THE TONGUE

(and the words it spews)

This is unlike my other write-ups, because the crux of its discussion is unique from others, and in fact I have hardly come across a write up that specifies on this topic (THE TONGUE).

Little attention has been paid to this topic because it doesn’t appear to be worth discussing, or perhaps it doesn’t have any influence in our daily affairs (according to our own subjective thinking).

Whether it’s worth discussing or not, let’s sit back and learn a few things here…..

The tongue as has been described by Oxford dictionary is the soft part in the mouth that moves around, used for tasting, swallowing, speaking, etc……

One pathetic fact about our view in lieu of the functions of the tongue, even in the academic sector is that more attention has been placed on the tasting and swallowing function, and therefore shun its speaking function or place less preference on it.

How many seminars or religious lectures have you attended, and the crux of their discussion is the speaking function of the tongue? Little or none obviously…This is because we don’t really care about the words it spews.

Everyone has been granted the gift of the tongue and at least 90% (my own estimation) of us can utilize its speaking function efficiently.

But it’s so unfortunate that among the rank of those who utilizes this function, there are some who speak irrationally without contemplating on the influence those words their tongue spews have on those who hear them.

When they speak, they fail to realize the emotional wrought they have caused to someone else. Sometimes, they do this intentionally to hurt someone, and sometimes it’s done unintentionally – but even at that, someone has been hurt with those words already.

Whether intentionally done or not, the words have already been spewed and it can’t be taken back.

A good lesson can be learnt to this effect in the case of a young boy who attends a public primary school. On his way back from school one day, he overheard two women speaking, without them realizing the young boy could hear their conversation. They said to one another; “most kids that fail to attend a private school these days, in pursuit of their academic career usually end up unsuccessful.

These words were directly related to the situation the young boy was in, he lost his happiness and he despaired of his future success because he has never attended a private school. Those harsh words had a devastating effect on the timid emotions of the young boy.

It also reminds me of an emotional scene that occurred in a lecture room one day. The lecturer asked his student the reason for being absent in his previous class. The student responded that he had gone to stay with his Mum who had been hospitalized. The lecturer became really furious with the student for having sacrificed his class for something that was not related to academics.

He said to the student, so you actually want to sacrifice your future because of your Mum, if your Mum dies, she dies…These were the concluding utterances of the lecturer.

This horrendous usage of words by the Lecturer made the student burst into tears in the midst of his colleagues. His happiness was severely tampered with, not just his alone, but the happiness of his colleagues as well who sympathized with him. The lecture room throughout that day was moody just on account of the words spewed by the tongue of the lecturer.

Although, the lecturer returned to the class the following week to tender his apology – but the words have already been spewed and the damage has been caused already. Even though the apology was accepted, the student will never forget how those harsh words sounded.

There are so many cases where people have lost their happiness on account of the words spewed at them from various tongues, and yet little efforts are directed at eradicating this negative phenomenon.

You would also find the tongues of a great percentage of youth of this age, soaked with lewd speeches.

They allow their tongues to spew these dirty words freely without any sense of shame, and sometimes, you would even find them directing those awkward words at someone old enough to be their parent. They say all these dirty words, and they don’t feel bogged by it because, of course that is what it means to be exposed. #how pathetic#

Hey there! Listen up…It may be true that in our current age, there is a claim of freedom of speech, and for that reason, we allow our tongues to spew whatever we feel like.

You should not allow your freedom of speech make you destroy somebody else’s emotions. If only you knew what kind of horror you have caused in someone’s life with your indiscriminate usage of words.

I mean, how can you say to someone’s face that “YOU HATE HIM” simply because he didn’t return your PEN on time? Hey! HATE is too strong a word to say to a fellow being.

Or saying to your kid that he is a BASTARD just on account of him disobeying you. I mean, he’s just a kid who is just enjoying his teen life. These are all indiscriminate usage of words, and we need to take cognizance of that.

It is no wonder why we have been commanded in the Holy Quran as follows;

“O you who believe! Fear Allah and speak that which is upright”.

This is an admonition from our Lord calling us to order in reference to the words we allow our tongues to spew.

Our silly habit of just jawing off all the time without necessarily giving it a second thought could make us suffer in isolation and sometimes earn the wrath of Allah upon ourselves. Yes! You read right…Our indiscriminate use of words could make us lose the pleasure of our Lord.

This has been proven by an incident that occurred during the time of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), when a companion sought his advice on how he can rescue himself from the torment of Hell, and in response, the Prophet (SAW) held his tongue – indicating to him to be careful with the words he spews with it.

The same thing applies to every one of us – we need to scrutinize our thoughts before uttering them, because the moment they are spewed, they spread like whirlwind and nothing can be said or done to rectify it again.

It is said, that out of the thoughts of the mind, the tongue speaks – so you see, you can’t even claim to have said it unconsciously because it came directly from your mind. If there is no need for you to meddle in a conversation, it is best you keep mute for your words vividly illustrate your personality.

So, as I have mentioned in the third paragraph of this write-up whether this topic is worth discussing or not, I think by now we all have the perfect response to that.

SANNI WAHAB OLANREWAJU