Opening The Doors Of Khair With Our Words – Shaykh Faid Mohammed Said

“Allah Guides to His Light Whom He Wills.”  (Surah An-Nur)
Bismillah-ir Rahman-ir Raheem.
Allah ﷻ‎ only wanted khair for us, and in Surah Al-Baqarah, Allah ﷻ‎ mentions that He wanted ease for you.  Allah ﷻ‎ did not only tell us this, but He also told us HOW to achieve this ease and khair.  
In this regard, Rasulullah ﷺ said,

“How wondrous are the affairs of the believer!  All his issues are khair:  when something good happens he thanks Allah ﷻ, and his situation becomes even better, and when something bad happens to him, he stays patient, and his situation turns for the better!”

Achieving ease and khair is connected to our gratefulness for the blessings that have been bestowed upon us.
The real mu’min is the one who appreciates the blessing of Allah ﷻ and uses such blessings in the manner that Allah ﷻ wanted these blessings to be used.  Among the blessings that Allah ﷻ has given us is the ability to express ourselves and our feelings, address our issues and communicate with others; the organ that Allah ﷻ by which we achieve this, is a great blessing.  
Allah ﷻ did, however, warn us about not appreciating or misusing this blessing:  

“When you received it with your tongues and said with your mouths that of which you had no knowledge and thought it was insignificant while it was, in the sight of Allah, tremendous.”  (Surah An-Nur, 15)

As such, the purpose of our tongue is to be grateful to Allah ﷻ, to glorify Allah ﷻ and to fulfill our duties towards Allah ﷻ and His creation.  Appreciating and utilizing our tongue in such manner will open the doors of khair, consciousness and piety (taqwa).
Take a moment and think about all the words that we have said; try and comprehend that all words are credited and recorded somewhere where no one can delete or change them; and understand that He knows the intention and motive behind all that we have uttered!  

La ilaha iLLALLAH!

We have said many things that we would not want anyone to know about.  There are many things we said that we would not even want to recall.  This in itself should cause us to question ourselves.
In a Hadith narrated in Bukhari by Abu Hurrairah (radiallah anhu), Rasulullah ﷺ said that whoever believes in Allah ﷻ and the Day of Judgment should say something good or keep quiet.  By this,
Rasulullah ﷺ is telling us to either say what Allah ﷻ encouraged you to say:  glorifying Him, praising Him, praising His Messenger ﷺ, “…And speak to people good [words]” (Surah Al-Baqarah, 83); or, take the remaining option Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned, which is to remain quiet.
Imam At-Tabarani (rehmatullah alaih) narrated that Syedina Al Aswad ibn Asram Al Muharabi (radiallah anhu) said that he asked Rasulullah ﷺ to give him the best advice, to which Rasulullah ﷺ replied:  

“Do you own your tongue (i.e. control it)?

Al Aswad ibn Asram Al Muhrabi (radiallah anhu):  What do I own if I do not own my tongue?  

Rasulullah ﷺ:  Do you own your hands?  

Al Aswad ibn Asram Al Muhrabi (radiallah anhu):  What do I own if I do not own my hands?  

Rasulullah ﷺ:  If you truly own them then do not say anything with your tongue other than that which is khair, and do not open your hands except for that which is khair.”

Let us examine this beautiful conversation.  The Sahabi came to Rasulullah ﷺ to seek advice, and in response Rasulullah ﷺ asked him a question, namely asking if he owned his hands and tongue.  The Sahabi then responded to the question with a question, and in effect, stated that the answer was apparent.  Rasulullah ﷺ then said if you really do own them, then use them for khair!  

A challenge for every responsible human being

In the Musnad of Imam Ahmad (rehmatullah alaih), Syedina Anas (radiallah anhu) narrated that Rasulullah ﷺ said that the iman (faith) of someone cannot be imperviously straight unless his or her heart is imperviously straight, and his or her heart cannot be imperviously straight unless his or her tongue is imperviously straight!
In this Hadith, Rasulullah ﷺ is speaking about the strong bond, connection and correlation between these two close organs, namely the tongue and the heart!
In fact, in another Hadith, narrated by Syedina Muadh (radiallah anhu), Rasulullah ﷺ said that you are safe as far as you remain quiet, but once you speak it is either deemed for you or against you.  (At-Tabarani)
In another Hadith, Syedina Bilal ibn Harith (radiallah anhu) said that he heard Rasulullah ﷺ say that some may say a word that pleases Allah ﷻ and he or she does not think those words will go any further, but Allah ﷻ continues  writing those pleasing words they meet Him!  On the contrary, if someone were to say a word that displeases Allah ﷻ, and they think those words will not go any further, Allah ﷻ will keep writing those words till Yaum ul-Qiyamah!  (Imam Ahmad, Tirmidhi, An-Nisai)
In this regard, we must always remember what Allah ﷻ said in Surah Qaf (17-18) regarding the angels who record our words:  “When the two receivers receive, seated on the right and on the left.  Man does not utter any word except that with him is an observer prepared [to record].”
May Allah ﷻ cause us and give us patience, and may Allah ﷻ make every word  that we a means of dhikr, as Imam at-Tirmidhi (rehmatullah alaih) narrated that Abdullah ibn Omar (radiallah anhu) said that Rasulullah ﷺ said:  “Do not speak much other than remembrance, indeed much speech aside from the remembrance of Allah ﷻ will make the heart like a rock, and those that are the furthest from Allah ﷻ are the hard-hearted.”
May Allah ﷻ make us from the people of khair.  It was narrated that Syedina Abu Bakr (radiallah anhu) used to literally hold his tongue and say:  “This has put me in a difficult position!”; and Syedina Abdullah ibn Masud (radiallah anhu) used to say:  “I swear by Allah ﷻ that there is no one worthy of worship other than Him, and there is no one on earth that deserves a long imprisonment other than the tongue!”
SubhanAllah!  
Mentioning all of this is easy, but to actually control our tongue is difficult, as Fudhail ibn Iyad (rehmatullah alaih) said:  

“It is not Hajj or jihad that is the most difficult of actions, but rather the most difficult is the control of your tongue, and if you were to think carefully about controlling your tongue, you would be consistently distressed with regards to your situation!”

Rasulullah ﷺ  said in a Hadith narrated by Al Barra ibn Azib (radiallah anhu) said that a man asked Rasulullah ﷺ to teach him that which would facilitate is entry into Jannah, to which
Rasulullah ﷺ replied that he should feed the hungry, water the thirsty, command to good, forbid evil and if he were unable to do any of this, to stop his tongue from saying anything other than khair.  (Ahmad, ibn Hibban)
May Rabbi ﷻ forgive us and open the door of khair for us.
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