ÜÇÜNCÜ FEN · İKİNCİ BÂB · ÜÇÜNCÜ FASIL · Üçüncü Madde
**Third Point**
It explains the benefits of guarding your tongue, preserving your actions, maintaining your state and life, protecting yourself from calamities, and concealing your secrets.
Beloved! It is known that the friends of Allah have said: Silence is the most virtuous of sciences. It is the wisdom of Allah, the Living and Sustaining. When the tongue speaks, the heart falls silent. When the tongue is silent, the heart speaks with wisdom. Though silver be a word, gold is silence. Many have regretted speaking, while those who have been silent have been safe and secure. The silence of the tongue is abandoning words. The silence of the heart is abandoning objection and turning away from Truth. The silence of the heart brings about the station of wonder (hayrat). Wonder necessitates revelations and discoveries. An adept who does not speak becomes a sultan, and a lover perishes if he speaks.
Silence is the best trait of a believer, containing much health and well-being. Goodness lies within silence. With silence, the eye of the heart opens, reason increases, and tranquility is found. First, restrain your tongue, for its rebellion and excessiveness are more severe and greater than those of any other limb. Immediately, certainly first and foremost, restrain your tongue, for its evil and hostility are most harmful and widespread among all other limbs. Restraining the tongue is the most important and necessary thing. For in restraining the tongue lies protection for the limbs. As it has been narrated: "Every morning, a human being’s limbs say to him, ‘Be truthful for Allah's sake.’ Because if you are truthful, we will be truthful; if you are crooked, we will be crooked.’”
It is clearly evident that what the tongue speaks has an effect of goodness and evil on the human organs. As evidenced by the sacred hadith mentioned below: "O Adam! If you see bitterness in your heart, weakness in your body, and a decrease in your provision, know that you have spoken unnecessary words. You have fallen into these difficulties because of the influence of that speech.”
In guarding the tongue, there is protection of times. For much of what a person speaks is superfluous, which all wastes time.
Poem [as written in the printed manuscript] [299]
1-And when you are inclined to frivolity in the pool of speech,
Make its place remembrance and glorification.
2-And completeness of silence is better than speech,
Even if you are eloquent in speaking.
In guarding the tongue, there is protection of good deeds. For a talkative person certainly gossips, so his virtuous acts go to his enemies. As an adept has said: "If I were to gossip, I would gossip about my mother, so that my reward would go to her.” In guarding the tongue, there is protection of one’s state. For the tongue is the key to the treasures of gnosis. Therefore, excessive speech deprives the heart of the jewels of wisdom and causes it to be lost among those unworthy.
In guarding the tongue, there is protection from the calamities of the world. As it has been said: "Do not utter words that break the hearts of people. For the tongue spreads unrest.”
The tongue is like a lion in some people. Silence is safety and security from it.
In guarding the tongue, there is protection from the torments of the hereafter. As it is stated in the hadith: “It is only through their gossiping tongues that people are thrown face down into Hell.” Therefore, in restraining the tongue, there is safety and salvation in both worlds.
Silence is the capital of those devoted to gnosis. It is the strong fortress of the heart and soul.
As Lokman the Wise came before King David (a.s.), he saw that iron was like soft beeswax in his hand, making wondrous art with intertwined small rings. Lokman was greatly astonished by this, wanting to ask about why the rings were intertwined, but the wisdom in his heart forbade him from asking.
King David, the prophet and viceroy of Allah, finished the miracle in his hands and put it on, then said to Lokman: "This is armor. It is a strong protector in battle.” Lokman the Wise said: “And what do you say about my silence? I did not ask.” King David (a.s.) replied: “Silence is a wisdom that makes the one who practices it rare. For the heart and soul, silence is a strong fortress when there is no need for conversation."
The silent one is safe from all kinds of distress and will not weep later. To be disgraced by one’s tongue is the most severe ruin. If you conceal it, it is your bliss; if you reveal it, it is harm and sorrow for you. The secret is a captive, and you are its master. If you reveal it, you become its captive. There is speech among people, and there is speech within the throat. Every station has its speech. Every deed has its meaning.
Rubai
The secrets of the world are like what is written in our book,
Whoever wants to read them cannot. It is a burden on our head.
Since we cannot be safe from these ignorant people,
It is not right to speak everything that is in our minds every moment.
Rubaiyat
1-Whenever this speech is a secret within the heart,
Every tongue that utters it is blameworthy.
The ear is like a hearer and the tongue like a reporter,
That is, hearing is like speaking.
2-There is speech that has become legend among people,
There is speech that has become hidden in the mouth.
Hide the hidden speech, do not make it apparent,
So you will not remain weeping with regret.
3-Be a person of state, O tongue, do not be frivolous or talkative,
The person of speech is from the wine of love and his state.
Sweetness does not come without sweetness in character,
That tongue finds the ecstasy of state.
4-Do not indulge your belly with sweets at the table,
Protect your tongue as you see your friends, O soul.
Perform the five prayers with presence of heart, O dear one.
Here's a translation of the provided text, aiming for faithfulness and preservation of meaning within a classical Islamic/Sufi context:
Know that words exist which are secrets held within the heart; they are not to be uttered lightly. For the tongue is but one messenger, while the ears receive two. To speak freely of hidden matters leads only to regret and lamentation.
Be mindful, O soul! Refrain from idle gossip. Those whose actions fail to match their words have no share in the wine of divine love. Mere pronouncements do not create sweetness; true delight is found only in attaining a state of ecstatic union (*vecd*).
Do not overfill your belly at the table. Guard your tongue, for it is through that you find friendship. Observe the five daily prayers with tranquility of heart, O friend. Attend to your path and do not waste time observing those around you.
I have strived to maintain a tone consistent with classical Sufi literature, using vocabulary and phrasing appropriate to the genre.