The Good and the Bad of the Tongue

Khutbah Opening

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him and seek His assistance. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil within ourselves and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him. Yet whomever He allows to go astray, none can guide him.

O you who believe, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except in the state of Islam. O you who believe, fear Allah and speak the truth. He will direct you to do righteous good deeds and will forgive your sins. And whomsoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, he has indeed achieved a great achievement.

As for what follows — the best speech is the Book of Allah. And the best guide is the guide of Muhammad ﷺ. And the worst of things are its innovations. And every innovation is a misguidance. And every misguidance is in the Fire.

The Story of Luqman al-Hakim

Brothers and sisters, in Islam today our khutbah is about the tongue — the bad that comes out of it and the good that comes out of it. And we'll begin with a story about Luqman al-Hakim. Luqman is the wise man. He's a righteous and a wise man that's mentioned in the Qur'an by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He was not of the Prophets of Allah, but he was so wise that Allah azza wa jal mentioned some of his wisdoms in the Qur'an.

It is said that when he was a young boy — and he was a slave — his master told him, "Go and slaughter a sheep and bring me back the two best parts of the sheep." So he went and slaughtered it and he came back with the heart and the tongue, being the best parts of the sheep. The next day his master told him, "Go and slaughter a sheep and bring me the two worst parts of the sheep." So he slaughtered the sheep and he brought him the heart and the tongue.

So his message is clear. These two parts — they could be the best, or they can be the worst.

The Danger of the Tongue

The tongue is a very small instrument that doesn't get tired from speaking whatsoever. You can speak for hours upon hours and you will never feel tired in your tongue — maybe your jaw, maybe something else, but your tongue itself never ever tires. And it is this small instrument that affects the entire body.

In Sunan al-Tirmidhi, a hadith narrated by Bilal ibn al-Harith and from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, the companion, who said he heard the Prophet ﷺ say: "When the son of Adam wakes up, all the rest of the body parts are warning the tongue." The body parts will say to the tongue, "Fear Allah concerning us." It's as if they're saying, "We're all in this together. If you are upright, then we will be upright. If you're okay, we will be okay. And if you swerve, if you curve, if you divert, then we will also be affected."

And we know that whatever the tongue does affects the entire body. If someone insults someone else with their tongue, that person won't hit him on his tongue — he will hit the rest of the body. If someone commits kufr, it's not that his tongue will be thrown into the hellfire; his entire body will be thrown into the hellfire.

The Hadith of Words That Please or Anger Allah

And that's why in the hadith narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari, Abu Hurairah narrates:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6478)

That a servant of Allah will speak a word that pleases Allah, and he pays no attention to it — you say something that pleases Allah and you give it no attention whatsoever, you pay no mind. Then the Prophet ﷺ describes that Allah will raise him so many ranks because of this word that he spoke that Allah was pleased with, and the person was not even aware of it. And a servant will say a word that angers Allah, and he gives it no attention whatsoever — and it will cause him to fall into Jahannam, the Hellfire. وَالْعِيَاذُ بِاللَّهِ.

The Problem of Profanity in the Muslim Community

But in this khutbah we specifically want to focus on profanity — the use of profanity, what they call cuss words, foul language. This is something that is very prevalent in the Muslim community. And it is extremely prevalent amongst our youth, those in their teens and older. They're so used to it that if one of them curses or uses a bad word in front of others, the rest don't even tell him اتَّقِ اللَّهَ — they don't even say, "What are you saying? Excuse yourself, apologize." It is completely normal to them. Bad words are glorified in movies, glorified in the music that they listen to.

One estimation says that the average American will say, in their lifetime, about 2 million bad words — they will curse and cuss 2 million times in their lifetime. So we will give Muslims a 50% discount, for no apparent reason, because they curse just as much as anyone, maybe a little less. But let's give them a 50% discount. So that means the average Muslim here will curse 1 million times in their lifetime.

So how many pages does it take to fill 1 million words? It takes about 2,222 pages to fill 1 million words — about this thick. That means this will be the thickness of your book on the Day of Judgment, just the curse words. Not counting lying, and backbiting, and namimah, false testimony. Just this section of your book will be this thick. That's just the profanity that you use in your lifetime.

We Are All Authors of Our Own Books

We are all authors. We are all writing our autobiography. We dictate to the angels what to write. If you want the angels to write something good, do something good — they write it immediately. Say سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ, they write it down immediately in your book. You curse, and they will write it down immediately. And they will keep writing for your entire life.

Allah azza wa jal says, describing these two angels:

Allah azza wa jal describes the angels — one on the right and one on the left — that they are writing and penning down everything. They pen down everything that you say. You do not utter a single word except that it is penned down.

So the angels continue to write throughout your life. And then you receive your book on a most difficult day, the Day of Resurrection, where people will wait 50,000 years waiting for the judgment to begin. It hasn't even started. 50,000 years they're waiting. And when it finally begins, the first thing that happens will be books that will start to fall into people's hands. Those who are happy with their results will look and see all kinds of good deeds — good deeds that they have forgotten about, penned down and mentioned in that book. And others will see bad deeds that they will regret.

In this dunya, people think bad words are funny. They think they're cool. It's glorified. But on that day, it will be nothing but regret and nothing but a sin. And a person will say, as Allah says in the Qur'an:

"I wish I never received my book." So page after page after page of just curse words and cuss words, not counting all the other things.

The Story of 'A'ishah and Safiyyah

Even after this, some people say, "Well, how serious can it be? I just sometimes use these words just to make emphasis or just for self-expression. How serious could it be?" In the hadith we know that 'A'ishah رضي الله عنها, when the Prophet ﷺ married Safiyyah bint Huyayy ibn Akhtab, 'A'ishah رضي الله عنها one time out of jealousy wanted to say something bad about Safiyyah. So she said:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4875; graded Sahih)

She said, "Ya Rasulallah, enough of a bad thing about Safiyyah — that she is such and such." And she signaled with her hand that Safiyyah رضي الله عنها was short. That's all she said. She didn't even say much. She signaled with her hand that Safiyyah رضي الله عنها was short, but she was mentioning it as a negative thing. So the Prophet ﷺ told her:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4875; Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2502)

He said, "Mah, O 'A'ishah!" — meaning, be quiet. "You have said a word that if it were to be mixed — if you wanted to cleanse it out, to dilute it — if it were mixed with all the waters of the oceans and the seas, it would corrupt those waters. It would contaminate those waters." And what did 'A'ishah رضي الله عنها say? That Safiyyah was short, and she signaled with her hand.

What about the words that people are using now? The profanity that has become so common, so common. Even people who are supposed to be in respectable positions now are using profanity. This didn't happen 50–60 years ago, even here in America — this wasn't the norm. But now on television, people are cursing on their videos, at events, in front of children, because they're so used to it. But the believer should not be used to something like that. The believer should never find that normal.

The believer knows that the angels are writing down their deeds. So far be it for him to start to speak like people who don't believe in Allah azza wa jal and in the Last Day. And on top of that, if you consider who are the ones writing these bad words — you have made the angels, the most honored creatures of Allah. Allah azza wa jal describes them as كِرَامًا كَاتِبِينَ — these honored creatures of Allah — and you are making them write down profane and filthy words constantly. If we were really conscious of this, would we ever use such language?

The four angels that are with you the entire time — the one on the right, writing down good deeds; the one on the left, writing down bad deeds; then one in front and one behind you. These are the ones that are with you 24/7. They never leave your side. If you could see these angels with your own eyes, if you could see them writing down good and bad deeds, would you continue to do any bad deed? Would you ever feel lazy to do any of the good deeds? Would anyone ever use profanity if they could see the four angels that are with them wherever they go?

Forget the angels. What if we just had Shaykh Waleed Basyouni and our Shaykh Ibrahim and maybe Shaykh Salah Assawi and Shaykh Mamdouh just follow you together — the four of them just surrounding you for 24 hours? How would you behave? How would you act? And the angels are the honored creatures of Allah, and people are making them write down this profanity and they don't even bat an eye. Sometimes you meet someone in the masjid and then they throw out a bad word — they don't even apologize. Like it's just okay, like it's acceptable, like it's normal, as if there is no Day of Judgment.

The Lesson of 'Alqamah from the Hadith of Bilal ibn al-Harith

The hadith we mentioned earlier in Sunan al-Tirmidhi, narrated by Bilal ibn al-Harith, where it says that the body parts every morning warn the tongue: "Don't get us in trouble." One of the narrators of that hadith, his name was 'Alqamah, rahimahullah. He says:

"How many words, how much speech was I forbidden from — or held back from — because of the hadith of Bilal ibn al-Harith." He's saying: because of that hadith, so many things that I wanted to say, I wouldn't say them. Just because of that one hadith. If we took this hadith to heart, how would our language be? How would our behavior be?

The Example of 'A'ishah's Caution with Words

The righteous before us were very careful about the words that came out of their mouths. We're not even talking about profanity. Even normal words — they were so careful with normal speech.

One time 'A'ishah رضي الله عنها — and she had already learned her lesson from the Prophet ﷺ; this is the effect of truly internalizing a lesson — she was at her home, this was later on after the death of the Prophet ﷺ. They told her, "We have prepared lunch. Would you like to eat?" She said, "I'm not hungry, but bring the food and we'll just nibble at it." Then she caught herself. Did she use a bad word? Did she say anything wrong? Then she caught herself and said أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ. She said, "I'm just going to nibble at the ni'mah of Allah" — almost like playing with it, having fun with the blessing of Allah while others are not able to find any food. And so she gathered money and used it to buy a slave and set him free as an expiation. For what? Just for saying that. Just for saying, "We'll fool around with it a little bit." This is how careful they were with what came out of their tongues.

The Tongue Can Ruin All Other Good Deeds

The tongue is a dangerous instrument and it can ruin the deeds performed by the rest of the body. It can ruin even the salawat and the zakah and all the other good deeds you do. In Sunan al-Tirmidhi, the Prophet ﷺ was asked about a woman who prays a lot of the nawafil, who prays at night and gives a lot of charity, but harms her neighbors with her tongue. The Prophet ﷺ responded with just two words:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2418; graded Sahih)

"She is in the Hellfire." That is the danger of the tongue. We ask Allah to make us of those who guard their tongues and watch their words.

Ask Allah for His forgiveness. Indeed, those who ask for His forgiveness shall prosper.

Second Khutbah: The Good of the Tongue — Dhikr

In the beginning of the khutbah we mentioned how Luqman al-Hakim brought the heart and the tongue as the best parts of the sheep, and the next day he brought the heart and the tongue as the worst parts of the sheep. So the tongue — bad can come out of it and good can come out of it. The good that we want to focus on today would be dhikr — the remembrance of Allah. Simple things that we can do with our tongue that will bring so much reward with Allah.

SubhanAllah wa Bihamdihi — A Simple Yet Mighty Dhikr

For instance, saying:

It's so simple and so short and so easy to say. What if we spent our time saying that? Every time you walk, you say سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ. When you exercise, سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ. If you're on hold, you say سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ.

The Prophet ﷺ mentioned many hadiths regarding the benefit of saying سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ one hundred times. In one hadith the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2692)

Whoever says سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ one hundred times — there will be no one on the Day of Judgment who has done better than this person, except for the one who did the same or more. In other words, if you say سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ one hundred times, there'll be nobody on the Day of Resurrection better than you except for the one who said it more than you did. How simple is that?

And if you notice, you always look at the hadiths that mention magnificent reward — they always mention a simple act, not a difficult act. Just say it a hundred times and you'll be the best person on the Day of Judgment except for the person who said it more than you. I said this in class one time and an old man came to me. He said, "My father, rahimahullah, used to say it ten thousand times every single day." We will be resurrected with this man on the same plain, and he'll be better than us unless we say it more than he did.

Likewise, in another hadith:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6405; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2691)

Whoever says it a hundred times, his sins will be forgiven even if they were like the froth of the ocean. Just saying it one hundred times. And in another hadith, the most beloved of speech to Allah:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2731)

To say سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ one hundred times at normal speed — many people's tasbih is at supersonic speed, that's not the point of tasbih. After salah they're just rushing through it and what they're saying is just mumbled material. But to say سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ at normal speed takes 2 minutes and 15 seconds to 2 minutes and 30 seconds to say it 100 times.

Consider the amount of time spent on hold on the phone. They estimate that by the time you die, you would have spent 20 weeks of your life on hold. 20 weeks. What if every time someone tells you to hold, you start saying سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ at normal speed? By the time you die, you would have spent 20 weeks saying سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ, and that would amount to 8,064,000 times. 100 times has so much benefit — what if you say it 8 million times? But this is what's happening with our time. It's just passing, and there's nothing to do to make it stop. The only way to make benefit and to take back your life is through the remembrance of Allah azza wa jal — through dhikr of Allah azza wa jal — and that is by the tongue.

Planting Trees in Jannah — The Gift of Ibrahim

From the other adhkar: when the Prophet ﷺ ascended to the heavens, he met Ibrahim عليه السلام. And Ibrahim عليه السلام was the only prophet who told him, "Give your ummah salam from me." And he was the only one who sent us a gift with the Prophet ﷺ. He told him, "Tell your ummah that al-jannah has very fertile soil — you can grow things easily in al-jannah. And to plant something in al-jannah, say:"

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3462; graded Hasan)

The scholars say in any order: سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ, اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ, and لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — every time you say one of them, a tree is planted for you in al-jannah. And we know the description of the trees of al-jannah: that you can travel for so long a distance just under the shade of one tree. So easy to plant trees in al-jannah.

Many people are just having dinner with people, driving a car, walking somewhere, waiting for someone, on hold — سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ, اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ, لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — and a tree will be planted for you in al-jannah. That's from the good of the tongue.

Training the Tongue Through Constant Dhikr

And we said the tongue doesn't tire. If you say سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ، الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ all day, your tongue will never get tired. Your brain might wander off, your jaws could hurt, but your tongue never gets tired. So it's that same powerful instrument — it can be used for good or it can be used for bad.

Someone making istighfar — just a simple grocery trip — someone can make istighfar a thousand times just buying groceries, walking around the supermarket, getting things, putting them in the cart, while making dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It adds up by the thousands per day without you even realizing it. But the idea is first to get ourselves trained to making dhikr of Allah azza wa jal.

And many times people are making dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala while they're thinking of other things, or doing other acts, or even watching television and making dhikr of Allah. Then the Shaytan comes to trick them and tells them, "This is not quality dhikr. Quality dhikr is when you're focusing on what you're saying." And that's just a trick from the Shaytan. Yes, it is better to have quality dhikr — but the lower quality dhikr is also acceptable, because the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3375; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 3793; graded Hasan)

"Let your tongue remain moist" — meaning when your tongue is moving, it's moist. Let it remain moist with the remembrance of Allah. And it's the same thing: if you're in salah and you're not focused, do you leave the salah? No, you continue praying. So if you're making dhikr constantly, and even if your brain is not fully there and your heart is not there 100%, that's fine. You're still making dhikr. You're still getting your tongue used to mentioning Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

How many people, while they're driving and almost have an accident, instead of mentioning Allah azza wa jal — instead of saying بِسْمِ اللَّهِ or سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ or اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ — they say a bad word, because their tongues are used to that.

One of our friends — he was walking to the masjid, this is in Virginia — and the masjid is across this highway, this deadly highway. He said, "I was going for Isha prayer and at the last minute this car almost hit me. I just jumped out of the way in the last minute. But as I jumped I said a bad word." He said, "I thought to myself: if that car would have hit me and killed me, that would have been my last word on this earth." He would be resurrected on the Day of Judgment saying profanity. But the idea is what rolls off your tongue. So even if you're not focused on your dhikr, it's still training for you to be constantly in the remembrance and in the mention of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And I'll mention something that my grandfather, rahimahullah, told me. He said that he had a roommate — an old man from Pakistan — and his other roommate called him and said, "Do you want to see someone making dhikr in their sleep?" He said, "We went and found this old man — who was just staying with them temporarily — and he was sound asleep, and he just kept saying, اللَّهُ... اللَّهُ, making dhikr of Allah azza wa jal in his sleep." In deep sleep. How do you get to that level? You get to that level when you're awake and you're used to mentioning Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Closing Du'a

We ask Allah azza wa jal to make us of those who are in constant mention of Him. With that we ask Allah azza wa jal to make us of those who recognize the truth as clear truth and follow the best of it, and to make us of those who recognize falsehood as clear falsehood and abstain from it.

We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant victory to Islam and to the Muslims, and to grant freedom to all the Muslims who are being held and dealt with unjustly around the world. And we ask Allah azza wa jal to grant victory and ease to the Muslims in Syria, and to the Muslims in Afghanistan, and to the Muslims in Palestine, and in Burma, and in Bangladesh, and in Yemen, and in Kashmir, and in Sudan, and in all parts of the world.

And establish the prayer. وَقُومُوا إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ