Excerpt from the Introduction by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Of all the gifts God granted humankind, none compares to the gift of speech. From the mercy of God, we have the gift of revelation in language we understand. The Qur’an states, “The Benevolent One taught the Qur’an, created man, taught him expression” [55:1-4]. As Imam al-Ghazālī reminds us, we are a unique creation of God, partly angelic and partly animal. Language, the act of symbolizing, which makes us the “talking animal,” enables communication, discovery, and understanding. Unfortunately, these two seemingly contradictory elements, rationality and animality, live for the most part in a state of tension. Harmonizing the two seems to be the great challenge of our species and, more importantly, of our individual lives. How do we live with ourselves harmoniously so that we might live with others in harmony? The tongue holds the answer to this question.

This piece of flesh in our oral cavity serves two main purposes: tasting our food and articulating our thoughts. Thus, both animality and rationality reside in the hollows of our mouths, as we open them to eat like animals or to speak like angels. Our tongues aid in nourishing our bodies as well as translating for our souls. And just as we too often consume foods that are harmful to our animal bodies, so do we too often speak in ways that are harmful to our angelic souls, causing the animality to become more rapacious and the angelic rationality to become more demonic. Hence, we must be wary of the banes of the tongue to prevent falling into some of our most destructive tendencies.
Without hyperbole, this may be one of the most important books you will ever read. The harvest of our tongues plagues us in our daily lives more than anything else. The Qur’an reminds us,

“No one utters a word without a ready observer there” [50:18], and “Don’t speak ill of others behind their back. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother?” [49:12]. The Prophet s.a.w.s. said, “If you can guarantee for me what is between the two sides of your jaw and the two sides of your thighs, I can guarantee for you paradise.” In other words, if one guards one’s tongue from saying anything prohibited and one’s genitals from doing anything untoward, God will forgive the minor sins and grant such a person paradise.

Most people are unaware of how often they utter words displeasing to the Creator of tongues. The Prophet s.a.w.s. said, “A man will utter words, giving them no consideration, that will cause him to fall into hell, the distance of what is between the East and the West.” The Prophet s.a.w.s. also said, “Are people dragged into the hellfire for anything other than the harvests of their tongues?” This rhetorical question does not indicate there are no other sins; rather, it emphasizes the enormity of the sins of the tongue, how widespread they are, and what little consideration people give them.

Table of Contents

• A Word from the Publisher 5
• Introduction by Hamza Yusuf Hanson 7
• The Mysterious Mountain and the Golden Cave 15
• The Thousand-Year-Old Letter 21
• The First Bane: Speaking About What Does
• Not Concern You 33
• The Second Bane: Superfluous Talk 39
• The Third Bane: Becoming Engrossed in Vain Talk 43
• The Fourth Bane: Arguing 45
• The Fifth Bane: Legal Disputation 50
• The Sixth Bane: Grandiloquence 53
• The Seventh Bane: Obscenity, Insult, and Vulgarity 55
• The Eighth Bane: Cursing 59
• The Ninth Bane: Singing and Poetry 61
• The Tenth Bane: Joking 63
• The Eleventh Bane: Ridicule and Mockery 67
• The Twelfth Bane: Divulging Secrets 71
• The Thirteenth Bane: Making False Promises 75
• The Fourteenth Bane: Lying in Speech or Oath 79
• The Fifteenth Bane: Backbiting 87
• The Sixteenth Bane: Scandalmongering: Spreading What is Untrue 99
• The Seventeenth Bane: Speaking with Two Tongues 103
• The Eighteenth Bane: Praise 107
• The Nineteenth and Twentieth Banes: Carelessness Concerning Errors in Speech and Questions from the Unlearned about the Attributes, Speech, and Words of God s.w.t. and Whether His Words Are Eternal or Created 109
• Images of the Community Spending the Last Ten Days of Ramadan in Silence 112
• Recommendations for Effective Activities Which Support a Change of Habit 126
• Questions for Reflection, Activities, and Topics for Discussion 127