I think one of the most
detrimental parts of man, which keeps him separated from
Allah, is gossip and his tongue and words that are misused.
This tongue that we use to pronounce the Name of Allah and
then to say to somebody, 'you are stupid' or 'I hate you,' is
absurd.
Sheikh
Muzaffer used to tell the story about a sheikh who had a
beautiful daughter. This daughter was coming to the age of
marriage, and she had many suitors. She was so beautiful that
handsome princes and rich men of position all wanted to win
her hand in marriage. Finally the sheikh said, 'I'll ask
three questions and give you three tasks. After you have
completed these tasks, you will come back here. And the one
who can succeed in all of them will be worthy of having my
daughter's hand in marriage.'
The next day
they all returned. Some brought honey, others the sweetest
smelling flowers, or just anything that had the sweetest
taste or aroma, anything sweet you could dream of that was on
the planet, they brought. At the end of this long line was a
poor, meek student of the sheikh. The sheikh finally said to
him, 'What is it? Why are you here?' He said, 'Well, your
daughter is very beautiful, and I am in love with her. And I
would like also to attempt to answer these questions so that
I may win her hand in marriage.' The sheikh said, 'Well, all
right.' He could not stop what he had started. The student
was holding a box. 'What's in that box?' asked the sheikh. He
opened the box. Inside was the huge tongue of an ox. The
sheikh stepped back and said, 'Is this some kind of a joke or
a game you're playing with me, son? I asked for the sweetest
thing in the world, and you bring me this tongue!' The
student said, 'But, my sheikh, humbly I tell you that the
tongue is the sweetest thing in the world, because the words
that come from this tongue, if they are sweet words, they can
make a sick person well. They can make an unhappy person
happy. They can make someone who is sad and despondent feel
that his life is worth living, and have joy. Surely, the
tongue is the sweetest of all things.' The sheikh said, 'All
right, you win this one.'
Then,
addressing the others, he said, 'The next thing you are to
bring me is the most bitter thing in the world.' The next
day, the suitors all came and lined up. They brought bitter
herbs and all kinds of bitter-tasting foods, plants, and
whatever it was that tasted really bitter and terrible. And
there was Mehmet the student at the end of the line holding a
box. The sheikh said, 'What is it now? What do you have to
show us this time?' Mehmet opened the box, and there was the
same tongue. Astonished, the sheikh said, 'Surely you're
playing a joke on us again. Yesterday you said that this was
the sweetest of all things. Today you say it is the most
bitter.' 'My sheikh,' Mehmet offered humbly and quietly, 'if
the tongue says bitter words, it can make a happy person sad.
If the tongue says bitter things to someone, it can hurt his
very heart. This tongue is so bitter it can even break a
heart.' The sheikh reluctantly said, 'All right, Mehmet,
alright.' He paused and then said, 'And now, you come with me
to the masjid.'
They went into
the kitchen in the rear, and the sheikh said, 'Make me a
coffee.' There was a metal container with tripod metal legs
that stood on the floor. In it you placed coals from thewood
that was burning in the stove. It was very hot and you could
make coffee. The sheikh said, 'Make me a coffee here.' Mehmet
took some hot coals from the wood stove, and placed them in
the container, and began to put coffee and sugar and water in
the coffee pot. he moved the coffee pot back and forth over
the hot coals, and soon the water began to boil. As it was
bubbling the sheikh said, 'Now, Mehmet, tell me, what sound
is this water making? What is it saying?' Mehmet was at a
loss. He really didn't know. He said, 'I'm not sure.' The
sheikh said, 'Think about it, come back tomorrow, and tell me
the meaning of the sound the water is making. And if you tell
me this secret, you can have my daughter in marriage.'
The student
returned to his room upset, because he thought for sure there
was no way he was going to know what this boiling water was
saying as it bubbled in the coffee pot. It seems that a
friend of the daughter of the sheikh was cleaning up in the
kitchen of the masjid and had overheard this conversation.
She went to the sheikh's daughter and told her what had
happened, word for word. That night, when the sheikh returned
to his quarters and sat in his chair, his daughter asked,
'Dear Father, would you like a coffee before you go to bed?'
He said, 'That's very nice of you. Thank you.'
And so he
began to make a coffee, and as she moved the pot back and
forth over the hot coals, the water started to bubble. She
glanced at her father casually and aasked, 'Oh, Father, tell
me- it's an interesting sound this water makes when it's
bubbling and making your coffee.' She went on, 'What can that
mean? What does that sound say?' He thought for a second and
said, 'All right,' and he explained; 'The water is saying
that I was a drop in a cloud. There was condensation and the
cloud opened, and I came down to the earth as a drop of rain.
As this drop of rain I landed on a seed. That seed grew into
a tree. A woodsman came, and he cut part of that tree, and
chopped it up for firewood. And then this firewood was placed
in the stove, and the hot coals were taken and put into this
container, and then this coffee was made, and so the water
was saying - 'What is burning me is from me.'
The daughter
didn't show any emotion. She said good night to her father,
went directly to her room, and wrote down everything he had
said, sealed it in an envelope, and gave it to a friend to
deliver to the student Mehmet. Because, as he was in love
with her, she was in love with him. He received the letter,
opened it, and was amazed to see that the sheikh's daughter
herself had sent a note with the answer to the sheikh's
question.
The next day,
he went to the masjid as he had been instructed to do the day
before. The sheikh greeted him, 'As-salaam aleykum. Make me a
coffee.' His student answered, 'Wa-aleykum as-salaam, my
sheikh,'and began to prepare the coffee. He moved the pot
over the hot coals. The sheikh looked at him and
said,'Mehmet, can you answer the question, what is this
bubbling water saying?' Mehmet reflected within himself very
deeply, as if he was thinking hard, then he said, 'Ah, my
sheikh, Bismillah, my sheikh, this water is saying...' and he
repeated exactly what was in the letter, exactly what the
sheikh had said the night before. In conclusion, Mehmet
added, 'And the water is saying, what is burning me is from
me.' The sheikh's face turned red. He looked at him and said,
'Ah Mehmet, and what is burning me is from me.'
One should
watch one's tongue. Especially in daily life. Because the
tongue can truly be the sweetest or the most bitter thing in
the world. How often have we had the experience of feeling
fine, and then we look at somebody and say, 'You are
beautiful today,' or 'How kind it was of you to do that for
that person,' or 'My heart really goes out to you.' Observe
how that person is affected.
We've also had
the experience of being grumpy, and we just look at someone
and say, 'Look, get out of here,' or 'I dislike you,' and we
know the effect that has without even taking it to a point of
gossip. Within gossip, the soul of the speaker as well as
that of the listener can be lost.
The tongue is
tied to the heart. It is said that a man's character is
hidden beneath his tongue, because the tongue says what is in
the heart. So when we speak, we're expressing what is in our
hearts. And though Allah says He cannot fit in the entire
universe but can fit into the heart of a believer, He doesn't
say that He will fit in that heart if it's cluttered with bad
thoughts, deeds, and questions. Such a heart must first be
clean.