Warning about the danger of the tongue, with an explanation of the importance of words in Islam.

The Shaykh : The professor here draws attention to a hadith narrated in "al-Sahihayn," in al-Bukhari and Muslim; it is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): ; that is, seventy years. And the most terrible speech a person utters is that which touches the station of oneness of worship and oneness of lordship, such as these words we have narrated in some hadiths, and such as these words we use as examples of what some people fall into today: "I have placed my reliance on Allah and on you." The reality of this is shirk (associating partners with Allah) in oneness of worship; because Allah says: .

The questioner : .

The Shaykh - also - , this is like His saying: ; that is, just as this verse indicates that we do not worship anyone other than You and we do not seek help from anyone other than You; likewise, we do not place our reliance on anyone other than You, but we place our reliance on You alone. So this heedless person comes and says: "I have placed my reliance on Allah and on you." And on what do you place your reliance on him? On the simplest matter. It used to happen to us when we were working in the watch trade; the poor man would go around to the watchmakers a lot, and then come back to me last, saying: "They cheated me, they did not advise me," and so on. And after all this preamble, he says: "We have placed our reliance on Allah and on you." And perhaps I am a cheater like those cheaters in whom Allah has placed them!!
So this placing of reliance on other than Allah, if it is in the heart, is kufr (disbelief), apostasy from his religion. But we assume the best of people, so we say: they do not intend it; rather, the wording is a mistake. So this wording must be avoided, and this falls under his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): .
So I said: Indeed, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sent His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to reform hearts, deeds, and words; all of this is included in the generality of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) as mentioned in the Qur'an: . This is part of the reform. The first reform is the reform of hearts, the second reform is the reform of deeds, and the third reform is the reform of words.
And indeed, the care of the Islamic Shari'ah in refining words has reached a level that does not occur to humanity at all; namely, his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , . This is something amazing. The human soul is evil, due to His saying (the Exalted): , and this is little. The soul that commands evil is undoubtedly evil; yet the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says - the meaning of the hadith and its explanation -: If any of you finds evil in his soul such that he feels his soul is evil, he should not express this feeling and this perception with the word "evil"; so he should not say: "My soul has become evil"; even though it is evil. But what does he say? "Laqisat" (it has become bitter). And the meaning of "Laqisat" is "it has become evil." So this is very, very high etiquette. The Messenger of Allah does not accept for you to utter about your evil soul the word "evil" or "it is evil," but rather he guides you and commands you to say: "My soul has become bitter" (Laqisat). The meaning is the same, but the word is different. And each of us feels that the word "Laqisat" is much gentler than the word "evil." So what do we say about the Lord of the Worlds if the Messenger of Allah, by revelation from Allah, disciplines us to be polite with our evil soul; so we do not use the word "evil," but rather we say: "My soul has become bitter"?! How is it permissible for a Muslim to utter such words, or to swear by other than Allah, to exalt other than Allah by swearing by it instead of Him, while it is obligatory for him to swear by Allah; because swearing means exalting the one sworn by?! How is it permissible then for a Muslim to forget Allah and not swear by Him, or to associate with Him another in such examples as we have given? All these examples fall into the second type of shirk, which is shirk in words.