Speak Good Or Remain Silent Hadith In English And Arabic

Speak good or remain silent hadith is one of the beautiful ahadith narrated by Bukhari and Muslim. It talks about the importance of guarding the tongue in Islam.

Speak Good Or Remain Silent Hadith In English

Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that Allah’s Messenger, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said:

“Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should either speak good or remain silent. Whoever believes in Alaah and the Last Day should honor their neighbor. Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should honor their guest.”

Speak Good Or Remain Silent Hadith In Arabic

عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه: أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: (من كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر، فليقل خيرًا أو ليصمت، ومن كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر فليكرم جاره، ومن كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر فليكرم ضيفه)؛

رواه البخاري ومسلم

Speak Good Or Remain Silent Meaning

You should know that every mature, morally responsible individual must safeguard his tongue from all (forms) of talks except that which have worldly or religious benefits.

This statement is taken from the saying of the Prophet Muhammad SAW:

He who believes in Allah and the Last Day must either speak good or remain silent.

When the two, remaining silent and speaking, are at par, the security of silence is better.

That is, one should not speak if one is in doubt of the benefit or otherwise.

In this case, it is better not to talk since silence takes nothing away from you.

The one who keeps silent is safe except when it becomes imperative for him to speak, then he should.

For instance, he should not remain quiet if he witnesses an evil; rather, he must speak out to admonish and forbid a malicious act.

However, it is safer for him not to speak if there’s no benefit attached to his speech.

And then know that the saying of the Prophet Muhammad SAW,

He who believes in Allah and the Last Day must either speak good or remain silent.’

Is a pointer to the fact that it is obligatory for one to keep quiet if speaking does not bring any good.

This is because the Prophet SAW makes saying what is good a condition for faith in Allah and the Last Day, otherwise one should keep silent.

Good speech is however classified into two:

One: that which is good in the very nature of the speech.

• This includes recitation of the Qur’aan,
• Tasbeeh (praising Allah),
• Takbeer (glorifying Allah),
• Tahleel (declaring Allah’s Oneness),
• Seeking of knowledge and other similar matters.
• All these are good.

Therefore, saying good things and avoiding saying evil things are from the qualities of those who have faith.

Because it causes goodness to occur and repels all evil is In the category of „good,‟ everything that is sought, it terms of obligatory and recommended statements, is included.

They were all mentioned, regardless of their differing types.

Also, anything that leans towards good is also included.

Anything else which is evil or leans towards evil must obligatorily be avoided by remaining silent.

There is no speech that is void of a good or bad aspect.

Speech is either good, leaning towards good, therefore taking the same ruling, or bad, or leaning towards bad, therefore, taking the same ruling.

A person will be held accountable for everything that their tongues utter.

Allah the Exalted Said:

Man does not utter any word except that with him is an observer prepared [to record].

{Surah Qaf: Verse 18]

The difference has occurred due to the premise that there is some speech that is neither the cause of rewards nor punishments.

If we were to say that the angel that is tasked with writing the good deeds writes everything that is good, and the angel that is tasted with writing sins writes everything that is evil, then, is there speech that a person says which is not written by those who write good and evil?

The scholars have differed on this subject.

Some said that there is speech that a person will not be accounted for, which is neither good nor bad, therefore, it is not written.

Therefore, everything is written in the scrolls of the angels, and elimination and confirmation occurs in these scrolls.

If a sane person thinks of something that they want to say, and think about it before saying it, but they cannot determine if it is good or evil, they should remain silent, and should not say it.

If someone wishes to speak, but they cannot determine its benefit, then it is better for them to remain silent, because the intellectual person only says things that they are sure of its predominant benefit.

As for saying things that are predominantly evil or apparently evil, or there is no predominant goodness in it, then remaining silent is the best option.

As for speech that is not predominantly considered good, then the least is that it is a waste of time in a false way, causing the slave to be in a state of regret on the Day of Resurrection.

The Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said:

The people of Paradise will only regret a period of time that passed them by without remembrance of Allah.

In general, it can be said that speech is of five categories:

It might be obligatory, recommended, forbidden, disliked, or lawful.

Examples of obligatory speech are: Recitation of Soorat Al Fatihah during the prayer as well as the obligatory supplications, ordering good, forbidding evil, speaking out as one of two witnesses, where if they remain silent, the person will not get their right, but if they speak, they will get their right.

An example of recommended speech is the supplications of the night and day.

Examples of forbidden speech are lying, backbiting, slandering, and false testimony.

Examples of disliked speech are things that have no benefit, such as repetition of something with no hope of benefit, or speaking about something that does not concern the person.

An example of lawful speech is lawful speech regarding life, work, drinking, eating, and so forth. Silence is similar to speech.

It might be obligatory, recommended, forbidden, disliked, or lawful.

• Obligatory silence is, for example, silence by not stating lies, backbiting, or causing problems between people.
• Recommended silence is, for example, to remain silent by not stating what does not concern a person to delve into.
• Forbidden silence is, for example, silence by not giving obligatory testimonies, and silence by not forbidding evil when it is beneficial.
• Disliked silence is, for example, sitting in the mosque without remembering Allah.
• Lastly, lawful silence is silence for relaxation during resting times.

As has been mentioned, we are not ordered to constantly speak or to constantly remain silent.

Speech is to occur during times of speech, as in, when it is recommended or obligatory to speak, and silence is to occur during times of silence, that is, when it is recommended or obligatory to remain silent.

Here is hadith about lying and patience.

Allah knows Best