Nothing except colors and shapes of things would be visible to eyes. Ears are not able to hear anything other than sounds. Material things only would be tangible to the sense of touch. On the contrary, tongue is able to get easy access in to everything as it can talk about anything regardless of the subject or matters. Tongue is altogether different from other parts of the body as it can agree or deny the existence of Almighty God Allah or his creation. No matter whether it is related with human dreams or imaginations, thoughts or activities, internal or external human affairs and seen or unseen things, tongue would certainly be able to talk about these positively or negatively.
Everything that is knowledgeable can be interpreted in the form of true or false by our tongue. Because there is neither an information nor a subject matter that it can not talk about. Therefore some times it would be more harmful as it can bring about more troubles in our life unless it is subjugated by religious and moral regulation. If you leave the tongue free to talk anything as you wish, without having any religious control over it the outcome would often be too unfavorable. The history of Prophets and scholars reminds us that even those who had succeeded well in the battlefield by their courage and confidence but had been defeated because of the irrelevant or else immoral words uttered by their tongue.
Tongue must be used only for the matters that are beneficial both for here and the hereafter world. If we use it in the contrary way certainly we cannot resist its bad consequences. Though it can very easily be moved and closed inside the mouth, the people regardless of scholars, wealthy or religious too move on to even bad matters and fail to close it for a while when the situation needs it to be silent.
Suppose we avoid words of gossip or defaming others and all other talks that are against religion or social rules; and we talk only the things that are not so unpleasant or harmful as well it is reckoned to be good. Even though Islam teaches that we could have utilized that time for doing religious and moral activities. According to Islamic view, to spend the time for doing religious things would be far better than spending the same time for talking non- beneficial matters. We could have spent that much time to think about the miracles of God Almighty Allah's creation and the splendid phenomena in the universe. We could have made use of that time to deal with some social welfare activities. We could have been better utilized that time to recite Holy Quran, Thasbeeh and Thahleel and other Dhikrs.
Let's think about the outcome of unnecessary talks. For instance, a Muslim is fasting expecting rewards from Allah. If he tells that he is fasting when we ask “Are you fasting today", then as a result he reveals his worship and so his fasting goes out of the lists of secret worships. Because, according to the religion, a Muslim must keep his worship as secret. When he answers “no", he gets the sin of telling a lie. Or else, suppose he keeps silent instead of telling any of the aforesaid answers we may feel it as disrespectful from his part. All these problems are caused by our unnecessary questions.
When we meet someone on the way it is quite common to ask “Where are you coming from?" But we would have a bitter experience when he was reluctant to answer properly because it was a secret and he told a lie, or he kept silent. We can get rid of these unpleasant experiences if we do not ask unnecessary questions to others.
Once Luqmanul Hakeem (May Allah Mercy upon him) went to Prophet Davood's (A) house, at that time he was weaving a coat that Luqhmanul Hakeem (R) hadn't seen ever before. He thought of asking “What for you do weave this", but he didn't ask that question and he remained silent. After the completion of weaving Prophet Davood (A) wore that coat and told that he wanted to use it for war. Lukhman (R) replied: “to keep silent is something very important but only very rare people are doing so".
Imam Gazzali (R) has classified talks into four. (1)- Those talks that have only adverse effects (demerits only). (2)- Those talks that have only good effects (merits only). (3)- Those talks that have both good and bad effects and (4) - those talks that have no consequences. Among these, we ought not only to give up those talks that have only adverse effects but also those talks that have both effects. In the case of forth one- the talks that have neither bad nor good effects- the valuable times have been wasted!
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) says: “Blessed are those who get rewards because of their good talks or get rid of troubles because of their silence" [Bihaqi].
Reported by Abdullah bin Sufyan from his father: His father says: “I requested Prophet Muhammad (PBH). Oh Prophet of Allah- please tell me something about Islam in a way that I would be satisfied with. Then prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said. Say 'Allah is my Lord and then be sure in your belief'.
Then I asked 'Oh prophet of Allah what should I fear about most- (on what should I need to be careful). Then Prophet Muhammad (PBH) mentioned his tongue and told. “You need to take care of your tongue"[Thurmudi and Nasa-ee].
The Prophet said, "Whoever guarantees me (the chastity of) what is between his legs (i.e. his private parts), and what is between his jaws (i.e., his tongue), I guarantee him Paradise" [Bukhari].
Prophet Muhammad (PBH) told Mua-ad(R): “Oh Mua-ad- most of the people go to Hellfire only because of their tongue". [Ibnu Maja and Hakim].
“All the parts of human body moan at the tongue every morning and request: you have to take care of Allah in our matters too. Because when you do good we also do that and whenever you do bad we also follow the same".[ Thurmudi].
Let's go through the sayings of scholars. “Tongue of a believer is at the back f his heart. He thinks first and talks next. The tongue of an unbeliever is in front of his heart. He talks first and thinks next".
Tha-usul Yamani (R) says: My tongue is like a cruel animal; if I leave it free it will eat me- (it will spoil the good things and good behavior)".
Prophet Sulaiman (A) says: “Talking seems to be silver, but silence seems to be gold". In short, it is very clear that unnecessary use of tongue will cause a lot of troubles and painful experiences. So, to stay silent when the situation requires so is far better than some sort of talking and hence getting in to troubles
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