OBSERVING SILENCE

31. Observing Silence ~ 96 ~ Another instance is the hadith, which says that asking the assembly to keep quiet while the Imam is giving a sermon is an absurd act. (That would amount to making noise.) Observing silence at individual meetings too is a good principle to follow, but when the matter pertains to the whole community it assumes an even greater importance. At a delicate moment the observance of silence by a leader can check a riot from taking place. While an ill-timed speech by a leader can lead to a full scale riot, leaving in its wake the loss of hundreds of innocent lives and property worth crores of rupees burnt to ashes. It is in this sense that sister Consolata has observed: “The greatest number of failings in a community comes from breaking the rule of silence.”