12-05-2006, 12:35 PM
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"The Most Gracious Allah has taught the Quran; He has created man; He has taught him speech.” (Surah Rahman ayat 1-3)
The tongue and the language are great gifts of Allah. These gifts that Allah has given him makes him superior to all other creatures.
The greater the gift, the higher would be its re-payment. Being grateful for it is as necessary as being ungrateful is reprehensible.
Before addressing others take a glance at yourself, and ask yourself whether this is an occasion which demands speaking. If the answer is in the affirmative, then speak, otherwise silence is much better. To avoid talking unnecessarily on appropriate occasions is a worship of great rewards.
Abdullah Ibn Abbas says: "Five things are more valuable than the horses with the black-striped legs:
1. Do not indulge in senseless talk, because it is useless and absurd.
2. Talk purposefully when there is an occasion for it.
3. Do not indulge in hot discussion with an intelligent man or with a fool. If he is intelligent, he will be angry with you and will hate you, and if he is a fool and uneducated, he will try to harm you.
4. In the absence of your brother speak of him in the same words in which you would like him to speak of you in your absence, and consider him innocent of the thing which you would like him to consider you innocent of.
5. Act like a man who thinks that he will be rewarded for a good deed and will be punished on committing a crime."
A Muslim can develop these attributes in himself only when he keeps his tongue in control, and is able to keep silent wherever necessary. He should be able to hold the reins of his tongue in his hand; wherever necessary he should speak, and wherever it is not necessary he should keep quiet.
Those who are ruled by their tongue, they are pushed back, and in the fields of life they receive insults and disrepute.
Source:
"Muslim's Character" - Muhammad Al-Ghazali