourage and exhort our children at a young age to observe the fast, which is great, which is noble, which is meritorious.

In fact, there is a hadith regarding the companions, that we would try and encourage and motivate our young ones, our junior ones, our children, to observe the fast. And if any one of them would become restless, uneasy, anxious, throw a tantrum due to hunger, then we would craft some toys for them and appease them with the toys — until it would be Maghrib and the fast would be completed.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 30, Hadith 1960; Sahih Muslim, Book 13, Hadith 2629)

So, often we have the children — they will fast, sometimes they break the fast, sometimes they kind of have half a fast and they join it and say it's one fast, and then at the time of Eid they said, "I kept five and a half" or "eight and a quarter" or "nine and three quarters," so on and so forth. And it's good to motivate them and encourage them from an early age. But I think it becomes very, very challenging and disappointing when a child observes the fast and he or she wants to break the fast like one hour before Iftar.

So, depending on whichever zone you are in and whatever the Iftar time is — an hour before Iftar, the child is like, "No, I think I'm tired, I'm hungry, I need to end my fast." And the dad and the mom is like, "Please, you've come thus far, two thirds of the fast, three quarters of the fast are done with, just one hour and the sun will set and your fast will be completed. Just get yourself busy into something and it will be Maghrib."

And the kid runs around and after a little while he or she comes back and says, "Oh, Maghrib is not coming and your sun is taking too long."

Now, I want to develop on that and give a message and then proceed with today's lesson, inshallah.

As we try and impress on that child to restrain himself or herself to complete the fast — with greater emphasis, Allah impresses upon us to maintain and preserve the fast of life, reminding us that the Iftar of the year after is very soon. The world in its entirety is a fast for the believer — from puberty till death. And the supreme Eid will be at the time when we meet our Creator. And the greatest chunk of this day has lapsed. And the time of Allah hosting the Iftar has drawn close.

So, in the Quran, in numerous verses — in the third chapter, in the fourth Juz, in verse 144, Allah says, using the word سَيَجْزِي — "Soon." Those that are familiar with Arabic grammar will know, سَيَـ indicates it is very quick, it is very soon, it is approaching swiftly — soon Allah will compensate the grateful ones.

And the scholars say this refers to those that have Istiqama — those that are consistent. Those who brought Iman and were firm upon it.

Then Allah says in chapter 54, in the 27th Juz of the Quran — the chapter of Al-Qamar, the moon — Allah refers to Qiyamah as "tomorrow." So my message is: you appease the child who is throwing a tantrum, saying, "Listen, my son, listen, my lad, listen, my daughter, please — just hang on for an hour and it will be Iftar." Allah is telling you the Iftar of the year after is soon. In this verse, Allah says it is tomorrow.

And yet, in the 30th Juz, in Surah Al-Mutaffifin, Allah draws Qiyamah so close that Allah refers to it as today.

And in the 29th Juz, in Surah Al-Ma'arij, Allah says:

They perceive it to be remote, distant, and far-fetched. And We know that it is close, definite, and certain.

So my message is that as we impress on our young ones to preserve the fast and not to lose the fast at the tail end of the day — remember, our life on earth as believers is a fast in its own way. One is the formal fast from dawn to dusk in the month of Ramadan. But beyond that, the life of a believer is a fast. And remember, the Iftar will be hosted by Allah. And that will be the ultimate Iftar. Allah says:

Allah has prepared pardon, and there is wholesome sustenance. So may Allah give us the ability that we restrain ourselves.

You know, when the child is about to eat a date before time, or munch on a chocolate, or on a candy, and he's just about to put it in the mouth, and what you say — "Spit it out, spit it out. Now, now will be Iftar." Well, Allah is telling you, my brother, and Allah is telling you, my sister — spit out your lie, spit out your zina, spit out your immorality, spit out your haram. Soon it will be Iftar. Soon it will be that you will have to meet your Creator.

Hence, the Messenger ﷺ referred to death as:

Remember in abundance the destroyer of all passions and desires — and that is death. (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2307; Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 1824)

Sins of the Eye — A Brief Recap

So, we spoke about in the previous segment the sins of the eye, and how we need to restrain our gaze. In fact, one of the great scholars — and this I read in Hilyat al-Awliya, where Abu Nu'aym has made mention of it — that he used to say: the first act of virtue that we practice on the day of Eid is the restraining of the gaze. And that's the first thing where, unfortunately, we fall short.

Come the day of Eid, in Arabic they say: it is a spark that ignites a massive flame, and from there it snowballs, and then it is a fire that gutters through. But it takes a simple spark to trigger and to ignite that. And likewise, in Arabic they say:

First, you abuse your gaze — then you look at a person who is unlawful for you to look at, with the eye of lust and desire. Then there is a smile. Then there are some exchange of words. And the next thing is capturing the details of each other, and then supposedly meeting up for coffee.

So, we spoke about the harms and the abuse of the eye. We move on to the next limb.

Let's ask ourselves — we come into the tail end of Ramadan, we were in this vigorous cycle of fasting and observing the nocturnal prayer, how much have we accomplished in terms of the objective? Definitely, we have executed the ritual. But like I always say, there is a clear distinction between the ritual and the essence. The ritual of Hajj is something else, the essence of Hajj is something else. The ritual is: you've done the Ihram, you are in two pieces of cloth, you are doing the circuit around the Ka'bah, you're congregating in Mina, and then in Arafat, in Muzdalifah, you're pelting and so on. These are the rituals. But the essence is to return sinless, clean, pure, reformed, rehabilitated.

Sins of the Ear

So, we move on to the next organ — وَأَمَّا الْأُذُنُ — and that is the ear. So what does Abu Hamid al-Ghazali say? As far as the ear: protect it from listening to impermissible things, be it innovations, backbiting, lewd talk, delving into falsehood, or talking about the faults of others.

So, often people think that, "I did not use vulgar language, I did not use immoral speech, I did not backbite," but they don't find it an issue to be part of that gathering. So the devil is very, very smart, and very, very calculated, and very, very manipulative.

The Messenger ﷺ said:

After idolatry was destroyed in Mecca and Medina and the precincts of the holy city, the Messenger ﷺ said that the devil has become despondent to reignite polytheism and idolatry in the sacred land. But he has changed his strategy — he will now mislead people by creating conflict amongst them. (Sahih Muslim, Book 39, Hadith 6752)

So, as humans have evolved, the devil gives us an idol in a different form and shape, and then we idolize it, and we revere it, and we attach the same amount of significance to it. So yes, he cannot reignite idolatry in Mecca and Medina, but that doesn't mean those people cannot succumb to the influence of the devil. The Prophet ﷺ says that he will create dissension and division amongst them.

So some people, the devil will mislead them by indulging in ghibah and backbiting, and others, the devil will keep them to simply enjoy the discussion.

The Story of Backbiting in Social Gatherings

I read in the writings of the great scholar Mufti Taqi, hafidhahullah, that on a particular instance he wrote in a journal — and in one of his publications he wrote about the harms of backbiting. So some very prominent individual responded to his article and challenged him, and told him, "I find it very strange that you have spoken about the ills of backbiting and you have really portrayed this to be very repugnant, deplorable, and detestable. But if that is the case, and backbiting is so unpleasant, then the truth be told, there's no spice left in our social gatherings — because social gatherings become meaningful when after a barbecue, you sit, you chill, you relax, you socialize, you chit-chat, and in your chit-chat your discussion then strays into gossip, and then someone sensationalizes it, and someone adds some different dimension, and that's how the social gatherings just linger on, and that's how there's meaning and flavor to it. So if you say that backbiting is so forbidden, then well, there's no excitement in a social gathering."

So subhanAllah, look at the response of this scholar. He said, "Okay, if that's what you say, that there's no excitement in a gathering without backbiting, then here we have it — we are informing you in advance that next week we are going to have a get-together, and we're going to have a meal, and we're going to have a social gathering, and it's going to be followed thereafter with some social discussions and some gossip, and you're going to be the focus of our gossip. But, of course, you're not invited because we're going to be talking about you."

So he's like, "No, not at all. That's unacceptable. I will never accept that." SubhanAllah.

So then the scholar replied and said, "Well, you will never accept it for yourself. But why is it that you want the same to be said about others — that you want your gathering to be sensationalized, and you want to indulge in backbiting about others, but you don't want others to do the same to you?" And that's the problem of life. If we can learn this one principle — that we love for others what we like for ourselves, and we dislike for others what we dislike for ourselves — and it doesn't mean literally. It means liking the best for others as you like the best for yourself, and disliking something inferior for others as you dislike it for yourself — then life will be very, very different.

So just to recap here again — he said that the ear ought to be protected from listening to reprehensible innovation, or backbiting, or any form of obscene immorality. Do you know what, my brother and my sister? Islam doesn't even allow impoliteness of speech, harshness of speech to anyone — believer or disbeliever. That type of language — foul language, condescending, derogatory, inflammatory, vituperative language — is something that Islam opposes very, very strongly.

So Sayyiduna Umar had an altercation with a non-Muslim, and in that some harsh words were exchanged, and these verses were revealed in the 15th Juz' in Surah Bani Isra'il:

And say to My servants that they should speak that which is best. Verily, the devil creates friction and disunity amongst them.

So, sometimes you're sitting in the gathering and you won't utter a word and you feel like, "Wow, that's great." But your ears are sinning because you are enjoying the discussion.

أَوِ الخَوْضِ فِي الْبَاطِلِ — Imam Ghazali, may Allah have mercy on him, says: when people are talking about falsehood. And Allah says this in the Quran:

That when you see people delving and mocking and scoffing at the verses of Allah, then move away from them. Do not be part of that gathering. And if the devil made you forget and you sat down there — sometimes people are laughing, mocking, scoffing at the tenets of Islam or the teachings of Islam or religion in its entirety, or making blasphemous comments just in supposed humor or lightheartedness — then no sooner do you reflect, stand up and leave such a gathering.

أَوْ ذِكْرِ مَسَاوِئِ النَّاسِ — Or, it's a gathering where people are talking about the faults of others.

I have a flash of one of the great quotations of Hakeem ul-Ummah, rahimahullah. Wow — he said such a profound thing. He said: in your social gatherings, don't even speak about the good qualities of others. Not because it's forbidden — that's noble, that's great, that's meritorious. But then what happens? You start off speaking about the good of people but you don't end there.

People say that in prayer, what should you think of? Ideally, reflect on the verses. If you can understand the Quran, that's the best thing. So someone says, "Well, can I picture the Ka'bah?" Great, wonderful, picture the Ka'bah. But my brother, I'm afraid — when you're going to start visualizing the Ka'bah, I don't think you will stay there. Your gaze will then move around into many other things.

And unfortunately, how many a time it happens that while a person is performing a circuit around the Ka'bah, if he doesn't restrain himself, his gaze can stray there and he can roam his gaze. I know of a great scholar — and I heard this incident from him myself — where a person once came to him in Medina and said, "I had this dream, what does this mean?" And the scholar said to him, "This is an indication that you are abusing your sight in the sacred city of the Messenger ﷺ."

So very well — in Salah, you start off visualizing the Ka'bah, but then your eyes move on to many other things in your thoughts, in your imagination. So when you're sitting in a gathering, it's great to talk good about people. But let's be honest — you're going to start off saying good, and then someone is like, "Yeah, well, actually, you know what? Well, I know something else — but yeah, no, no, tell me what's it, brother? No, well, never mind..." And people like to make a disclaimer: "So I'm not backbiting, I'm not backbiting. It's just something I'm discussing." That's hogwash. You are literally backbiting. The only thing is you are appeasing yourself by making a forward disclaimer that it's not backbiting.

What did the Messenger of Allah say?

Sometimes a person utters something of the disobedience of the Almighty, he doesn't consider it to be wrong — yet that will cause him to drop into the depth of Hell, a distance which is greater than the distance between the East and the West. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 81, Hadith 6478; Sahih Muslim, Book 52, Hadith 7107)

May Allah protect us. In Arabic, they say:

The one who carries the tales of others and conveys it to you and feeds your ears with information — "He's like this, she's like this, they're like this" — don't be a fool and don't be so naive. He's taking your messages and passing them on to others as well.

So anyway, we're speaking about the sins of the ears. Allah says in the 15th Juz:

Verily your ears, your vision, your heart — you will be questioned about all of these in detail.

The Purpose of the Ear

فَإِنَّهَا خُلِقَتْ لَكَ لِتَسْمَعَ بِهَا كَلَامَ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى — Allah has given you ears to listen to the Quran. وَسُنَّةَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ — and to listen to the teachings of the Messenger ﷺ.

Once when I was doing a workshop with people that are hard-hearing and have speech impairment in the UK, in Birmingham — and I had a private one-on-one workshop with them and it was very emotional. After the session was concluded, I was speaking and then there was someone interpreting — conveying it in sign language which was then interpreted to me and back and forth. And then I just asked them, "What is the thing you yearn for the most? What is the thing you pine for the most?"

And two answers were given. One brother said, "I cry and I pine to hear the Adhan. I just pine to hear the sound of the Adhan, the caller calling out to prayer." In Tanbih al-Ghafilin, there is the quotation of Abdullah ibn Abbas, radiallahu anhumma, who said:

If the people truly could comprehend the message of the caller of the Adhan, they would be awake, vigilant, and would respond to prayer. (Tanbih al-Ghafilin, Abu al-Layth al-Samarqandi)

I always say: our ears are super sensitive about the beep of the phone. But when it comes to the Adhan, our ears are dead. So many times, "Oh, I thought my phone beeped" — and we assume a beep when it did not beep. And the Adhan is called out and unfortunately we ignore it.

And the second brother said, "The thing I pine for most is to hear the voice of my mom." La ilaha illallah.

Imagine the privilege — the hadith is in Bukhari, in the first volume — Abdullah ibn Rawaha, radiallahu anhu, narrates it, where he speaks about the privilege that Allah had given to the noble companions:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 64, Hadith 4255)

And among us was the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, reciting the Book of Allah when the light of dawn would break. What a privilege.

Someone was asked — قِيلَ لِفُلَانٍ: قُلْ لَنَا شَيْئًا يُشَوِّقُنَا إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ — "Tell us something that will stimulate us and motivate us and propel us towards paradise." So he said, فِيهَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ — "What more can I tell you about Jannah other than the fact that in Jannah is the Messenger ﷺ? That is the greatest thing I can tell you."

The poet said: "O my Lord, rescue me from all the trials and tribulations of this world. You are my guardian and the guardian of all. Bless me with an abode in Medina. Provide me sustenance in the blessed city of the Messenger ﷺ. And then make me amongst those fortunate individuals who can rest beneath the soil of Medina." Ameen, Ya Rabb al-Aalameen.

Hatim al-Asamm — The Scholar Who Feigned Deafness

La ilaha illallah — I have a flash now in my mind which I heard from one of my scholars. One of the scholars of hadith is a person by the name of Hatim al-Asamm, rahimahullah. La ilaha illallah. This is so amazing, and the scholars will appreciate this.

So there is the muhaddith Masrooq — right? Masrooq literally means someone who was kidnapped, and it is said that in his childhood he was kidnapped. And Asamm literally means someone who is hard-of-hearing, who is deaf. So Hatim al-Asamm — he was known as "Hatim the Deaf." They say he was not actually deaf.

He was sitting in a gathering and someone passed wind. Someone released flatulence. So people had a chuckle at it. And again, we learn from the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ — he said, "Why do you laugh at something which happens to you yourself? Each one of us, by the will of nature and the system of our body — just as we pass a stool and urine, at times we need to release wind and flatulence as well. Why would someone laugh?"

In fact, under this ayah — in the 20th Juz, in the 29th chapter, the chapter on the spider, where Allah speaks about the evils found in the nation of Lut, alayhis salam:

نَادِيكُمْ — in your club, in your gathering, you commit evils. And one of the evils mentioned is that a person would pass wind and then everybody would just laugh and have a good chuckle and mock at him, and that would be like something of entertainment.

So Hatim al-Asamm, rahimahullah, was sitting in a gathering, someone passed wind, and everybody was like, "Wow, what was that? Who was that?" And he acted as though he was deaf. He heard the sound and obviously got the stench, but he pretended that he was deaf. So from that day onwards, he was recorded as Hatim al-Asamm — the narrator who is hard-of-hearing. But that was a deliberate move on his part to conceal the mistake of an individual. Subsequently, it came to light that he was not deaf — but that was a conscious move on him so that it doesn't lead to any embarrassment of a person. SubhanAllah, to what extent would they protect the dignity of others!

Blocking the Ears from Sin — The Example of Ibn Umar

Abdullah ibn Umar, radiallahu anhu — it comes about Nafi', who was the student of Abdullah ibn Umar, radiallahu anhu. If you see Imam Malik's famous book of hadith, Al-Muwatta — An Malik, An Nafi', An Ibn Umar. The Silsilat al-Dhahab, as we refer to it. So Imam Malik narrates from Nafi', and then Nafi' narrates from Abdullah ibn Umar, radiallahu anhu.

So anyway, one day Nafi' was passing by and there was some music playing around and there was some other activity. So he put his fingers in his ears and kept on hastening his pace till he went past there. And then he said, "Once I saw Abdullah ibn Umar, radiallahu anhu — he passed by a place in which there was some sin and there was some music, and precisely he blocked his ears off and then he crossed through that area."

And that reminds me of a verse of the Quran in the 19th Juz in Surah Al-Furqan, where Allah speaks about Ibad al-Rahman, the selected servants of Allah:

لَا يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ can have two interpretations, and both are authentic by the consensus of all the scholars. Shahida Yashhadu can mean to give testimony — they do not give false testimony. Or Shahida Yashhadu can have the meaning of Hadhara Yahdhuru — they do not attend or participate in evil gatherings.

So Allah says the pious are those that do not attend a place of sin, a concert of vulgarity, transgression, immorality. But it's a world — you're not living in an ideal world, you're not living in a glass home. So sometimes you're compelled to pass by places where immorality is being displayed. And when they pass by, they pass by with dignity. What do they do? They hasten their pace. They restrain their gaze, they block their ears. And they despise the crime perpetrated in that venue, and not the individual himself.

So unfortunately, our situation is the direct opposite. When somebody commits a crime, we despise the perpetrator, but Allah forbid, we love the crime itself. Sometimes my profile or my position becomes a blockage for me — "I cannot attend a venue like this. I'm known, I'm prominent, I'm respected." So probably I would hang around and drive around in the neighborhood or in the precincts of that place. And then, "Oh, so-and-so is there, and he's there, and she's there." And I despise the individual, but unfortunately I'm fond of the crime. Whereas the teachings are the other way around.

Abu Darda, radiallahu anhu, saw people mocking at someone who had committed a crime, and he said, "Don't hate him, don't hate him. Despise the wrong and don't despise the individual."

And the analogy given is very beautiful — that a mom, when her baby and toddler has made a mess in the diaper: in the love for the baby, the mom doesn't leave the diaper on. No — she takes it, selflessly rolls her sleeves up, cleanses her child, and then she embraces the same child. She doesn't hate the child because of what came out of the child. She gets rid of the impurity. So likewise, we despise the wrong, not the individual.

Anyway, the point is — use your ears to listen to the right things. وَتَتَوَصَّلَ بِهَا إِلَى اسْتِفَادَةِ الْعِلْمِ — with ears, you listen in order to benefit. So we've been taught:

Be a scholar, or a learner, or a listener, or one who loves them — and do not be the fifth, lest you perish. (Reported by al-Tabarani; see also Shu'ab al-Iman of al-Bayhaqi)

Become a scholar, or become a learner, or listen to them both attentively, or love them all. So use your ears for the right reason.

Embryology in the Quran and the Purity of the Tongue

And the scholars have mentioned this in the point of wisdom — that when a fetus, and we talk of embryology — in the 23rd Juz, Allah speaks about it:

That Allah creates you and fashions you in three layers of darkness — that's the abdomen, that's the womb, and that's the membrane. And that's what the doctors will tell you today. But the Quran, subhanAllah, had spelled it out 14 centuries ago.

Now, when we talk of embryology in the Quran — we know that nutrition reaches the fetus via the navel, and when the child is born, you detach the umbilical cord. The ulema have written on this: the mouth is the means through which food is consumed in the world. But in the fetus, in the womb of the mother, Allah did not make it that the child receives nutrition through the mouth — rather, blood is transmitted through the navel via the umbilical cord. There is a system of blood and other impurities that take place there. So Allah preserved that tongue. The tongue is a respectful organ. Allah preserved it.

It is said that nature has preserved and protected our tongue in the divine factory of Allah, in the three layers of darkness, from any form of blood or impurities coming onto it. And when we grow up and develop speech, we use the most foul and harsh and vulgar of language. May Allah protect both our tongue and our ears from listening to the forbidden.

SubhanAllah. So if you were to listen to something that is disliked, then what is in your favor will become against you. Your ears — through which you could listen to something good and earn the reward of Allah — now that very ear has become a liability for you. You are using it to listen to something wrong and forbidden. And whatever was meant to be a source of your success will now become a source of your destruction. What was supposed to be an asset for you becomes a liability for you. And this is the ultimate loss — وَهَذَا غَايَةُ الْخُسْرَانِ.

وَلَا تَظُنَّنَّ أَنَّ الْإِثْمَ يَخْتَصُّ بِهِ الْقَائِلُ دُونَ الْمُسْتَمِعِ — And don't deceive yourself that the sin is limited to the one who blurts it, who utters it, who uses the vulgarity, and that the one who listens is rescued from it. No, not at all. The one who utters it is sinful, and likewise the one who listens to it is also sinful.

Sins We Do Not Even Recognize

We move on to the next organ, because we're talking of Ijtinab al-Ma'asi. The reality is there are so many sins we have not even realized are sins. So when we haven't realized it's a sin, there's no conscious effort to abstain from it — because according to me, I am not even committing a sin.

So the Arabic poet said:

He says: "And I have so many sins — I don't even know that they are sins. But of course the Almighty knows about it. Allah is so gracious and kind that He gives me respite and grace and leniency. I persist on my crime and He continues to conceal me. I continue to sin as though there's no tomorrow, as though there's no accountability. I am the one who bolts his doors in his effort — committing disobedience — yet the eye of Allah watches over me."

When Allah speaks about fraudsters — those that cheat in their dealings — what does Allah say? It looks like they forgot that they have an interview with Him. That's why they can be so blatant and brazen and arrogant.

Have these people forgotten there is something like resurrection and there is something like accountability and there is something like an interview before Allah? So there are so many of our crimes we don't even know. And I need to know I have an illness for me to seek treatment and to avoid the things that compound my illness. If I don't know I'm diabetic, then I'm not going to watch my sugar. If I don't know I have a thyroid problem, I'm just going to eat things and compound the problem.

Sins of the Tongue

As for the tongue — it was created for you to increase the remembrance of Allah, to recite His Book, to guide the creation of Allah to His path, and to manifest what is in your conscience from the needs of your religion and your world. So if you use it for other than that, then you have disbelieved in the grace of Allah — which is the greatest of your members — over you and over the rest of creation.

The tongue, wow. That's probably where most of us fall short — the vision, the eye, and the tongue. The Prophet ﷺ said — and in one narration he mentioned three things:

Restrain your tongue. Let your house accommodate you. And cry over your sins. (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2406)

أَمْلِكْ عَلَيْكَ لِسَانَكَ — Restrain your tongue. Monitor your tongue. Control your tongue. Harness your tongue. وَلْيَسَعْكَ بَيْتُكَ — Let your house accommodate you. Stay indoors.

There is a concluding stanza in a long poem of Imam Shafi'i:

Fortunate is the one who can stay indoors, who can find comfort in his space, who doesn't need to venture unnecessarily out — his doors are bolted, his curtains are covered, and he stays indoors. He ventures out for necessity.

In Arabic they say: جِرْمُهُ صَغِيرٌ وَجُرْمُهُ كَبِيرٌ — small piece of flesh, but if this tongue utters one thing wrong, the consequences are catastrophic.

And in Arabic they say — and I remember I read this in the Hashiya of Al-Kafiya, which is a book on Nahw, and subsequently I read it in many other books — that the injury of an arrow can, hopefully, be treated. You can nurse it, you can medicate it, and hopefully you can rehabilitate it. Somebody injured you with an arrow or with a spear or with a bullet — you can address it. But the injury and the arrow of the tongue — really, can you repair that wound?

And the last thing the Prophet ﷺ said in that particular hadith: وَابْكِ عَلَى خَطِيئَتِكَ — cry over your sins. May Allah make us amongst those people.

The Purpose of the Tongue

وَأَمَّا اللِّسَانُ فَقَدْ خُلِقَ لَكَ لِتُكْثِرَ بِهِ ذِكْرَ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى — as for the tongue, it has been created for you only so that you could spend much time in the remembrance of the Almighty. Glorify your Lord with your tongue. Allah speaks about every creation:

Every creature instinctively knows how to praise its Creator. How often do we use our tongue to praise the Almighty?

A believer's whole life — you go to bed, there's a prayer. You stand up from bed, there's a prayer. You are close and intimate with your spouse — prior to intimacy, there is a prayer. You enter the washroom, there is a prayer. You exit the washroom, there is a prayer. And at every moment, what is it? You're thanking Allah.

Here's a simple prayer — simple in the sense that we all know it. Otherwise, nothing is trivial, because these are the rich and impeccable teachings of the Messenger ﷺ. Everything is profound. And it is a testimony of his prophethood, because no human can coin these phrases, no human can construct these sentences other than by the inspiration and revelation upon a Nabi.

A person goes to the bathroom — sometimes he has the urge to pass urine, sometimes he has the urge to pass stool, and sometimes he needs to release some gas and flatulence. Look at the teachings of the Prophet ﷺ when exiting from the washroom.

غُفْرَانَكَ is a maf'ul; the fi'l is implicit: نَطْلُبُ غُفْرَانَكَ — "O Allah, we seek Your forgiveness." Why? Because while I was in the washroom and the bathroom, the venue did not allow for me to verbally praise You. The location, the venue — it's a place where there are jinn and demons, it's a place where private areas are exposed. So in that particular venue, I was unable to verbally glorify You. We ask for Your forgiveness.

All praise belongs to Allah who has flushed from my system all that which created discomfort to me — be it urine, be it stool, be it gas. It had created discomfort in my body. Alhamdulillah, all praise belongs to Allah who has removed that which had caused me difficulty and comforted me.

All praise belongs to Allah who has revived me after a long night of sleep. And to Him ultimately is the resurrection.

So we ought to keep our tongues moist in the remembrance of the Almighty at each moment. وَتُرْشِدَ بِهِ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى إِلَى طَرِيقِهِ — by virtue of the tongue, you invite people, you use your tongue to inspire, to guide, to motivate people towards the good.

And of course, Allah speaks in Surah Ya-Sin in the 26th Juz:

That whenever a human utters — لَفَظَ يَلْفِظُ means to utter, to hurl, to blurt, to say something — whatever you utter, there is by him a guardian that captures it.

There is the incident of a man — and I read it in the writings of Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, rahimahullah — where he was mounted onto his conveyance and then slipped and fell. So he said, تَعِسَ الْحِمَارُ — "Woe be to this donkey, this silly donkey, this silly animal." So the angel who records good said, "This is not a good action — silly donkey — I cannot capture this as a good deed. It's not glorifying Allah, it's not a kind word. So I'm not going to record this as a virtue." وَقَالَ صَاحِبُ الشِّمَالِ مَا هِيَ سَيِّئَةٌ أَكْتُبُهَا — and the angel recording evil said, "Well, it's not the most palatable of statements, but then again, it's not a vice or a sin per se, so I'm not going to record it either."

So now the human has uttered a statement and neither of the angels wants to capture it. فَأَوْحَى اللَّهُ إِلَى صَاحِبِ الشِّمَالِ — then Allah inspired the angel recording evil, and Allah said: مَا تَرَكَهُ صَاحِبُ الْيَمِينِ مِنْ شَيْءٍ فَاكْتُبْهُ — that the screening process of any utterance will be done by the angel that records good. So if the angel that records good does not consider it to be noble, then it will be classified as sinful and it will be captured in the database of the angels that record evil.

La ilaha illallah. How many things throughout the day, my brother and my sister — we just utter these things casually without thinking in the least about it and the consequences.

So anyway, فَإِذَا اسْتَعْمَلْتَهُ لِغَيْرِ مَا خُلِقَ لَكَ فَقَدْ كَفَرْتَ بِنِعْمَةِ اللَّهِ — if you were to abuse your tongue, then surely you have displayed ungratefulness and ingratitude to the bounties of the Almighty.

Remember — the tongue is that part of the body most able to overpower both you and other creatures. And nothing will throw people into the Fire on their faces except the harvests of their tongues. (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2616; authenticated by al-Albani)