Hazrat Maaz bin Jabal requested
Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) ; “please tell me the deed which will make me enter
paradise”. He (PBUH) praised his question and replied, to worship God with
sincerity and not to consider anyone equal to him. “Say your prayer, pay zakat,
fast in the month of Ramadan and perform the Hajj of His name. Then Hazrat
Muhammad said,” Should I tell you the basis of all these things”? T hen,
pointing to his tongue he said, “Have you command over it”. HazratMaaz asked, “I
fear, if we do this even then we will be answerable for our conversation”. Then
Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) replied that nothing but tongue is responsible for our
sure entrance in hell”.
When one utters something which is most important to him but is liked by Allah,
it enables him in gain a higher level of heaven. On the other hand when one
happens to speak out that which is minor to him but aggravates the anger of
Allah, then he is thrown in the deepest spheres of hell and he is as far away as
east from west. Sometimes a mere unintentional slip of tongue, which one does
not consider harmful is so sinful in the eyes of God that for it, he is thrown
in the hell ,as far away as is the sky from earth.
According to Imam Ghazali, the tongue is one of the greatest blessings of Allah,
it is small in mass but the effect of it sins and obedience are much greater
than its size. Nay not only this but Islam and infidelity which are two banks of
a river in obedience and sins, are represented by the tongue. In our daily
conversation, we use uncivilized language and remain unaware of the fact that
these things, which are unimportant to us but they, in their laps have divine
anger. e.g, we tell lies, we indulge ourselves in gossip, we abuse, we satirize,
we disclose other’s secrets, we wrongfully swear, back bite etc.
God Almighty says in the Holy Quran:- “Of there is nothing of good peoples
whispers, but people who convince people to give alms to the poor and work for
the betterment of the others, or to create a peaceful atmosphere among the
people. The real person is he who does all these things only for God’s pleasure
and he will be rewarded very soon.