Naeem's Blog

A scholar was quietly sitting in a gathering with his students.

After a short while, one of the students broke the silence and politely asked his teacher, 'Shaykh, why don't you say a few words from which we can benefit?'

The shaykh softly replied, 'If you are not benefiting from my silence, how will you ever be able to benefit from my speaking?'

The power of the tongue is immense and too often we wield it carelessly. When compared with the damage that can be caused by our own hands, the tongue is so much more dangerous.

While the hand can cause pain to those only close to it, the tongue can inflict harm to those miles away.

While the hand is used to hurt those who are weaker, the tongue can be used to hurt anyone and everyone, regardless of their physical stature.

While the physical wounds caused by the hand eventually heal, the emotional scars caused by the tongue are everlasting.

Thus we are reminded by our beloved Teacher (saw) "The Muslim is one from whose tongue and hand other Muslims are safe." (And let none of us think that the Prophet's mentioning of the tongue before the hand is of no consequence.)

As children, we always repeated 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me' and it sufficed us for that stage. But as we have matured and are now striving to achieve greater heights in the sight of our Lord, we realize that truly words are so much more poisonous than sticks or stones.

Let us heed the beautiful advice of the Beloved of Allah (swt), "Speak a good word or remain silent."