AUGUST 4

Firm Utterance

The Quran enjoins believers to “fear God and speak the truth. He will bless your works and forgive you your sins. He who obeys God and His apostle shall win a greater victory” (33:70-71).

This Quranic verse commands mankind to say what is fair. Qaul-e-Sadid means saying the truth and exactly in accordance with the facts. Just as the arrow reaches its target by being shot in precisely the right direction, similarly qaul-e-sadid hit the mark by making one’s words correspond in every detail with reality.

According to a hadith the Prophet once prayed: ‘O, my God, grant guidance to my heart and grant my language (word) qaul-e-sadid. This prayer shows how great is the importance given to qaul-e-sadid in Islam. The truth is that qaul-e-sadid is the mark of a person being a true believer.

There are two kinds of human utterance: realistic and unrealistic. Realistic or sadid utterances are those which tally exactly with reality; which are based on facts and events, and on firm arguments; which take stock of all matters under discussion; which do not make concessions to anything unfair; which are completely free from prejudice.

Conversely, unrealistic utterances are those which do not take the actual state of affairs into account, which are based on suppositions and conjecture, on mere opinion, rather than on fact. Only the former type of utterances are approved of by God.

It is the demand of humanity that whenever a believer speaks, he should say what is right and fair. Qaul-e-sadid is a proof of man’s humanity and, utterances not in accordance with qaul-e-sadid, are a proof of his having strayed outside the fold of humanity, although he may still appear to be a human being.