TONGUE A GREAT GIFT

[Bagumel]

Tongue ?is a great gift which Allah has given to Insan. lThough ?animals have tongues like us but Allah has not given them the ability to express their feelings as we human beings could as He made us the best and chosen among all His creations. So therefore  this unique position of ours as the best  requires us to  learn the method of how best to utilise our tongues especially We the Muslims so as to bring us benefit both  spiritually and materially in this World and our final abode the Akhirah. It is ?very essential   for every matured sane Muslim  who is concious of the ?the life hereafter and worried of his or her reckoning to reflect on the ways and manners one should use his or her tongue so as to bring  benefit  to himself and the Society in general.Using the tongue  in the best posssible  manner brings about goodness leading  to the attainment of the  pleasure of Allah in Duniya and Akhirah. However unfortunately doing the opposite would bring the  same  rather  opposite results thereby bringing Allah's   Wrath and Anger thus depriving one of His Mercy simply for misusing  this very natural gift i.e the ?tongue.So because of this we are advised in so many  Ahadith of the Prophet to utilise our tongues in the best possible manner so as to bring   benefit to Muslims in particular and the whole humanity in general as it said in Hadith Humanity is like Allah's Family so we should treat them well.Applying one's tongue in useful pursuits  leads one to  real Iman and and righteous deeds.A real Muslim is he who others are safe from the mischief of his hands and tongue.  As everyone is aware the tongue is a small flesh that brings about discord between two people such as husband and wife or even between Nation and another Nation. It is the same flesh that lands a person in real trouble leading to regret and sorrow that has no end and it is this flesh that would land  most people in Jahannam and deprive them of Jannah. Unfortunately it is the same tongue that creates discord among people which could lead to war for many years. Employing the same  flesh by uttering good  and nice beautiful word such as Kalimah Tayyiba Laila Ha illallah leads to the acceptance of  Iman which differentiates Haq and Baatil  Mumin and Kafir who tries to cover and find faults, all the blessings and bounties of Allah thus denying Him  instead of thanking  Him for all this he would rather find fault with the Creator through blaspheming and insinuating the Khaliq..The utterances of simple words by the tongue is in effect indirectly conveying  the message  which the heart wanted express but could not do it verbably so therefore it has to direct  the Messenger of the body i.e the tongue to convey this same message.Therefore the whole limbs of a human body defend on the tongues as their only spokesman.If any part of the body is sick it is only the tongue that can convey the message to others in the best possible manner.This is why It is said in a Hadith narrated by ?Abu sai'd Khudri (R.Anhu) reported Rasulullah (S.A.W) as saying
" When the son of Adam gets up in the morning,all the limbs humble themselves before the tongue saying: 'Fear Allah ?for our sake because we are with you,if you are ?straight (right)
we will also be straight( right) and if you are crooked,we will also become crooked ( or wrong).So therefore safeguarding the tongues against useless and unneccessary vain talks lead
to virtues deeds that bring good to Insan otherwise theyl bring nothing but misery?at the same time one is held responsible for his evil actions leading to regret in both Duniya and Akhirah.This is why ?the Prophet ?(S.A.W) advised thus: " Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day Must speak good or should keep quite. Well of course the condition is if one seriously believes in Allah and the Day of judgement as one who does not believe such as Atheists or free thinkers dont bother as they ?have no regards for the words of Allah and His Prophet. To them Allah's words are the same to others they have no weight whatsoever therefore is of no consequence or any ?importance that would make them pay heed. Imam Shafi'e ?Rahimallahu Alaihi said the meaning of the Hadith is whenever somebody wants speak should reflect before attempting to speak. Have we ever thought of this? How many of us have ever reflected before  speaking or taking our pens to write any unfortunate  trivial and unneccessery, satirical  gossips in a special column that ?bring no benefit to Muslims and the Society in general.We must not forget that one day we shall have to give  account of  whatever we have  said ?or written in our lives and we will be dumbfounded to  note that nothing is left in out in our reckord which would either be given on the right or the left hand. We all know the  the implication of receiving our reckords on the left or the Right. So therefore in our own interest we should avoid or even not try to write only for the mere sake of writing to please  others rather than our Creator.Doing so would not bring any good to us in both Duniya and Akhirah rather  untold hardship would be waiting in the Life hereafter both in Qabar,Hashar,Sirat and the rest of Akhirah in addition to bringing us face to face with the Creator  thus putting  us to shame before Allah in front of every one among His creations. May Allah save us Amen..Unfortunately a lot of us are so?carried away ?by the tirade wave of exhuberance of declamation vying  with ?one another demonstrating our elequence thus expressing  skills and ability to communicate in English and other Foreign Languages just for mere show only to please our fellow  colleuges  other intellectuals male and females rather than pleasing the Creator.However as Muslims ?I would like to remind my brothers and sisters ?to do things only for the sake of Allah rather than impresssing the Makhluq that would render our amaals null and void for our insincerity so we must purify our intention  so as to attract the pleaure Allah as all actions are only judged according to intentions. A Hadith says a man ?speaks nice and  good words ?without ?understanding ?it's importance ?and Allah records good pleasure ?for Him till he meets Him,similarly a person may speak evil without realising ?it's consequence and Allah becomes angry with Him and remains so till he meets him.So therefore our beloved Prophet (S.A.W) kindly requested us his followers not to indulge in excessive talking without remembering Allah as this hardens the hearts and those who would be farthest from Allah on the Day of Judgement would be those whose hearts are hard.In short it's the tongue that brings all this misfortune to a person so please My dear  keep it under control to enable you attain salvation in both the two Worlds. Another Hadith says " Whoever ?gives me guarantee to safe guard what is between his two jaws ( i.e tongue) and ?what is between his legs (private parts) I will give him guarantee of Paradise. Reflect on this simple and easy method of attaining a palace in Paradise.Although it looks easy but in reality it is difficult unless Allah makes it easy for a person. For  one cannot control his tongue as Rasulullah has clarified in another long and famous Hadith narrated by Muaz Bin jabl Radhiyallahu Anhu
in which the former asked Prophet to advise him on the action that may lead him to Paradise and take him away from Hell.Rasulullah replied it is difficult but easy only to whom Allah has made it easy .In the end of the Hadith Rasulullah advised Muaz to control his tongue to which he queried as to whether we would be called to account for what we say'? The Prophet retorted ' May your mother be berieved' Are people thrown on their faces in the fire ?for anything other than the produce of their tongues? So therefore my dear commorades, intellectuals, ?writers of good things please dont forget to speak good and write good things as we are Muslim first. Before taking pen to paper ?writing hurriedly with the intention  to impress the audience instead of seeking Allah's countenence  (S.W.T) ?We must always take care to ponder on what have been suggested above?to enable us make simple?analysis of what  we want  say or write in order to safeguard our Imaan and thus reaping the fruit and reward of obedience i.e that of the injuctions of Allah and following  the  Sunnah  way of our beloved Prophet  Muhammad (S.A.W)
all the times and treading on the right path.In addition is like killing two birds with one stone achieving Duniya and Akhirah. If we fail to comply we would surely lose the Akhirah and possibly  we might even lose the Duniya which is Batan Baka tantan. We should also not forget  the Honourable Kiraman Katibin are busy writing and taking notes of whatever we do say or write in words and deeds.So therefore please let us tread carefully and not get carried away by unnecceasry so-called writings of show which sometimes question the injunctions laid down by Allah thereby putting one in doubt  such as to whether we are allowed to come even near to Faasha not to talk of the indescency itself thus  supporting the views of Non-Muslims against the teachings of Rasulullah in the name of progress and intellectualism.I implore all my brothers and Sisters to please write something that would bring benefit to the Ummah and it may be the means of our  salvation in both this  life and the Life Hereafter.At the same time  we pray  due to His Mercy to shower HIs blessings on the Ummah so that  we may attain His  the pleasure in both Duniya and Akhirah.We should stop immitating others such  as  Ahlil Kitab whose lives were prolonged ?therefore so their hearts were hardened and most of them became rebellious ie were fasiqun.So we must avoid this danger of Fusuq. A person would be in the company of those whom he loves on the Day of Judgement.So if we sincerely  wanted to  be in the Company of Rasulullah ?and His Companions we must strictly follow their footsteps both in actions , words and deeds otherwise we would continue to be in the same heedleness ,contrivance bickering and fighting among ourselves  instead of making effort inviting people towards Haq we are being misguided ourselves and dont want take heed  or waver from our position. It is sad we are not wiiling to come out from this darkness and unfortunately and we will never come out of it may be until our respected Guest THE ANGEL OF DEATH comes to take us back to ALIMUL GHAIB WASSHAHADAT who would in turn tell us what we used to do.So please Remember the Hadith again If You believe in Allah and the Last Day  say good or you keep quite Allah has given us tongues to express Shukr and not Kufr .So Therefore it is your tongue that will guide you straight to Jannah for saying good  or Jahanam for saying Evil.Now the choice is yours.Wallahu Ala ma Nakulu Waakil.

Babandi Abubakar Gumel