What is the philosophy behind the importance of Silence in Islam?
Silence and talking a little has been praised in Islam, of course it does not mean that always being silent is good, for example silence and being indifferent in the time of watching cruelty that is done to the oppressed, or in the time of listening to backbiting is not good, or if our words are good and religious it is better to talk, but we mean that in general it is better not to talk so much.
Imam Ali peace be upon him said:
“The one who talks so much, his/her faults are many, and the one who has many faults, his/her Haya and modesty is few and the one whose Haya and modesty is few, his/her Taqwa and God-fearing is few and the one whose Taqwa is few, his/her heart is dead and the one whose heart is dead, he/she will enter the fire (of Hell).”
The tongue is the easiest and most available thing that almost all people despite of their differences in culture, wealth, etc. have; and its speed of action is more than anything else. So we must be so careful about our tongue, we can liken it to an explosive substance, that in every time it is possible to be exploded.
A lot of sins are committed by tongue, like backbiting, vilification, telling lie, accusing others etc. and on the other hand, a lot of righteous deeds can be done by it, like reciting the holy Quran, performing prayer and the supplications, joining good and forbidding evil, etc.
Sadi, one of the Iranian poets, composed an interesting poem, he said:
There are two things that are the signs of having slight intellect, first is silence at the time in which must talk, and second is talking at the time that must be silent.
But as we said at the beginning, in general and in the cases that talking is not good, it is better to be silent.
Silence is a kind of insurance and guarantee for being safe from committing mistakes and sins.
The wise Loghman said to his son: “O’ my son, it happened to me many times that I got regretful because of talking, but it never happened that I got regretful from being silent.”
It is obvious that usually those who are mostly silent, have more meaningful words than those who are so much talkative.
There is a Narration that says:
If you see someone who talks very few, get near to him/her because he/she sometimes has wise words.
There is a direct connection between the silence and pondering, the one who talks very few, usually is among those who ponder so much, and we mentioned in an independent essay about the benefits and consequences of pondering, so through silence we can obtain the benefits of pondering too.
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Sources:
Rasekhoon.net
Roshd.mihanblog.com
