Page 14 - The Muslim Way of Speaking

THE MUSLIM WAY OF SPEAKING

which they choose to believe, and for every act they do, so, too, will they
be held responsible for every word they speak, and receive their due rec-
ompense on the Day of Judgment.
However, most never venture to consider that they will be called to
account for everything they have done on the Day of Judgment: for
every word, and every phrase they uttered. As a result, they are careless
in their speech, speaking without thinking and without recognizing the
responsibility under which they have been placed. Nevertheless, Allah's
promise, as He has related in the Qur'an, will definitely be kept; and,
while people may indeed have forgotten much of what they once said,
their words will be brought before them on the Day of Judgment. With
this verse of the Qur'an: "Standing over you are guardians, noble,
recording, who know what you do," (Surat al-Infitar: 10-12) Allah
points out that the angel scribes write every word that spills from a per-
son's mouth. In another verse, Allah advises us that, just as He has given
everything the ability to speak for itself, on the Day of Judgment, He
will give people's skins the ability to speak and permit them to bear wit-
ness to what they had done:
They will ask their skins, "Why did you testify against us?" and
they will reply, "Allah gave us speech as He has given speech to
everything. He created you in the first place and you will be re-
turned to Him." (Surah Fussilat: 21)
Thus, no matter the extent to which some people would want to con-
ceal what they were responsible for saying, or how much they hope to
avoid confessing to them, their ploy will not be of any use. Though they
do not want to give account of what they had done, their skin will, on
their behalf, confess to each of their deeds, one by one. Therefore, in the
life of this world, our goal should be to not utter even a single word that
we will regret in the presence of Allah, or pronounce a single phrase
which we will be unable to account for, and only fill us with remorse.
Surely, it is those who arrive at a full understanding of the impor-

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