If You Wish To Speak

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

It is said that nine-tenths of well being are in silence and that tribulations are connected to speech. So, whoever wishes to speak, then let him choose words of remembrance of Allah, or commanding the good, or forbidding the evil; and he must avoid words that do not concern him.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said, “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, then let him say the good or remain silent.” (Tirmidhi)

The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, also said, “From the excellence of a person’s Islam is to leave what does not concern him.”(Tirmidhi) “…meaning that a person’s Islam is only perfected once he leaves words and deeds that he neither has a need for nor benefits from.” (Shir'a 314)

Imam al-Ghazali mentioned, “The definition of speech that does not concern you is that you say words that had you been silent instead you would neither sin, nor suffer in your state or wealth. An example of this is that you sit with a people and mention to them of your travels and what you saw in them of mountains and rivers and what circumstance you experienced, and what you enjoyed of food and clothing, and those Shaykhs and incidents that impressed you – these are all
matters that had you been silent instead, you would neither sin nor suffer. Even if you exerted yourself to not mix this account with falsehood from addition or subtraction, nor praising tourself through boasting of the tremendous matters that you experienced, nor backbiting or speaking ill of something Allah created, you have still wasting your time – and how on earth can you be safe from the sins that we have mentioned?” (Ihya 'Ulum al-Din) Nahlawi comments, “[such speech] can be recommended [however] if conjoined with a righteous intention such as warding
off an accusation of arrogance and conceitedness for not speaking, or warding off fear and shame, helping someone to express their thoughts completely when asking for a legal verdict or something else, or warding off grief from someone grief-stricken or afflicted with a calamity, or entertaining one’s womenfolk and treating them well, or being gentle with children, or because the pain of traveling or working or the like are unknown, then with these intentions the speech no longer counts as what does not concern him.”

With the internet and social networking websites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter, it is very easy to fall into the mistakes of speech that do not concern. Just see today's posting on your facebook, most of them neither concern nor benefit you. Those people who posted them have wasted their time and you would be wasting your time in just by selecting and pressing "remove post" and if you read them, you would be wasting more time. So, you should consider removing your "friends" who are wasting your time!

Remember, Allah says,

وَٱلۡعَصۡرِ (١) إِنَّ ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنَ لَفِى خُسۡرٍ (٢) إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ وَتَوَاصَوۡاْ بِٱلۡحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوۡاْ بِٱلصَّبۡرِ (٣

By time, Verily Man is in loss, Except such as have Faith, and do righteous deeds, and (join together) in the mutual teaching of Truth, and of Patience and Constancy.

(Qur'an Al-'Asr 103)

When we speak (or write), we shouldn’t deem our words of no consequence, even if they be few. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said, “Verily the slave says a word of the pleasure of Allah Mighty and Majestic, to which he does not ascribe any importance, but Allah raises him whole degrees by it; and verily the slave says a word of the anger of Allah to which he does not ascribe any importance, but he plunges by virtue of it into Hell.” (Ahmad)

So, we should avoid talking too much, as plentiful speech is not free from mistakes.
Excessive speech, beyond what is needed, is also considered speech that doesn’t concern a person as in asking questions about what is not important. As for giving details in a complex scenario, especially to people with deficient understanding, and repetition when admonishing, reminding, teaching and the like, this is not from what does not concern a person as there is a need for it.

May Allah grant us righteous deeds and help us with goodly speech. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. JazakAllahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam