I often sit in my balcony and observe people passing by speaking excessively. I think that this excessive speaking is also israf, or wastage, just as spending money unnecessarily is wastage. The Quran calls those who waste money 'brothers of Satan'. Speaking too much is also wastage of the tongue. Such people never get a chance to pause and thank God for the blessing in the form of their tongue.
The Quran says: فَلْيَضْحَكُوا قَلِيلًا وَلْيَبْكُوا كَثِيرًا (9:82) "Let them laugh a little and weep much ." The Quran informs us that God will judge us for our deeds, we will be accountable to God on the Day of Judgment and our end will be in Paradise or Hell. What kind of character and thinking develop from this? This is expressed as: فَلْيَضْحَكُوا قَلِيلًا وَلْيَبْكُوا كَثِيرًا (you will weep much and laugh less)
According to a hadith: لَا تُكْثِرُوا الضَّحِكَ، فَإِنَّ كَثْرَةَ الضَّحِكِ تُمِيتُ الْقَلْبَ (Sunan Ibn Majah 4193) “Laughing a lot makes the heart dead.” This is very important. These days in gatherings, people generally crack jokes and laugh uncontrollably. This is indeed very wrong. Paradise is a place for those who are very sincere, serious, speak less and respect others. When they speak, they remember they have to be answerable to God.
The Prophet once held the tongue of one of his Companions and said: "Save yourself from your tongue." The Companion asked: "Should we save ourselves even from our tongues?" The Prophet replied: "Yes, it is a person's tongue that will take him to Hell." I often sit in my balcony and observe people passing by speaking excessively. I think that this excessive speaking is also israf, or wastage, just as spending money unnecessarily is wastage. The Quran calls those who waste money 'brothers of Satan'. Speaking too much is also wastage of the tongue. Such people never get a chance to pause and thank God for the blessing in the form of their tongue.
According to hadith: من صمت نجا. (Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2501) The hadith doesn’t say: "One who speaks will find salvation." Rather it says, "One who remains silent finds salvation." Nowhere does the Quran or Hadith say that one who speaks finds salvation. Rather, one who remains silent finds salvation. This is very important.
According to a hadith: وَمَنْ كَانَ يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَاليَوْمِ الآخِرِ فَلْيَقُلْ خَيْرًا أَوْ لِيَصْمُتْ (Sahih al-Bukhari 6018) "One who believes in God and the Day of Judgment, he should either speak a good word or remain silent." Speaking unnecessarily is not a good quality. The Quran says: إِنَّ أَنْكَرَ الْأَصْوَاتِ لَصَوْتُ الْحَمِيرِ (31:19) Speaking too much is like the braying of the ass. One should speak and then think. One should understand what the other person is saying and then speak.
