Sunday 4 March 2012

Venoms of the tongue

Tongue is one of the most deadliest organs of the entire body. Wrong usage of this organ can break relations in a matter of seconds, can hurt people deeply and can create animosities within a split second. words that leave the mouth once can never be taken back and that's why it's said " Speak only when the words leaving your mouth are better than silence."
The tongue is a blessing of Allah given to the fortunate ones so that they may say good things and spread the message of Allah.  But the greatest venom of the tongue is the use of bad language. Somehow it's considered 'cool' to use foul words in every single sentence we speak. the way we talk represents our thinking and our upbringing and a momin's talk is always sweet, soft and pleasant. How can foul language make any conversation pleasant? People find those shows funny where swearing, cursing and foul language are used to the maximal. I have yet not been able to locate the hilarious part of such shows but people find it nerve wreckingly funny to the extent of being inspired by it and adopting the same tone and style of conversation and language in their personal lives.
it doesn't really make us the bigger or the better person by being rude to someone or insulting and cursing them. But unfortunately, that's how the society today is laying the foundation of morality,manners and ethics of language.
A conversation is not complete amongst the youngsters today unless one or more foul words are used in every other sentence. A social gathering is not fully enjoyed unless we have bad mouthed and made fun of the dressing of about at least 5 of the ladies at the gathering. A college reunion is not successful until we have gossiped about nearly half of the college population of our juniors,seniors and batchmates. And the misuse of our tongue doesn't end here.
 If only we knew how harmful this tongue can prove to be for us on the Last Day, we would cut down on talking by more than 50%.
the tongue is the most harmful in situations of anger. that is when a person is tempted to utter things he doesnt even mean or has never even thought of before. But anger makes one blind to logic and reality. usually the case is that in a state of anger a man loses control over his hands and a woman loses control of her tongue. In both cases anger may cause relations to break, feelings to be hurt and may lead to eventual displeasure of Allah.
Today we mock at others and make fun of them just to sound 'cool' and be considered as 'part of the gang'. But we fail to realize that through such usage of the tongue we may become the part of the coolest group in college/university but we will definitely lose our membership of the club of Allah. The Quran says:

O ye who believe ! let not some men laugh at others; it may be that (the latter) are better than (the former). 49:11

On the day when their tongues and their hands and their feet shall bear witness against them as to what they did. 24:24

Narrated Abu Huraira:  Allah's Apostle said, "Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should talk what is good or keep quiet, and whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should not hurt (or insult) his neighbor..."  Sahih Bukhari: Volume 8, Book 76, Number 482. 

Allah says,
On the day when their tongues and their hands and their feet shall bear witness against them as to what they did. 24:24 

we should  ponder and wonder over basic things like the fact that we have been blessed with 2 ears but just one tongue. This signifies that the usage of the tongue should be limited and rather we should practice our listening skills rather than interrupting others to start off with our own opinions and vain talks.
the wounds caused by a weapon may heal sooner or later but the wounds caused by the harsh and inappropriate use of the tongue cause wounds that may never heal and leave a mark on the heart and soul of the recipient of those words.

If only we understand that no matter how much we pray, observe fasts, give zakat, the virtues will all be cancelled out just by the misuse of our tongue.  the misuse of the tongue is not restricted to gossips,backbiting and foul language rather it extends to lies, vain talk and slandering as well. Every single word uttered from our mouth is being recorded every single second. Not even a single word is being missed by the angels writing it down. This constant reminder should make us fearful of the day we shall face our Lord and be answerable to Him for all that we uttered. Like every other blessing this tongue is also a blessing from our Creator and He will ask us on that Day that did we fulfill the rights of this blessing? Did we use it in the best possible way? Did we use it to utter words that would please Him? Did we use it for the good and benefit of His slaves?
We need to ask ourselves that are we ready to face these questions? do we have the correct answers to these questions?
There is no re-test and there is no second attempt if we fail this exam. May Allah protect us from committing the sins of the tongue, may Allah bless us with the ability and the guidance to use this blessed gift of Allah in the best possible Allah. May we use our tongues and other organs in ways that attain His pleasure and mercy. Ameen.

DO NOTS

I recently had the opportunity to join a Islamic course and since i was pretty familiar with the place and the environment because of previous similar courses I had taken there, I felt right at home. There was no fear or hesitation that one usually experiences when joining a new place or starting a new course/class. However, I guess it's an inbuilt trait amongst the people of our society or maybe that's just how people are around the globe that in their attempt to make one feel comfortable they actually end up scaring the poor new entrant. The instructors are pretty normal and lenient but the other students take it on themselves to prove their authority and seniority. My first day in the new class and i was greeted by what NOT to do, a list of rules and strict reprimands regarding the rules and policies. The surprising thing was that they all focused on the 'NOTs" of the rules.No one bothered telling me about the relaxations, flexibilities and the alternatives, rather they acted as if none existed and only one rule applied, even when that was not the case. Since i was already aware of the rules and the relaxations as well, so their reprimands did not scare me. However, if it had been someone else in place of me who would have had the first experience with the place through that course, then that person would have surely disappeared after the very first class. And it's sad to note that the reason behind that disappearance would have been those very same students who apparently had been studying about Islam in that very course. No matter what the duration of their presence in that course, those students failed to grasp one important aspect that the way of preaching in Islam has always been slow, steady and gentle. Even in the revelation of Quran, each and every law regarding the forbidden and Haraam were sent down slowly and not at once. If Allah had directly revealed that don't you dare go near wine, then people would have labelled Islam as the religion of ' Do Nots' and actually this is what is happening today as well because of the way Islam is being portrayed and preached. We focus on preaching what's forbidden, we emphasize on what are the 'do nots' in islam and in the process we fail to mention the beautiful freedom Islam provides, the logics behind every law, the relaxations and flexibilities. So many people actually want to come to this religion but they turn away from it because people scare them off by telling them how everything they do is a sin and how they will burn in Hell for it. That is not the way of preaching taught to us is it? Arent we supposed to call people to islam by telling them how merciful Allah is and how He forgives our sins when we sincerely repent and beg for His forgiveness? Why cant we tell people the Halal way of doing things and the benefit of adopting the permissible methods rather than telling them that their current haraam practices will earn them the wrath of Allah. We need to call people to Islam gently we need to make them see the good in islam but we get so aggressive in our preaching that we end up portraying our beautiful religion as a religion of rules, reprimands and do-nots. If we read the Quran carefully then we will notice that with every do-not there is a very beautiful 'do' as well. Where we are forbidden to consume wine then we are reminded of the fact that our abstinence from it in this world will earn us the reward of delicious and permissible wines in the Jannah. Where adultery is cursed, immediately the beauty of nikah is emphasized.  Many more such examples exist in the Quran but the point to be emphasized is that new entrants to religion, mosques or islamic courses should be welcomed with positivity rather than scaring them away with do-nots on the very first day. Slow and steady is the key to preaching.
we need to learn not only the meaning of the Quran but also it's way of preaching so that we can adopt similar means of preaching in our life. May Allah give us the ability to preach His religion in the best possible way and to be amongst those who call people to Islam rather than being among those unfortunate ones who scare them away.