The Importance of the Word and Guarding the Tongue

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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, a questioner says: "It is sufficient for a person to be sinful if he narrates everything he hears." What is the importance of the word and the impact of that, especially in our present time with the presence of communication media, as they call them, and the transmission of news and other things?

Answer:
Yes, the word is a serious matter. Just as it has benefits and advantages, it also has harms and evils. So a person must guard his tongue. Guard your tongue, O human being, for it will not bite you; it is a venomous snake. How many are there in the graveyards who were killed by their tongues, people whom the scorpions used to fear meeting! When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the warning against speech, Mu'adh asked him, "Are we

"Are we to be held accountable for what we say?" O Messenger of Allah? He said, "May your mother mourn you, O Mu'adh! What causes people to fall into the Fire on their faces, or he said, on their snouts, except the harvest of their tongues?"

مؤاخذون بما نتكلم به يا رسول الله؟ قال ثكلتك أمك يا معاذ وهل يكب الناس في النار على وجوههم أو قال على مناخرهم إلا حصائد ألسنتهم

As-Sunan al-Kubra lil-Nasa'i 65:415

And the Muslim must guard his tongue and not speak everything he hears, but rather verify the speech, especially regarding the rumors that circulate on these sites and in these contemporary means. They contain confusion, they contain spreading fear, they contain lying, and they contain incitement. Muslims must verify this

O you who have believed, if there comes to you a disobedient one with information, investigate, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and become, over what you have done, regretful.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَإٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ

[Al-Hujurat 49:6]

And when there comes to them information about [public] security or fear, they spread it around

وَإِذَا جَاءَهُمْ أَمْرٌ مِّنَ الْأَمْنِ أَوِ الْخَوْفِ أَذَاعُوا بِهِ

[An-Nisa 4:83]

meaning they spread it,

But if they had referred it back to the Messenger or to those of authority among them, then the ones who [can] draw correct conclusions from it would have known about it.

وَلَوْ رَدُّوهُ إِلَى الرَّسُولِ وَإِلَىٰ أُولِي الْأَمْرِ مِنْهُمْ لَعَلِمَهُ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَنبِطُونَهُ مِنْهُمْ

[An-Nisa 4:83]

.
So a person must verify and not spread any speech except what is beneficial for the Muslims. As for what contains harm, or fear, or panic, or lying, he does not spread it or circulate it. Whoever does that is sinful. For this reason, in the hadith:

It is enough falsehood for a man to relate everything he hears.

كفى بالمرء إثما أن يحدث بكل ما سمع.

Sunan Abi Dawud 4992Sahih (Al-Albani)

Yes.

Source قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 2002 - بيان أهمية الكلمة وحفظ اللسان - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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