Our merciful religion has taught us that the good word is the good character of a Muslim, and it is his charity in the land, by which he attains the pleasure of the Lord of Glory, where the good word emanates from the mouth of the true Muslim to illuminate the world with its light and its good fragrance, and it is the title of the speaker and the evidence to his piety. Our noble Messenger, peace be upon him, has urged us to adhere to his morals, so we have never heard about him that he spoke badly to someone or behind his back. He was always, peace be upon him, good of tongue where good words emanate from between his lips like the perfume emanating from a flowering garden.
In our religion there are a number of prophetic hadiths and Quranic verses that urge us as Muslims to speak good words. From Abu Huraira, may God be pleased with him, from the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, he said that the good word is charity, and this is a hadith agreed upon.
As the Lord of Glory said in His Noble Book; (So by mercy from God you were gentle with them, and if you had been rude and harsh-hearted, they would have dispersed from around you) (Surah Al Imran; Verse 159).
Thus our religion guides us from the Book of God and the Sunnah of His Messenger that the bad word is evidence of distancing from religion and deficiency in the faith of the Muslim person. Abdullah bin Amr, may God be pleased with them both, reported from the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, that the Muslim is one from whom Muslims are safe from his tongue and hand, and the emigrant is one who abandons what God has forbidden. In this hadith is an explicit command and clarification of what the true Muslim must do towards those around him.
If the Muslim avoids harming others with his tongue with any bad word, we will not hear with our ears what harms us, and everyone will desire and love to deal with us. Perhaps this is what Abdullah, the hero of our story, did, so everyone loved him.
There was a small family consisting of a mother and her two children Abdullah and Talal. Abdullah was always distinguished by good character and the good word that emanated from between his lips, so everyone loved to deal with him and walk in his company. While Talal was troublesome, and friends heard nothing from him but bad words, so no one loved him or wanted to deal with him.
One day, the mother of Abdullah and Talal was forced to leave the house to attend to some needs of their relatives in another city other than their city. Here the mother requested from her two children to take care of themselves, so Abdullah smiled in her face with his usual cheerfulness and told her not to worry about them. She requested from them to take care of the barn and the animals in it, so the two children answered that taking care of the house and the barn is their duty until her safe return. The mother relied on the Lord of Glory, and bid farewell to her two children and departed, wishing the two children to take charge of their affairs, and she intended to be absent from them for a few days for a purpose in her mind and a wisdom she wished to achieve.
Abdullah agreed with his brother Talal to fulfill their promise to their mother, so they agreed that Abdullah would feed the cow, water her, and milk her, while Talal would undertake the task of going down to the market to sell the milk and bring household necessities of food, on the condition that they exchange tasks every day until their mother returned.
Abdullah would go down to the market to sell the milk, so he would return immediately carrying money and food for the house, as a result of his good character, his permanent cheerfulness, and his simplicity with everyone, so people loved to buy their needs from him.
While Talal would go down to the market and stay there for hours until the sun burned his head, then he would return as he went with the milk and no one would buy from him, due to his bad character, his harshness towards people, and not being simple with them, which made people avoid him and dealing with him.
Talal was extremely sad, and went crying to his brother Abdullah, wondering why people did not love him like his brother. Abdullah patted his brother Talal on the shoulders and smiled in his face, and said to him that our merciful religion has commanded us to smile in each other’s faces, for our smile is a charity for which we are rewarded with great reward. Our noble Messenger, peace be upon him, has said; your smile in your brother’s face is charity, and for this reason people love to deal with those who smile in their faces and make them feel that life is beautiful.
From that day, the mother returned to find Talal having changed himself, and he began to smile in everyone’s face and speak to them with good words, so people loved to deal with him like his brother Abdullah. The mother rejoiced with her great wisdom when she left her two children to manage their affairs for a period of time, until they learned how to deal with people as Muslims enjoying good character.