How can we be “care free”?

Even if someone does not know about the teachings of Allah and His Messenger (s.a.w) the evils of talking too much are obvious… it’s plain common sense to talk sensibly and not to be a chatterbox. Yet the knowledge of Quran and Hadith takes us to a level of understanding that exceeds the common sense… it makes you aware of things which you would normally not take into account. For example in one Hadith our Prophet(s.a.w) warned us that:

A person utters a word which he doesn’t consider much (takes lightly) but it displeases Allah so much that due to that he will be thrown in the deepest pit of the hell fire…

I was so scared when the first time I heard it and so amazed that for a long time I just couldn’t understand how could a person’s fate be decided for the use of just one word?

But then later in life I contemplated on the consequences of words we say and words we listen to or words we read… and it became more and more apparent to me how powerful is this medium of communication and how much potential we have in the making and breaking of things just by the use or misuse of words.

A marriage which takes a lifetime of nurturing and care to grow and develop can be dissolved just by uttering one word…

A person’s honour and prestige which he builds all his life can be ruined just by the words of slander…

A great man full of anger and determination to kill the Prophet (s.a.w) became one of his greatest supporter and the leader of the faithful just by the soft words recited by his sister… yes I am referring to Umar bin Khattab (r.a.)

A disbeliever can suddenly be transformed into a faithful of Allah just by the utterance of the words of shahadah.

There are countless other examples but one incident that has remained with me all these years is not so spectacular in its nature yet its effect was unforgettable so I might as well share it!!

About ten years ago we moved from a small town to the heavily populated city of Rawalpindi. Once we went to the market and we were trying to find some suitable jackets for the upcoming winters but hadn’t been successful so far. It was night time and the streets were literally jam-packed with traffic due to the weekend rush… I had left the children at home so was worried that we were getting late… in that confusion and tension, I just remarked to my husband that on a particular street there used to be a shop where we might find the thing we were looking for… he said where was that and I replied “if we turn left”… the driver took it as an instruction and turned left instantly… making us drown into a sea of traffic block… we couldn’t get out of it for the next couple of hours!

All the time I kept thinking that only one word from my mouth had landed us into this trouble… and of course in was unintentional… and harmless… yet it had a consequence.

So then I understood this Hadith that if our words can have such lasting impact in this life then obviously they will affect our destiny in the next world too… one pure Kalimah can make us inheritors of the paradise and one bad word can take us to hell…

The choice is ours!