الكَلامُ

SPEAKING

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2– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Many a word is more effective than an assault.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Saying 394]

3– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘The attraction of a woman is in her face and the attraction of a man is in his speech.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 71, p. 293, no. 63]

4– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Many a word is more effective than an arrow.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 5322]

5– Tuhaf al-`Auqul: He
[ Ali] (AS) was asked, ‘What is the best thing that Allah has created?’ He (AS) said, ‘Speech.’ He was then asked, ‘What is the worst thing that Allah has created?’ He said, ‘Speech.’ Then he said, ‘With speech faces are whitened
[illuminated] and with speech faces are blackened.’
[Tuhaf al-`Uqoul, p. 216]

6– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Beware of using offensive speech, for it confines you to vile people and dispels honourable people from you.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 2722]

7– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Beware of offensive speech, for it harbours hatred in the heart.’

8– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘He whose speech is bad is blamed more.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 8496]

9– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘The habit of the vile is vulgar speech.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 5551]

10– The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘An intelligent man lessens his speech in things that do not concern him.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 2, p. 55, no. 28]

11– The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘The people with the most sins are those who speak the most about things that do not concern them.’
[al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib, v. 3, p. 540, no. 51]

12– The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘A person comes so close to Heaven until there remains only a spear’s throw between it and him, and then he says something, thereby distancing him farther away than Sinai.’
[al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib, v. 3, p. 537, no. 46]

13– Imam Ali (AS), walking past a person speaking meddlesomely, said, ‘You dictate to your two angels the book inscribed for your Lord, so speak about issues that concern you and leave whatever does not concern you.’
[Amali al-Saduq, p. 37, no. 4]

14– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘It surprises me that someone should speak about things that neither benefit him in this world, nor will any reward be written for him in the Hereafter.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 6283]

15– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Beware of prattle, for he who speaks a lot will have a lot of sins.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 2637]

16– Imam Husayn (AS) said to Ibn `Aabbas, ‘Do not speak about things that do not concern you, for I fear for you the burden
[of sin], and do not speak about things that concern you until you find speaking to be appropriate.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 78, p. 127, no. 10]

17– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘The knowledgeable one does not speak meddlesomely.’
[Mustadrak al-Wasa`il, v. 9, p. 33, no. 10127]

18– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Beware of meddlesome speech, for it exposes your faults that were hidden and provokes your enemies who were silent.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 2720]

19– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Blessed be he who…donates the excess from his money, and retains the excess in his speech.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Saying 123]

20– Prophet Khizr (AS), in his advice to Prophet Moses (AS) said, ‘Do not be talkative and a prattler in speaking, for excessive speech disgraces the knowledgeable and shows up the faults of the foolish.’
[Kanz al-`Ummal, no. 44176]

21– The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘Do not speak a lot without the remembrance of Allah, for excessive speech without the remembrance of Allah hardens the heart. The farthest of people away from Allah are the hard-hearted.’
[Amali al-Tusi, p. 3, no. 1]

22– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Beware of speaking too much, for it increases mistakes and engenders boredom.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 2680]

23– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘When the intellect is completed speaking decreases.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 71, p. 290, no. 62]

24– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Your speech is in your shackle
[power] as long as you do not speak, and when you speak you become shackled by it. So, guard your tongue like you guard your gold and papers, for many a word snatches away a blessing and brings down vengeance.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Saying 381]

25– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘If you speak a word it possesses you and if you withhold it you possess it.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 4084]

26– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘He who knows that his words form part of his actions, his words lessen except in that which concerns him.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Saying 349]

27– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Do not say what you do not know, or rather, do not say everything you know, for Allah prescribed obligations upon your body parts which He will use as proof against you on the Day of Resurrection .’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Saying 382]

28– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Speech is like medicine; a little bit of it benefits, and a lot of it kills.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 2182]

29– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘
[Balanced] Speech is between two attributes of badness, which are: excessive and too little
[speech]; too much is prattle and too little is stammering and hesitation.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 1854]

30– Imam al-Baqir (AS) said, ‘I hate for the size of a person’s tongue to exceed his knowledge, just as I hate the extent of a person’s knowledge to exceed the extent of his intellect.’
[Sharh Nahj al-Balagha li Ibn Abi al-Hadid, v. 7, p. 92]

31– Imam al-Hadi (AS) said, ‘The ignorant person is the prisoner of his own tongue.’
[al-Durra al-Bahira, p. 41]

32– Imam Zayn al-Abidin (AS), when asked about which of speaking or silence was better, said, ‘For each of these two there are harms, and when they are both safe from harm, speaking is better than keeping quiet.’ They asked him, ‘How is this so, O son of the Prophet (SAWA)?’ He said, ‘Because Allah Almighty did not send prophets and successors to remain quiet, rather He sent them with speech, nor is Heaven earned by silence, nor is quietness obligated for the vicegerency of Allah, and nor is protection from Hell sought through silence. This is all possible through speech.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 71, p. 274, no. 1]

33– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘Speech is comfort for the soul, and silence is comfort for the intellect.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 71, p. 276, no. 6]

34– Luqman (AS) said to his son, ‘O son, if you thought that speech is silver, then silence is golden.’
[al-Kafi, v. 2, p. 114, no. 6]

35– The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘A scholar should not be silent in spite of having knowledge, and an ignorant man should remain silent for his ignorance, as Allah Almighty has said "Ask the People of the Reminder if you do not know."
[Qur’an 16:43]
[Kanz al-`Ummal, no. 29264]

36– The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘Silence is better than dictating evil, and dictating good is better than silence.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 71, p. 294, no. 64]

37– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘There is no good in silence over a verdict, as there is also no good in speaking with ignorance.’
[Sharh Nahj al-Balagha li Ibn Abi al-Hadid, v. 19, p. 9]

38- Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Any silence that is devoid of thought is inattentiveness.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 71, p. 275, no. 2]

39– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Silence that earns you dignity is better than speaking that covers you with shame.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 5867]

40– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘A believing servant will continue to be written as righteous as long as he is quiet, and when he speaks he is written as either righteous or a wrongdoer.’
[al-Kafi, v. 2, p. 116, no. 21]

41– The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘The best of speech is the speech of Allah.’
[Sunan al-Nasai, v. 3, p. 58]

42– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘The best of speech is that which is not thrown out by the ears, nor is its understanding tiring for people.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 3371]

43– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘The best of speech is that which is adorned by a good structure, and is understood by both the elite and the laymen.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 3304]

44– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘The best of speech is that which neither bores
[due to its length] and nor is it too brief.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 4979]

45– The Prophet (SAWA), when a man asked him about the best of actions, said, ‘The feeding of food and speaking well.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 71, p. 312, no. 12]

46– Imam Zayn al-Abidin (AS) said, ‘Beautiful speech makes wealth thrive, increases sustenance, delays death, brings love in the family, and makes one enter Heaven.’
[Amali al-Saduq, p. 12, no. 1]

47– Imam al-Baqir (AS), with regard to Allah’s verse: "And speak kindly to people" said, ‘Say to people the best of what you like to be said to you.’
[al-Kafi, v. 2, p. 165, no. 10]

48– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘O followers (shi`aa) of ours, be an adornment for us and do not be a disgrace to us. Speak well to people, protect your tongues, and prevent it from futile and vulgar speech.’
[Amali al-Saduq, p. 327, no. 17]