HADEETH

“Let him who believe in Allah and the Last Day speak good, or keep silent…”

On the authority of Abu Hurairah (RA) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Let him who believes in Allah and the Last Day speak good, or keep silent; and let him who believes in Allah and the Last Day be generous to his neighbor; and let him who believes in Allah and the Last Day be generous to his guest.” It was related by al- Bukhaaree and Muslim.

Explanation of Hadeeth

His statement  “Let him who believes in Allah and the Last Day” means the one who believes with the complete Eemaan that will save him from the punishment of Allah, and will attain for him the Pleasure of Allah; then for such a person, “let him speak good, or keep silent”, because the one who believes in Allah and does not fulfill everything that his Eemaan entails (i.e. he falls into sin) then he fears His Threat (of punishment) and he hopes in His reward, and he strives in performing what he has been commanded with, and leaving that which he has been forbidden from. And the most important of what is upon him from this is being careful about his tongue and limbs, which are under his control, and which he would be asked about on the Day of Standing, as Allaah ta’aala says: “Verily! The hearing, and the sight, and the heart, of each you will be questioned (by Allah)” (Q17: 36). And Allah ta’aala says: “Not a word does he (or she) utter, but there is a watcher by him ready (to record it)” (Q50: 18).

And the sins of the tongue are numerous, and because of this the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “And what is it that throws the people into the Hellfire upon their noses, except what their tongue have harvested” and he said: “Everything that the son of Adam speaks will be a proof against him, except the dhikr of Allah and his ordering the good and forbidden the evil.” (Tirmidhi). So whosoever understands this, and protects the right of his Eemaan, then he will fear Allah and have taqwaa of Him with regards to his tongue, and he will not speak except with good. Or will remain silent.

Some of the ‘ulamaa (Scholars) have mentioned that all of the good manners can be derived from four Hadeeth, and they mentioned this Hadeeth (above Hadeeth) among them. And some of them have said regarding the meaning of this hadeeth that if a person wishes to say something, then if that speech is good, and will surely be rewarded for, then let him say it. And if not, then let him keep silent- whether it is apparent that the speech is Haraam (forbidden) or Makrooh (disliked) or even Mubaah (permissible). So from this it is said that the permissible speech is to be left and avoided, and rather it is preferred to keep silent in such situation, out of fear that it may turn into something which is Haraam or Makrooh; and it is seen that this happens a great deal, and thus Allaah says: “Not a word does he (or she) utter, but there is a watcher by him ready (to record it)” (Q50: 18).

However, the ‘ulamaa have differed over whether everything that a person says is written down by the Recording Angels, including that which is considered Mubaah (permissible), or if it is only those things for which he may be rewarded or punished. And Ibn ‘Abbaas (RA) and others have adopted this second opinion, and so in this case the ayah mentioned above would have its meaning restricted to those words or statements for which there is some kind of recompense-good or bad.

And the Rasul’s (peace and b blessings of Allah be upon him) statement “let him be generous to his neighbor” and “let him be generous to his guest” contains instruction on the rights of the neighbor and guests, and on doing good to them and encouragement upon protecting the limbs from doing harm to them, and also Allah ta’aala has advised us in His Noble Book with Ihsaan (good behavior, kindness, good treatment) towards the neighbors. And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has said: “Jibreel did not cease to advice me regarding the rights of the neighbor, until I began to think that they would also receive a part of the inheritance.” (Abu Daawuud).

And hospitality is from Islam, and from the character of the Prophets and the Pious. And some of the Scholars have made it obligatory, though the majority considers it to be from the noble, recommended traits of character. And the author of “al-Ifsaah” has said regarding this hadeeth: “it should be believed that hospitality to the guest is a means of attaining nearness to Allah, and that is a form of worship of the Lord, and that this worship is not decreased if the guest is a wealthy person (rather than a poor man), nor is it affected if one presents for ones guest simple things from what one posses. Rather, the correct hospitality is achieved by keeping a smiling countenance for ones guest, and beautifying ones conversation with him, and the Pillar of Hospitality is preparing a meal for the guest; and so one should be eager to prepare for him from what Allah has provided and made easy, without causing oneself undue difficulty.”

He then mentioned some other points on hospitality, before saying: And for his statement; “let him speak good or keep silent’’, then this indicates that the Good Speech is better than keeping silent, and that silence is better than evil speech, and this is because the form of the Prophet’s (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) statement contains a command. And from the Good Speech is conveying knowledge from Allah ‘azza wa jall and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and teaching the Muslims, and commanding the good, and forbidding the evil, and reconciling the differences between people, and speaking well to the people, and from amongst the best speech is the Statement of Truth, for the one who truly fears and hopes for the Recompense.”

Summary:

1.       That one should only speak what is good and true.

2.       That one must not under any circumstances speak evil or use filthy language.

3.       That one should be kind and generous to one’s neighbor.

4.       That one should treat one’s guest well.

5.       That if one is a true Muslim then one would do the above, else one’s (true) belief in Allah and the Last Day is in question.