nawawiDay.arabicText

nawawiDay.englishTranslation

— Mu‘ādh (RA) (Tirmidhi (ṣaḥīḥ))

nawawiDay.commentary

Salvation is structured: the basics → the peak → the controller (the tongue).

nawawiDay.extendedExplanation

Mu‘ādh asks one of the great questions: what is the act that secures Jannah and distances Hell? The Prophet ﷺ structures the answer: floor (the five pillars) → peak (Islam → ṣalāh → jihād) → controller (the tongue).

Ibn Rajab notes the genius: jihād is the ‘peak of the hump’ (dharwat sanāmihi) — meaning the highest, but not the foundation. Many invert this — they leave the foundation, skip the pillar, and rush to the peak. The Prophet ﷺ then closes with the most surprising lesson: the controller of all of it is the tongue. A man can pray, fast, fight — and lose it all by what his mouth produces.

nawawiDay.fromScholars

"The tongue is the most disobedient organ — most sins of the limbs require effort, but the tongue moves freely. Restraining it is the heaviest jihād."

— Ibn Rajab · Jāmi‘ al-‘Ulūm wa al-Ḥikam

"Jihād is at the peak — but the peak is reached by climbing the foundations. Skipping levels destroys the climber."

— Ibn ‘Uthaymīn

nawawiDay.fiqhRulings

  • •Jihād here is broad — it includes jihād of the self, of Shayṭān, by tongue and pen, and (under conditions) by sword.
  • •Armed jihād has strict conditions: legitimate Muslim authority, just cause, observance of war ethics — not vigilante action.
  • •Restraining the tongue from gossip, slander, lying, and false witness is part of the tongue-jihād most relevant daily.

nawawiDay.quranCrossRefs

33:70-71‘…speak words of appropriate justice. He will amend your deeds and forgive your sins.’
50:18Every word is recorded by an angelic watcher.

nawawiDay.keyVocab

رَأْسُ الأَمْرِra’s al-amr

the head of the matter

عَمُودُهُ‘amūduhu

its pillar

ذِرْوَةُ سَنَامِهِdhirwat sanāmihi

the peak of its hump

كُفَّ عَلَيْكَ هَذَاkuff ‘alayka hādhā

restrain this (the tongue)

nawawiDay.todaysReflection

What did your tongue cause yesterday? Restrain it today.

nawawiDay.keyBenefits

  • 1Most regret comes from speech.
  • 2Religion is structured — head, pillar, peak.

nawawiDay.warnings

  • ⚠Some misuse ‘jihād is the peak’ to justify vigilante violence — the hadith explicitly orders the foundation first, and armed jihād requires legitimate authority and conditions.
  • ⚠Restraining the tongue is not silence in the face of injustice — it is restraint from ḥarām speech.

nawawiDay.relatedHadiths

Tirmidhi — ‘Most of what casts people into the Fire are the harvests of their tongues’

Nawawi 15 — Speak good or be silent

nawawiDay.memorisation