Most People Whom Enters The Fire Do So Due To Their Tongues

From the book:The Bad Consequences of The Tongue
By: Sheikh Ahmad Zamzami

A description of the grave danger a Muslim can fall into if he/she does not corrctly guard and control his/her tongue. A good reminder.


Therefore, the servant must beware! We could invalidate all our fasting and prayer from just o*ne gathering. There is no success for us unless we learn how to imprison our tongues from vain talk. Allah has placed this tongue of ours in a prison, that it does not come out except when there is a need for it.Umm Habiba (radi Allahu anha) reported that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam) said:

"Every saying of the children of Adam is cursed except for enjoining good and forbidding the evil or for the remembrance of Allah." [Tirmidhi who said 'Hasan gharib', it is being reported solely by Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Khanis. Ibn Majah in kitab al-fitan no. 4112]

This is similiar to another hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah (radi Allahu anhu) who said that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam) said:

"The world and all that it contains is cursed, except for the rembrance of Allah and what supports it; or a scholar and a student." (Authenticated by Sheikh al-Albani in Sahih ul-Jami no. 3414)]

Yet you will find ninety percent of the time our tongues are not engaged in this. Rather we choose to continue with our vain talk, joking, laughing, backbiting and slandering.Imam Ahmad mentioned in his "Musnad" o*n the authority of Anas (radi Allahu anhu) who related that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam) said:

"The faith (iman) of Allah's servant will not be upright until his heart is upright, and his heart will not be upright until his tongue is upright." [Ahmad-al-Mundhiri (3/234) - al-Iraqi in "Al-Ihya" (8/1539)

]Imam Ahmad also reported o*n the authority of Salam ibn Suhaim from his mother who heard the Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam) say:

"A man may be so close to Paradise such that the distance between him and it is o*ne derah (an arms length) and he speaks a word and he becomes distant from it further than Sana."

Abu Hurairah (radi Allahu anhu) reported that the Messenger (sallahu alaihi wa salaam) said:"From the good Islam of a man is that he leaves that which does not benefit him." [Ahmad (4/132) - Tirmidhi, kitab az-zuhd, (7/51) from Abu Hurairah (radi Allahu anhu) - Ibn majah - Baihaqi in "Shu'ab al-Iman" - Imam Malik in "Al-Muwatta" (47/3) o*n the authority of Ali ibn Husain ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib - declared sahih by Sheikh al-Albani in "Sahih ul-Jami" and "Sahih Sunan at-Tirmidhi" (2/1886) - declared hasan by Ibn Abdul Barr and an-Nawawi.

However, Ibn Rajab at-Hanbali points out in "Jami'-ul-Ulum wal-Hikam" that some scholars (because they considered the hadith mursal) had declared it da'if, amongst them Imam Ahmad, Yahya ibn Ma'in, al-Bukhari and ad-Daraqutni. Allah knows best.Allah says:


:مَا يَلْفِظُ مِن قَوْلٍ إِلَّا لَدَيْهِ رَقِيبٌ عَتِيدٌ


Not a word does he (or she) utter, but there is a watcher by him ready (to record it). (Qaf 50:18)

'Abullah ibn 'Amr (radi Allahu anhu) said that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam) said:

"Whoever keeps silent is saved." [Sahih - narrated by Ahmad (2/159 - 177), at-Tirmidhi (2/82), ad-Darimi (2/299) & al-Baihaqi in "Shu'ab al-Iman". Authenticated by Sheikh al-Albani in "as-Sahihah" no. 536]

Imam an-Nawawi said, "As regards the sayings of the Salafus-Saalih then there are plenty.......'

More About This Book...