In the first part we had seen the wisdom of Allah SWT in ayat 70 of surah Al-Ahzab and had explored what is not straight forward speech. i.e what is not "Qaulon sadeed". In this part in sha Allah we will explore this ayah even more and will try to understand different meanings of "Qaulon sadeed" which can make our life more beneficial and peaceful.
Please find part 1 at following link.
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يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا ٱتَّقُوا ٱللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا
("O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice.")
All creation has language. Allah says there is not a single creation except its also declaring Allah's Perfection in some way, in its own language. However we can not understand how they declaring Allah’s perfection. This is why all of these creation will become witness on the day of judgment. Even things like our body parts that we think don't have a language are going to be speaking out and testify. But Human beings are given special ability to produce language. We are more capable and more sophisticated on how we use words and how we can communicate ideas.
There is nothing more powerful than human beings are given this ability of producing words. And most evident indication of that is Allah SWT himself decided to guide humanity through words. Quran is “Kalamullah” , speech of Allah. It is words. So our words are actually very powerful gift that Allah gave us. When we open our mouth and say something we have to appreciate that this gift was not given to any other creation the way it was given to us. This is the gift because of which we are able to communicate with Allah and Allah communicates with us through this gift.
That revelation would mean nothing if we didn't have power of language. So if we have been given such a priceless gift then we should be extra careful with how we use this gift, because we value it. All languages are children of the language taught to Adam A.S, all of them. Adam A.S did not know language on his own, it was revealed to him. It means all languages are revealed gift of Allah SWT. So making fun of somebody's language or making fun of how somebody speaks is actually making fun of something Allah himself revealed. Allah says in Quran “Allamahul bayan” which mean he taught speech.
Now now let's understand meaning of “Qaulon sadeed”.
The word ‘sadda’ in arabic, as far as material term is concerned, the first implication of it is to fill in a gap or a crack. For example there is a stone or concrete wall and there are some holes in it, and you have to fill them and patch them up. That patch is actually ‘sadda’ in arabic or ‘sadaad’ in arabic. Now what is that means for speech ? First implication of that is when sometimes somebody speaks to you, they cause damage just like a damage on a wall. Like somebody says something hurtful to you or said something ignorant about you without true knowledge.
Our first impulse in such cases is to put those people in place and just shut them down. But If we response ignorant by anger or upset reaction or aggression then the other guy will say something more offensive. And when we hear that we become more upset and the cracks gets bigger and bigger. But if we understand that we have to have the taqwa (consciousness ,awareness) of Allah SWT when engaged with conversation with someone who causes a crack then we have to learn the process of saying what am I going to say that covers this gap and that not makes crack worse.
Of all the muscles that we have in a body, the eyes and tongues are very easily used. Like We don't get tired using our eyes. We just open our eyes and it works. Similarly for the tongue. It can move very quickly. An ancient poet once said that he wish that his neck was one mile long. What a strange thing to wish for. Right? So when he was asked reason, he said because my gut tells me I should say something and when those thoughts travel from my gut trough my neck maybe I should have time to think whether to say that or put it back. Regretting that you said something is worse regretting that you didn't say something is better.
So ‘Qaulan sadeed’ first of all is should I say something or should I not say something? And what I say is it going to escalate and make thing worse instead of making things better? And with our experience we already know which kind of words or phrases or tone or gesture didn't go well. Say something which don't cause damage or may be undo the damage. This is very powerful and very difficult quality because we are programmed in a way that whatever comes in our head just comes out. Which is actually one of the meaning of ‘jahala’. ‘Aqal’ in arabic is to tie up and ‘jahal’ is to let loose. Don't just throw grenades with your words. Stop and think before saying something. And if we can't think of saying something then it is better to stay quite. That was the first implication. Now let see the second implication of this.
Second implication is when there is a crack already and you are trying to fill it up and fix it. That means when you meet someone who is broken, or hurt or angry or upset not because of you but because of some other reasons. You have to have the insight, a sensitivity to use the kind of word that will make them feel better not make them feel worse. Straight forward speech means speech that doesn't cause pain
“Sadd” also means a dam that prevents water from coming to other side. A dam or wall that cannot be penetrated. Massive mountains are also called “sudd” in the arabic language. And what that means in terms of speech is don’t say something you don’t have knowledge about. i.e Don't speak about matter you don’t know about.
Another implication of ‘sadd’ is fixing an arrow and making it perfectly straight and lean and clean. i.e to clean and straighten out the arrow. So the idea of straight speech means clear articulate speech. When something is straight then you can tell where it began and where it ends. You can tell how long it is. But if we think about knot or piece of rope jumbled together then we don't know where the beginning is and where the end is. So when Allah expects us to speak with “Qaulan sadeed” then we have to speak in very clear and purposeful way like this is where we began and this is where we ended. Don't go all over the place. When people hear you speak, they should know what point was it.
Final meaning is speech that has a purpose. When we speak we should have a purpose very clear in our mind. Sometimes only purpose we have in our speech is to annoy someone or bother someone or to make fun of someone and then to see how bad this gets i.e to start a fire. And maybe we don't have any thought of what we are going to speak. But when we have “Qaulon sadeed” then we are very clear about what good intentions do we have, before we open our mouth. i.e What good this will serve. We have to think ahead of our words. At another place in Quran Allah says, “ Tell my servants , they should say that which is better ”.
So if we are about to respond or say something then we should think about best choice that's going to produce good. This is the essence of good speech. When we do good deeds, there are benefits in this life and there are benefits in next life. And lots of times when we think of good deeds, we think of benefits in a next life. i.e Allah will reward in aakhirat. But this particular good deed “Qaulon sadeed”(straight forward speech) based on an awareness of Allah has benefits in this life and in sha Allah in hereafter also. Our life will become much more better if we implement this ayat in our life.
This explanation was based on one of the khutba of Nouman ali khan on ayat 70 of surah Al-Ahzab. Also please like my Facebook page "Explain Me Quran" at below link to get the update on new articles.
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