Character & conductFrom the masjid's own video, Sep 5, 2026.
Guard your tongue to protect good deeds
“What you write is the same thing as you speak.”
In one sentence
The khutbah argues that controlling one's speech, in person and online, is what preserves the value of worship and protects people from harming others and losing their good deeds in the Hereafter.
The khutbah in 6 steps
- Introduces Mu'adh ibn Jabal's question about entering Paradise and avoiding Hellfire.
- Presents Islam's pillars, voluntary fasting, charity, night prayer, and the central role of salah.
- Identifies restraining the tongue as what gives all other deeds value.
- Warns that gossip, insults, slander, mockery, and facial expressions can destroy good deeds.
- Uses prophetic examples to show that seemingly small remarks can carry serious spiritual consequences.
- Extends the warning to online speech, distinguishes backbiting from slander, and closes with supplication for guarded speech.
Try this week
Guard the tongue by considering what is said, to whom, when, and how.
Avoid gossip, insults, mockery, facial ridicule, backbiting, and slander in person and online.
Help Muslims who are struggling instead of shaming or publicly discussing their sins.
Pause before posting in group chats, comments, direct messages, or from private accounts.
Keep private conduct aligned with public conduct and ask Allah for help restraining speech.
Maintain the obligatory prayers and pursue voluntary fasting, charity, and night prayer.
Sources the khateeb cited
Surah 1Provides the opening praise, testimony, and declaration of reliance upon Allah.
Quran 4:1Connects mindfulness of Allah with recognizing family and kinship rights.
Quran 33:70-71Supports truthful, direct speech and promises forgiveness and rectified affairs.
Quran 32:16-17Supports night prayer by praising those who leave their beds to worship Allah.
Quran 18:32-44Illustrates how boastful speech about the future and the Hereafter can accompany sudden loss.
Quran 104:1Warns against mocking and insulting people through speech or conduct.
Quran 49:12Frames backbiting as eating the flesh of one's dead Muslim brother.
Quotes
In the khateeb's words
“What holds it all together, what gives it any value is controlling and restraining your tongue.”
“What you said, when you said it, where were you, who were you talking to, joking, not joking, it was banter, whatever. It doesn't matter, it will be written down.”
“What you write is the same thing as you speak. No difference.”
“If it's true what you're saying, that's ghibah. That's backbiting.”
Talk about it at home
For the dinner table
The khutbah teaches that worship is not only about praying, fasting, or giving; our words matter just as much. Gossip, insults, jokes, facial expressions, and online comments can hurt people and cost us our good deeds. Even if a criticism is true, speaking about someone in a way they dislike can be backbiting; if it is false, it is slander. We should help people who are struggling instead of shaming them, pause before we speak or post, and ask Allah to help us guard our tongues.
- When is it hardest to stop yourself from saying something about another person?
- How can we help someone who has made a serious mistake without embarrassing them?
- What could you do before posting a comment that might hurt someone?
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