Useless Talk

every person thinks only of himself. Everyone is most concerned that his income be good and his house well built. But when it comes to religion and the Hereafter, people prefer to debate issues that have nothing to do with their own lives. A senior scholar who spent thirty years issuing religious opinions ( fatwa) at a major institution once said that during all those years, most of the questions brought to them were about others, and very few were about the questioner himself. People would ask: How much share do I have in so-and-so’s property? Is it permissible to pray behind such-and-such a person? Many such questions came to them. But almost no one asked about his own religious responsibilities— how he should fulfill the rights of those under his care, how he should behave with his neighbours, how he should deal with people during times of disagreement or complaint, whether it was right for him to trouble someone he was harassing, whether he should withhold money that belonged to someone else, or whether it was right for him to insult a person he was humiliating. A person remains occupied with others, whereas he should be occupied with himself. He lives in external issues, whereas he should be concerned with his inner issues. He judges the faith of others, whereas