Abdul Rahman Chao - 11-26-21

As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa raḥmatu Llāhi wa barakātuhu.

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Allah. We seek Allah's help and we seek Allah's mercy and forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from the evil that is within our souls and from the evil that results from our deeds.

Whomsoever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guides, none shall be led astray. And whomsoever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allows to be led astray, then none shall bring them back to the straight path. I bear witness that there is no God worthy of worship except Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and I bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, peace and blessings be upon him, is his final messenger.

Abu Dharr's Wisdom on Good Speech and Silence

A famous companion by the name of Abu Dharr al-Ghifari was one time sitting in the masjid and he was remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala through supplication, through dhikr, saying سبحان الله, الحمد لله, words of supplication, words of praise. So a man came into the masjid and sat next to him and then they continued in this state for a while. They didn't really say anything.

Then after some time Abu Dharr al-Ghifari looked at this person and it would appear that they knew one another. Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, he looked at him and he said, "Speaking good, basically good upon good, isn't that good? Basically to say what is good, isn't that a good thing?" So the man responded, he says of course indeed that is correct. To say what is good and adding upon that, that is goodness indeed.

Then he continued back, remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he didn't say anything more after that. Sometime later, Abu Dharr al-Ghifari turned to his friend next to him and he said, والسكوت خير من إملاء الشر أليس كذلك "Isn't silence better than evil speech?" So this friend said, of course indeed.

Then Abu Dharr continued, he said, وجليس الصالح خير من الوحدة أليس كذلك "And isn't sitting with a righteous person better than sitting by yourself alone?" So this man said, of course.

And then Abu Dharr, he completed and he said, والوحدة خير من جليس السوء أليس كذلك "And yet being alone by yourself is always better than being with someone that's evil." And the man said, of course.

Brothers and sisters, Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari was one of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ who was given these words of advice on the importance of staying quiet and staying silent whenever needed.

The Prophet's Teaching on Silence

Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari, the famous companion of the Prophet ﷺ was once told by the Prophet ﷺ in which he ﷺ said, يا أبا ذر, shall I tell you something that is easy to do but it is extremely heavy on the scales of the Day of Judgment. And Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari said, indeed tell me, O Messenger of Allah. And the Prophet ﷺ told him, one of those things was to stay quiet and to be silent.

According to researchers, brothers and sisters, there's this false notion that has been spreading around across all cultures since the beginning of time. There's this assumption, a gender stereotype, that women speak more than men and men obviously speak less than women. But after careful research, professors and psychologists, after serving groups of people and putting recorders that would turn on at specific intervals and record people of both genders, they discovered that women did not speak exponentially more than men, in fact.

In fact, men and women spoke about the same number of words. Maybe sometimes the women would speak maybe by a thousand words more, but it was quite negligible. This idea, this virtue of silence and not speaking too much is one of the characteristics of the prophets of the past.

Whenever the evildoers would try to challenge the prophets and the messengers, and they would spout out, spout off a lot of filth from their mouth, you would find that the prophets and the messengers, they didn't always respond. Because not every claim or any statement requires a response. The Prophet ﷺ was known to be given the element or the beauty of فصاحة, of having clear and eloquent speech.

But it was not just having eloquent speech, but it was جوامع الكلم, the idea of being concise and succinct. So the Prophet ﷺ was able to convey a lot of meaning in just a few words.

Allah Observes All Our Words

Brothers and sisters, Allah tells us in the Qur'an, that every person, whatever they utter, whatever word that they utter, except that there is an observer, in other words, an angel. And the second characteristic is عتيد, and that they are prepared to write down what the person is saying.

Allah also tells us in the Qur'an, "And indeed over you, there are keepers, they are noble, they are noble in the eyes of Allah. Writing, the angels that write down what we say. And they know what you do."

Brothers and sisters, to speak is a characteristic of humans, that we are social creatures. We want to talk, express our ideas. However, how much of those ideas that come from our minds and from our tongues are those actual of benefit.

And if you think deeply on the difference between our state in this world and in the next life, you find that one of the characteristics of the people of Jannah is that paradise is very quiet. What does Allah say in the Qur'an about the people of Jannah? The people of paradise will not hear لغو.

And لغو is a general word that refers to idle talk at the least, or lascivious and ill speech, bad speech, filthy speech, bad words, whatever. And they will also not hear any sort of speech that brings about sin, such as backbiting, gossiping, talking about other people.

أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم ولسائر المسلمين فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرحيم

The Hadith on Speaking Good or Remaining Silent

الحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين وبعد

Ibn Abdul Barr was one of the famous scholars of the past. And he explained the famous hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, in which the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6018)

"Whoever believes in Allah and the last day, then let him speak what is good, or stay silent."

And Ibn Abdul Barr, rahimahullah, he explained the concept of فليقل خيراً, to speak what is good. He said, when you say something good, obviously, that is like a prize that you win. To say something that is beneficial, at the right time, of the right delivery, أو ليصمت. Or to stay silent, he characterized that as safety, caution, to protect yourself from any sort of sin.

The Prophet ﷺ also said, look at these three words that the Prophet ﷺ said:

"Whoever is silent, is indeed saved." Look, the Prophet ﷺ only used three words, and we had to use about eight to nine words to convey these three words of the Prophet ﷺ.

When Silence is Not Appropriate

Staying silent is not always advised. In fact, staying silent can be prohibited, especially during times when falsehood pervades, and it abounds. Then if you see something that is wrong, when you see something that is evil, it is important for you to speak up.

Unfortunately, we are living in a time where we tend to judge other people because they're not as social as us. We see someone being quiet, we think, hmm, maybe antisocial, maybe someone on the spectrum. And we come up with all of these different accusations just because someone is quiet. May Allah protect us.

Three Practical Tips for Cultivating Silence

Finally, brothers and sisters, to encourage one another on the importance of silence and the beauty of silence, I want to share with you three things very quickly.

First: Not Everything Requires a Response

It is not required to respond to everything out there, especially right now on social media. You see all this filth and foolishness, foolishness that is all over social media and over the news. It is not required for every single one of us to give a response.

Umar ibn al-Khattab, one time he said that Allah has servants that He places among the creation. And they destroy falsehood by ignoring it. Especially if it's something not worth their time, they can, you can destroy falsehood by completely ignoring it.

Second: Cultivate a Gentle Unawareness

Another element, brothers and sisters, is to have a تغافل. And that is to be slightly unaware of what's going on. If you are the kind of husband that is at home looking at every single thing and what everyone is doing and what they're saying, and then you have to make a comment about it, you're not going to be silent. You're always going to be commenting on many, many things.

Third: Don't Dig into Others' Business

And finally, brothers and sisters, to help yourself to being silent, it is by not digging up on other people's business. As the Prophet ﷺ says, do not go after the secrets of your brother, for that is indeed forbidden.