and their love, or any other benefit. All of this is summed up by the Prophet’s statement: “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him speak good or remain silent.”
The opposite of sound speech is unsound speech—words that are incorrect, indeed erroneous, either in their subject matter or in their setting.
- Wrong in subject: speech that is obscene, containing insult, abuse, backbiting, talebearing, and the like.
- Wrong in setting: the words themselves may be good, yet saying them in that particular place is not good, for “every situation has its proper speech.” If what you wish to say is not evil in itself but will produce evil when uttered there, then do not say it, for in that context it is not sound speech but error, even though the statement is not intrinsically unlawful.
For example, suppose someone sees another person committing a wrong and sets out to forbid it, but he does so at an inappropriate moment, or speaks to him harshly. Such speech would be deemed unsound.
When a person fears his Lord and speaks sound words, he gains two benefits: “He will put your deeds right and forgive you your sins” (al-Ahzab 33:71). Through taqwa one’s faith is set aright and one’s sins are forgiven, and through sound speech one’s deeds are rectified and one’s sins forgiven.
The verse also teaches that whoever does not fear Allah and does not speak sound words is likely to find that Allah will neither reform his deeds nor forgive his sin. Thus the verse urges piety and clarifies its benefits.
Allah, Exalted be He, also says—the fourth verse in this series—“And whoever fears Allah, He will make for him a way out…”