2.36. SPEECH (continued)

God says


Are you not aware how God sets forth the parable of a good word?* [It is] like a good tree, firmly rooted, [reaching out] with its branches towards the sky, yielding its fruit at all times by its Sustainer’s permission.
And [thus it is that] God propounds parables unto men, so that they might bethink themselves [of the truth] --Q.14:24,25
*In its wider meaning the term kalimah (“word”) denotes any conceptual statement or proposition. Thus a “good word” circumscribe any proposition (or idea) that is intrinsically true and – because it implies a call that is good in the moral sense – is ultimately beneficent and enduring; and since a call to moral righteousness is the innermost purport of every one of God’s messages, the term “good word” applies to them as well. Similarly the “corrupt word” mentioned in verse 26 applies to the opposite to what a divine message aims at: namely, to every idea that is intrinsically false or moral evil and, therefore, spiritually harmful.

And the parable of a corrupt word is that of a corrupt tree, torn up [from its roots] on to the face of the earth wholly unable to endure.* [Thus,] God grants firmness unto those who have attained to faith through the word that is unshakably true** in the life of this world as well as in the life to come;… Q.14:26,27
*Lit., “having no permanency (qarar) whatever”: i.e., the “corrupt word” (see note for the previous verse 25) is ephemeral in its effect, however strong its original impact on minds of people who fall prey to it.
** Lit., “firm” (sabit). The term qawl – similar to the term kalimah (see note on 24,25) – denote, beyond its primary meaning of “saying” or “utterance”, also anything that can be defined as statement of belief or opinion, namely, “concept”, “tenet”, “assertion of faith”, and so on. In this context it expresses the concept that there is no deity save God, and Muhammad is His Apostle: which is an interpretation of the above phrase given by the Prophet himself, as quoted by Bukhari in a Tradition on the authority of Al-Bara’ ibn ‘Azib (kitab at-Tafsir), and by other Traditionists, including Muslim on the authority of Shu’bah.

The adjective sabit connotes “firmness” – that is the unshakable truth – of the “word” or ““concept” which it qualifies, thus connecting it with the preceding of the “good word” and the “good tree”.


Prophet said

5. “A man who talks out of vain pleasure, to make people laugh, falls deep… for he slips more by his tongue than by his feet.”-- H: Bukhari. N: Abu Hurairah.

6. “When a Muslim calls another Muslim an infidel, one of the two becomes deserving of it”-- H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Ibn Omar.