Al-Ghazali: The Book on the Banes of the Tongue for Young People and Their Parents (Book 24 from the Ihyaʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn)
The Mystery of the Mount & the Golden Cave
The 8th volume in the Ghazali Children’s Series!
A Word from the Publisher:
Very dear Ghazālī Family – young adults and their parents:
Now that we have completed the first seven books of Imam al-Ghazālī’s Revival of the Religious Sciences, which include the pillars of our faith, we turn to other key teachings which can help raise our awareness and practice of the sunna.
The work you are about to read will be one of the most wonderful texts you will ever encounter for your life’s journey. We are all talking most of the day, even speaking in our heads to ourselves continuously. The ways we use speech can easily harm others and then, at the same time, destroy our own inner core while compromising our dignity. We are, for the most part however, completely unaware of the hurt we are causing.
Here you are provided with one of the most useful tools you will ever have to help you be conscious of what you are saying and re-align yourselves with your highest nature. You will thereby be better able to act and speak directly from the Heart.
If someone advises you not to lie or argue, why doesn’t that prevent you from doing so? It’s because you do not understand all the components and subtle dimensions of lying or arguing.
The brilliant way that Imam al-Ghazālī explains the “banes” – or scourges – of the tongue will not only astound you but will elevate the entire relationship you have with your Self. A greater awareness of the dangers of speech will arise.
Table of Contents
A Word from the Publisher 5
Introduction by Hamza Yusuf Hanson 7
The Mysterious Mountain and the Golden Cave 15
The Thousand-Year-Old Letter 21
The First Bane: Speaking About What Does
Not Concern You 33
The Second Bane: Superfluous Talk 39
The Third Bane: Becoming Engrossed in Vain Talk 43
The Fourth Bane: Arguing 45
The Fifth Bane: Legal Disputation 50
The Sixth Bane: Grandiloquence 53
The Seventh Bane: Obscenity, Insult, and Vulgarity 55
The Eighth Bane: Cursing 59
The Ninth Bane: Singing and Poetry 61
The Tenth Bane: Joking 63
The Eleventh Bane: Ridicule and Mockery 67
The Twelfth Bane: Divulging Secrets 71
The Thirteenth Bane: Making False Promises 75
The Fourteenth Bane: Lying in Speech or Oath 79
The Fifteenth Bane: Backbiting 87
The Sixteenth Bane: Scandalmongering: Spreading What is Untrue 99
The Seventeenth Bane: Speaking with Two Tongues 103
The Eighteenth Bane: Praise 107
The Nineteenth and Twentieth Banes: Carelessness Concerning Errors in Speech and Questions from the Unlearned about the Attributes, Speech, and Words of God s.w.t. and Whether His Words Are Eternal or Created 109
Images of the Community Spending the Last Ten Days of Ramadan in Silence 112
Recommendations for Effective Activities Which Support a Change of Habit 126
Questions for Reflection, Activities, and Topics for Discussion 127
