Friday Khutbah (12/12/2002) delivered by Shaykh Muhammad Taher
DISCLAIMER: This reminder was originally delivered in Arabic. Any meanings lost in translation are not to be attributed to the speaker as reminders are translated by volunteers. The mosque has no official translater and volunteers often have no formal qualifications to translate on the day. Please forgive any errors as they are from our human weakness and any right guidance is from Allah.
All praise is due to Allah, Who created the human being and taught him speech.
I praise Him and thank Him and bear witness that there is none worthy of
worship except Him. The One Who speaks the truth and guides to the path.
Similarly, I bear witness that Muhammad is his slave and messenger, may the
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, his Companions, the people of truth
and faith. Amin.
To proceed, …
Dear Muslim brothers and sisters, Allah the exalted says in the Qur`an:
“While the two angels, one on the right and one on the left, remain waiting, he [the human being] speaks no word except that it is observed and recorded.” (50:16-18)
In this verse there is a reminder for the believers of a very important issue, which is that Allah observes all that we say and do, during every moment and every circumstance. Whatever statement we make, no matter how many words are uttered from our mouths, everything is placed in our accounts, either in our favour or against us, all of this is recorded:
“While the two angels, one on the right and one on the left, remain waiting, he [the human being] speaks no word except that it is observed and recorded.” (50:16-18)
In this world the two angels record it, whereas on the Day of Judgement, the
account will be displayed and the recompense will be made.
It has been reported that the Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon
him, said, “A person may utter a word which pleases Allah, he does not
consider it important but Allah writes down His pleasure for him until the Day
of Judgement, whereas another person utters a word, which displeases Allah, he
does not consider it important but Allah writes down His displeasure for him
until the Day of Judgement.”
Look, may Allah have mercy on you, at the danger of the speech that comes out
of our mouths, which we give no consideration to, nor do we take it to
account! [Do we ask] was this word we uttered a good word, with a good
intention, or a bad word with an evil intention? In either case each one will
be recorded and we will be taken to account for it. Due to this one of the
narrators of this hadith from the previous generations would say, “How much
speech has this hadith prevented me from!” and he would prevent himself from
speaking so that no idle word or unbeneficial speech would be recorded against
him.
In addition, Allah the Exalted describes the believers in the following way:
“Successful indeed are the faithful, those who are humble in their prayers and turn away from idle speech.” (23:1-3)
Consequently, my dear brothers and sisters, it’s appropriate that a Muslim
controls his tongue and asks himself before he opens his mouth, “What type of
statement am I going to make?” If it is something good then he should speak
and if not then he should be silent. In this circumstance he is rewarded for
his silence and indeed the Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon
him, said, “Whoever believes in Allah and the Day of Judgement he should say
something good or be silent.” (Agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
So be careful my dear brothers and sisters and be aware of your own souls,
remind your soul that Allah is observing it and make it fearful of an evil
end. Remind yourself that all of your speech is accounted for and that it may
cause your destruction and the wrath of Allah. Say to yourself: “Say something
good you’ll be rewarded and Allah will be pleased with you.” I also remind you
and myself of what is mentioned in one of the narrations attributed to the
Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, “That the faith of a
slave will not be sound, until his heart becomes sound and his heart will not
become sound until his tongue becomes sound.”
And finally, in another hadith, it is reported that Prophet, may Allah’s peace
and blessings be upon him, said: “If the son of Adam awakes in the morning his
limbs admonish the tongue saying, ‘fear Allah concerning us, as we act as you
act, if you are sound then we are sound and if you deviate, then we also
deviate’. ”
[We ask Allah to aid us in guarding our tongues and forgive our errors in
speech and our idle talk. Amin.]
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