“…but yet he finds it difficult to guard his tongue!”

Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah said:

“What is surprising is that a person finds it easy keeping away from things like consuming haraam, oppression, adultery, theft, drinking alcohol and looking at the impermissible, but yet he finds it difficult to guard his tongue!

It is such that you will see a man who is viewed to be knowledgeable and is an ascetic worshipper but he speaks words that bring the Wrath of Allaah, without giving them a second thought.

How often do you see a man who steers clear of evil sins and oppression but you see his tongue sever the honour of everyone – dead or alive – and he does not even care about what he says!”

{The Way Out of Tribulations, by Sheikh Muhammad Isma’il al-Muqaddam (pg. 26)}