Don’t Repeat Everything You Hear - ash-Shaykh al-'Allãmah Sulaymãn ar-Ruhaylī

[Shehzad Sattar]

Don’t Repeat Everything You Hear
ash-Shaykh al-'Allãmah Sulaymãn ar-Ruhaylī

This is a translation of an excerpt from a lecture giving by ash-Shaykh al-'Allãmah Sulaymãn ar-Ruhaylī may Allah preserve him.

ash-Shaykh al-'Allãmah Sulaymãn ar-Ruhaylī mentions,

“Don’t repeat everything you hear. Don’t repeat everything you hear. The veneration of Allah in your heart should be greater than the desire of oneself. O brothers, it’s imperative that we look into our speech before we speak. Is this speech the truth and did we actually hear it? Because the youth today have become in reality from the greatest deceivers. [A person will say], “so and so said”, however if you ascertain to verify this, you’ll find that between him and the person are ten people. It’s important that the person actually heard this speech or he heard via credible means. Then we must make sure that he understands the speech correctly because in these times, I say that there is almost no one who transmits word for word (precisely). Instead a person will hear speech, interpret it and then he will transmit. He will say, “Wallahi Sulaiman Ar-Ruhayli says such and such, in accordance to his understanding of the content of the speech however he doesn’t transmit the [exact] wording.

The third point is that you must fear Allah and contemplate on the effect this speech may have. Is the effect of this speech good? Or is it evil? Does it aid the religion or its people? Is it considered to be spreading goodness? Or will this speech bring about evil? This plague is present and it is a lack of verifying information, a lack of correct understanding, and a lack of fearing Allah concerning the consequences of these statements, which has been the cause of much evil. How many people whom used to love one another have separated due to the person either not verifying the information or either because he didn’t contemplate where this speech will lead to?! It is critical that we pay attention to this. Allah writes everything we say against us. Everything that we say is written against us so it is incumbent that we place between our ranks - in accordance to our ability- goodness that yields goodness. Also, looking into the outcome of speech is important. Few are those who have done this well. Few are those who have done this well. You may find he who verifies, he who understands (correctly) however seldom you will find he who looks into the outcome and results of speech. What will occur as a result?

My advice O brothers, is that we should refrain from this. We should reflect and contemplate over the fruits that speech bears. By Allah I know some of our brothers in al Madinah who were friends for twenty years upon the Sunnah, then a person will come and transmit speech from one friend to the next and as a result, the hearts separate. It’s appropriate that we look into and consider this.”

Translated by Ismaeel Beaumont
Al Madinah an-Nabawwiyyah
The Prophet’s City (ﷺ)
05th Rajab, 1436
Friday 24th April 2015