Thereafter O slaves of Allah,
I remind myself and you to remain steadfast in fulfilling the obligations and refraining from the prohibitions. Obey the rules of Allah and fear Him, and protect your tongue from uttering harm. Ayah 18 of Surat Qaf means: [Every single word uttered is recorded by Raqib and ^Atid].
Brothers in belief, know that we will be questioned on Judgement Day about what we say, do and believe.
The Ayah 24 of Surat An-Nur means: [On that day, their tongues, hands and feet will testify about what they used to do].
Also, Ayah 36 of Surat Al-Isra’ means: [And do not commit (i.e., say, or do or witness) what you have no knowledge about. Indeed, the hearing, sight, and heart; all of which one will be questioned about].
It was related from the route of Abu Hurayrah, may Allah accept his deeds, that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him said: <<Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him say what is good or else be silent>>.
The meaning of this Hadith is that the one who has the perfect belief, that is, the belief that deems one saved from the punishment of Allah and leads to the acceptance of Allah, shall only say what is good or otherwise remain silent. This is so because whoever has the perfect belief, would fear Allah’s threat of punishment and would hope for His reward and would put forth effort to do what Allah ordered one to do and to leave what He deemed forbidden. This includes controlling one’s organs which one is responsible for.
The Prophet ﷺ said: <<What shall make people fall into Hellfire on their faces more than any other reason, is the result of the reaps of their tongues>>.
Hence, the person with a sound mind and proper comprehension would be compelled to fear Allah and would only utter good words or else remain silent. The tongue is a great endowment from Allah and ought to be utilised in praising Allah (performing Dhikr), fulfilling the acts of worship, pursuing others to perform good beneficial deeds, bidding the lawful and forbidding the unlawful.
As for the one who unleashes his tongue and indulges it in sins such as backbiting, unjust cursing, belittling Allah and the religion, this person would plunge into self-destruction.
The Prophet, ﷺ said: <<A person may utter a word that he thinks is harmless, which would result in his falling into hellfire the depth of a distance that is further than what is in between east and west>>. This means, one would utter a blasphemous word and he does not see any harm in it, yet this word would lead to his self-destruction and result in his falling into the bottom of Hellfire.
My brothers in Islam, the most severe and dangerous sin of the tongue is the utterance of blasphemy. Such as cursing Allah, or cursing any one of the prophets, the angels, the religion of Islam, the Qur’an, or deeming permissible a matter that is deemed to be sinful by consensus and commonly known to be a part of the religion”. The meaning of “a matter commonly known to be part of the Religion” is a matter known to be sinful (or permissible) by all Muslims, including the non-learned people and the scholars alike. An example is for one to say that drinking alcohol is permissible or to say that adultery is permissible.
The scholars were concerned with warning against spoken apostasy and the other types of blasphemy and stipulated this in their books. Among them was Imam an-Nawawiyy, and Sheikh ^Abdul-Basit al-Fakhuri a former mufti in Lebanon, a century ago, may Allah have mercy upon them.
Apostasy, that is, leaving Islam, erases all the good deeds one had accumulated. Surat Al-Baqarah, Ayah 217 means: [Whoever exits Islam and dies as an apostate, their good deeds shall be erased in this world and in the Hereafter, and they shall be the inhabitants of Hellfire where they will dwell eternally].
Apostasy is of three categories, apostasy of belief which happens in the heart, apostasy of actions which happens by the organs, and uttered apostasy which happens by the spoken word. This is how Imam An-Nawawiyy and other scholars of the four madhhabs divided them, including Ibnul-Muqriy, Ibn-^Abidin, al-Buhutiyy, and Sheikh Muhammad ^Ilish and others. This is supported by the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ which means: <<A man may utter a word which he thinks is harmless, but will result in him falling into Hellfire the depth of seventy years>>.
Thus, those people who do not pay attention, nor care to hold their tongues and protect themselves from uttering blasphemy have indeed deemed themselves into destruction. Surat Muhammad, Ayah 34 means: [Verily, those who blasphemed and prevented others from the path of Allah (i.e., Islam) and died as blasphemers, Allah shall not forgive them].
It has been said that the tongue is like a beast, if you do not tie it down, it will attack you. It has also been narrated about Imam Dhun-Nun Al-Misriyy, when asked, “who is best at protecting his heart?” He replied: “The one who is best at holding back his tongue.”
O slaves of Allah, the tongue reaps a grave consequence. Though small in size, but its consequence is grievous. Hence, the smart, sensible, and wise person is the one who protects his tongue from causing destruction to himself.
Take the example of Abdullah Ibn Mas^ud, may Allah accept his deeds. It was related that he stood on As-Safa and spoke to his tongue, saying: “O tongue, say what is good and you shall succeed, and refrain from saying what is bad and you shall be saved, before you regret”. Then he said, “I heard the Prophet ﷺ say: <<Most of the sins of the son of Adam are committed by their tongues>>. These sins include blasphemy and major sins, may Allah protect us and end our life on goodness.
