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Acts of Worship

Where Has Your Tongue Taken You? | Khutbah

June 16, 2023Dr. Omar Suleiman

In this khutbah, Dr. Omar Suleiman describes the scenes of the best and worst of people reflecting on how they’ve used their tongues.

Join us this Dhul Hijjah to learn how to best use your tongue for Dhikr.

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Transcript

This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, by bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for him, and we bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam is his final messenger. We ask Allah to send his peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him, and those that follow in his blessed path until the day of judgment, and we ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen. Dear brothers and sisters, I want to give you a scene in Al-Madinah that probably doesn't make sense at the onset of it. If you were to think about those who are reckless with their tongues, the person that would probably be furthest from it, or the people that would probably be furthest from it, are the sahaba, the companions that we speak about on such a frequent basis. But in this particular narration, Zayd ibn Aslam, he narrates from his father that Umar ibn Khattab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, once entered upon Abu Bakr al-Siddiq radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, and he was grabbing his tongue. I want you to imagine the scene of seeing Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, of all people crying and grabbing his tongue. Can you think of anything that Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu did wrong with this blessed tongue that was first to testify to the prophethood of the Prophet ﷺ from the man, that stood up with the Prophet ﷺ and spoke what was pleasing to the Prophet ﷺ intuitively and through divine facilitation. But Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu enters upon him and he sees him in regret holding on to his tongue and he says to him, qif, ghafarAllahu lak, stop, may Allah forgive you. Why? Why are you of all people, O Abu Bakr, grabbing your tongue?
And Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu responds and he says, inna hatha awradani almawarid, this piece of flesh has taken me to dangerous places. This tongue of mine has put me in severe trouble. It has taken me to dangerous places. SubhanAllah, of all people, Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu holding himself to that standard, holding himself to account in such a way that no one else around him has a claim against Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu if he backbited or gossiped or slandered or if he said something that was foul or displeasing to the Prophet ﷺ. This was a man whose tongue was full of sidq, of truthfulness, whose actions were full of sidq. But he's holding his tongue and he's saying, inna hatha awradani almawarid, this tongue of mine has taken me to dangerous places. On the other hand, the quality of the hypocrites that is mentioned both in the Qur'an and the Sunnah, wa in taqoolu tasma' li qawlihim, they love the way that they sound, they talk a lot and people listen to them. And so they comment about everything, al-thartharoon, al-mutashaddiqun, al-mutafayhiqun, the Prophet ﷺ used different terms for them. That they love to weigh in on everything and they weigh in in a way that sounds intelligent but at the end of the day, the Prophet ﷺ describes them as a hated people, abghadakum ilayya wa aba'adakum minni yawmul qiyamah, the most hated of you to me and the furthest from me on the Day of Judgment. You talk too much and you love the way that you sound, you love to hear yourself weighing in on certain things but you talk too much. And in one narration the Prophet ﷺ said, inna allaha yubghidhu al-baligha min al-rijal, that Allah hates the eloquent person from the man. Now obviously, balagha is a good thing, eloquence is a good thing if it's used for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But in this situation
the Prophet ﷺ said, allathee yatakhallalu bilisanihi kama tatakhallalu albaqarah, the one whose tongue moves around the way that the tongue of a cow moves around. And the way the scholars explained that is that when you watch the way that a cow eats its fodder, it wraps its tongue around it. It's a nasty sight. And the Prophet ﷺ is saying this is the way that you should look at people whose tongues are so loose and long and comment on everything and their tongues spin around. And usually a person who's eloquent, a person who's poetic, a person who sounds intelligent even when he has no idea what he's talking about weighs in on things that he has no business weighing in on and speaks too much and ends up, as the scholars say in the explanation of this hadith in Abu Dawud, ends up in a place of istihza and a place of mocking people, making fun of people, in a place of consuming the awrat, the honour, the dignity of their brothers and sisters. And so there's a fear of the poets at the time of the Prophet ﷺ because the poets were the most honoured of society and now you have a religion that tells you watch your tongue, watch how much you use this tongue. And so compare and contrast Abu Bakr ﷺ grabbing his tongue, the other person the Prophet ﷺ mentioning having a tongue that slaps around the way that the tongue of a cow slaps around. Now fast forward to the Day of Judgement. Every single part of you that was used for Allah is nur, is light on the Day of Judgement. And Allah ﷻ will preserve and beautify that part of you. The eyes that shed tears for the sake of Allah ﷻ will never be touched by the fire. Those eyes will be beautiful and bold on the Day
of Judgement, on a day when people's eyes will be to the ground and afraid. Those eyes will be beaming with joy. The places on your body of wudu will be shining on the Day of Judgement. The Prophet ﷺ said he will know you by the signs, the marks of your wudu. And people don't do wudu unless they're praying. So people of salah, people of prayer, all those places of wudu coming forth shining on the Day of Judgement. The wounds of the shuhada, the wounds of the martyrs will be light, musk on the Day of Judgement. Imagine looking at Hamza ﷺ with his wounds on the Day of Judgement shining. Imagine looking at the likes of Ali ﷺ and Khalid ﷺ, these people who lived their lives striving for the sake of Allah ﷻ and the brightness coming from their bodies, the brightness coming from all over them. May Allah ﷻ make that our situation as well. Allahumma ameen. Light shining from people, every part of your body that was used for Allah, your feet that you walk to the masjid with, Allah ﷻ makes it nur on the Day of Judgement. It is light upon light upon light. And one of the du'as of the Prophet ﷺ when he's coming to the masjid is that Allah ﷻ places ala lisani nura, make my tongue light. Now what I'm about to say here is not something that I'm making up from my own. The fewest parts on the Day of Judgement that will be full of light are the tongues. Meaning we're all kind of a mixed bag aren't we? And sometimes that discrepancy is very very dangerous. Because you have people that maybe have the light of wudu, they maybe have the light on their eyes, but their tongues are darkness on the Day of Judgement. Darkness upon darkness upon darkness. Now some people
will be blessed to have light on their tongues as well. May Allah ﷻ make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen. Can you imagine the light from the mouth of Abu Bakr on the Day of Judgement, that man that was grabbing his tongue? Saying inna hadha awradani almawarid, this took me to dangerous places. Imagine seeing Abu Bakr the first in line from this ummah behind the Prophet ﷺ and he opens his mouth and the light that comes out of that man's mouth. What was he using that tongue for except for praising Allah ﷻ and defending the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Light upon light upon light. Then you have other scenes. And dear brothers and sisters I want you to put yourself in that scene for a moment. As you're looking around on the Day of Judgement and you're seeing the different people, you'll have the likes of Abu Bakr r.a with light shining from his mouth and then you look and you see another person that's walking and they don't just have no light from their tongue, their tongues are made of fire. The Prophet ﷺ said, man kana lahu wajhani fid dunya, kana lahu yawm al qiyamati lisanani min naar. That people of two faces in this dunya will walk around on the Day of Judgement with two tongues of fire. What a scene. A'udhu billah. May Allah not make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen. You've got Abu Bakr r.a with the light shining from his mouth. Umar, Uthman, Ali, all of these people r.a, the light shining from their mouths. You have people of dhikr that were unknown amongst the crowd. Their light is shining from their mouth and then you have people walking around with fire coming out of their mouth. May Allah protect us. Maybe they have light on other parts of their body but that's the most common of the places of darkness on the Day of Judgement and there's proof for that. And then you arrive at the book to meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
to meet Allah with your deeds. And Sa'eed ibn al-Jubeir r.a narrates that a person will be brought forth before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he's expecting to see all of these hasanat in his book. All of these good deeds in his book and when his book is given to him he sees none of his good deeds. My lord, this is somebody else's book. This isn't my book. I can swear I used to go to the masjid for Jumu'ah. I can swear I used to observe Laylatul Qadr. I remember ten days of Dhul Hijjah. I remember this. I remember doing this. Where's my salah? Where's it all at? Ya Allah I gave sadaqah. Where's the charity at? Ya Allah. This must be a mistake. But it's not. And it's said to him, your lord does not forget. All the backbiting, all the nastiness, it destroyed everything that was in your book. It wiped it out. It's not there anymore. On the other hand, al-Qayyim r.a says that a person shows up afraid. I don't know what I'm going to see in my book. I don't know if those good deeds made it through. He says that he shows up on the day of judgment with sins the size of mountains and he finds that the dhikr of Allah that used to come from his mouth wiped it all out. It destroyed those mountains of sins from his book. The goodness from his mouth. He had personal sins. He had things that he was struggling with. He was afraid. But he never used to use this tongue in a way that was displeasing to Allah s.w.t. He didn't use to talk about other people. He used to worry about himself. And he used
to do the dhikr of Allah s.w.t. He used to remember Allah s.w.t. And so he shows up on the day of judgment and he says, what book is this? Pleasantly surprised. Oh my servant, all of the goodness that you used your tongue for wiped out all of those sins that you were worried about. And what is istighfar? Seeking forgiveness. Where the Prophet s.w.t. says that Allah s.w.t. will ask a person about their sins. Did you seek forgiveness for those sins after they feel like they're doomed? And those sins start to turn into good deeds to the point that the person says, Ya Rabb, the angel forgot to write down some of those sins. Because he rerouted with his tongue. He recalibrated with his tongue. And when they go to the mizan, when they go to the scale, may Allah s.w.t. protect us when we go to the scale, the person who held back his tongue, collecting good deeds from other people and never giving up any of his own, let people backbite, let people say, let people do, never gave up any of his own. And as al-Muzani r.a. said, he would wish that he never, ever responded to anything and that no one ever, or that everybody in the world backbited him. Why? Because I didn't give up any of mine, you gave up all of yours. On the other hand, Atadroona man al-muflis, qala s.a.w. you know who the bankrupt person is. That person who has their salah, their siyam, their zakat, all of those things, and all of it is gone because of mostly the actions of the tongue. Sabba hadha, wa shatama hadha, wa khtaba hadha, wa daraba hadha. Other than the hitting part, all of that is with your tongue. The backbiting, the slander, the violent speech or abusive speech that you use towards others, the mockery, that's all with the tongue. The only thing that's missing is a physical hit. But all of that is a tongue. Meaning, the reason why most people end up bankrupt on that day is because of their tongue. And when a person now crosses al-sirat, crosses over the bridge,
and ends up in one of the two destinations, may Allah azawajal make us from the people of al-jannah and not from the people of al-naar, Allahumma ameen, the Prophet s.a.w. says to Mu'adh radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, there is nothing, nothing that causes more people to fall face first into hellfire, more so than hasa'id al-lisan, than the things that they stored in their tongues. He said, sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, in another hadith, a person yatakallamu bilkaliman, la yulqi lahabala, a person says a word, they don't think too much about it, and it lands them into hellfire, ab'adu ma bayna al-sama'i wal-ard, think about the distance between the heavens and the earth. Think 30,000 feet even. Lands them into hellfire, a deeper distance. You literally drop, because of a word that you say recklessly, not thinking about it. And at the same time, you might say something that's pleasing to Allah subhanawata'ala. You don't think too much about it, but you had the inspiration to say the right thing at the right time, and it lands you in the highest ranks of paradise, may Allah subhanawata'ala make us amongst them, Allahumma ameen. And when most people come out of hellfire and enter into al-jannah, may Allah enter us all into jannah without any adhab or any hisab, without any punishment, any questioning, when most people are brought out of the hellfire and put into paradise, and they have to be purified of something, more people will have to go into the purification of their tongues than any other part of their body or anything else that they have. Dear brothers and sisters, I want to end with one thing here, and it's the most important point as we come into the blessed 10 days of Dhul Hijjah, especially where dhikr is the most beloved of deeds in these 10 days of Dhul Hijjah. I want you to leave with one message, let your tongue take you to jannah, don't let it take you to jahannam. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned that more people will go to hellfire face
first because of what they have stored in their tongues, hasa'il al-lisan, think about your tongue as a plane, and you're planting the seeds of hellfire in your tongue. But you know what else he said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that when he met Ibrahim alayhi wa sallam on the night of Laylatul Isra' wal-Mi'raj, and Ibrahim alayhi wa sallam described to him al-jannah, Ibrahim sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to this ummah, and he said tell them that jannah is planes, it's a bunch of planes, and that the harvest of those planes, the seeds of those planes are subhanallah, alhamdulillah, la ilaha illallah, allahu akbar. You have the planes of al-jannah where you plant the seeds of dhikr, where palaces and trees await. And you have the planes of your tongue, the harvest of your tongue, where the seeds of hellfire are planted, and there's nothing but regret on the day of judgement, and the connection between the sanctity of the honour of people, and the glorifying of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the two main themes of these ten days, the sanctity of your brother or sister being greater than the sanctity of the Ka'bah itself, as it's in full focal view, and the glory of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's name and how you use your tongue. Keep yourself busy with the remembrance of Allah because that is a cure. Avoid the remembrance of people because that is disease. And talk about people, talk about Allah. The more you're using your tongue for the dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the less you will use it for the dhikr of other people, and that which is negative, and that which could cause you destruction and doom. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us amongst those whose tongues are light on the day of judgement, and whose tongues become a means by which they enter into the highest ranks of paradise, alongside as-Siddiq, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam above him, and his family and companions, and the greatest ones that came before us.
And may Allah azawajal protect us from using these tongues in ways that would cause us to fall in the pits of the fire. Allahumma ameen. Dear brothers and sisters, just a quick reminder that Dhul-Hijjah will start inshaAllah ta'ala this Sunday or Monday, and every single day bi-idhnillah, busy yourself with the dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. InshaAllah ta'ala every day we'll have a contemplation, a reflection on one of the adhkar that we are to use. We ask Allah to make us people of dhikr. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive us for our shortcomings. Allahumma kama rabbuna sighara. Rabbana hablana min azwajina wa dhurriyatina qurra ta'ayyun. Wa ja'anna lil-muttaqina imama. Allahumma nsur ikhwana al-mustada'afina fee mashariki al-ardi wa magharibiha. Allahumma izzal al-Islam wa al-muslimin. Wa idhilla al-shirka wa al-kadhibin. Wa dammir a'da al-din. Allahumma ahlik al-dhalimin wa bil-dhalimin. Wa akhlijna wa ikhwana min baynil-musalimin. Ibadullahi. Allah ya'muru bil-adli wa al-ihsan wa ita'idil-qurba wa yanha'an al-fahsha'i wa al-munkari wa al-baghi. Ya'idukum la'allakum tadhakkaroon. FadhkuruAllahi yadhkurukum. Washkuruhu ala ni'ma yazid lakum. Wala dhikruAllahi akbar. Wallahu ya'lamu ma tasna'oon. Wa aqimassalat.
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