مَن صَمتَ نجا

“The Prophet said: ‘The one who is silent is saved.‘“ — Ahmad Shakir, #10/140

There is more to this than just not opening your mouth. When one keeps silent, one does not add to the noise of the world.

“But I learned something crucial in the process of looking: that the absence of noise correlated to the absence of other types of unwanted input. Put simply, places that were quiet in terms of auditory noise were low in other kinds of noise as well. You don’t get Tweeted in the southern Sahara, there are no billboards in the depths of a nickel mine, Trappist cloisters have no TV, you see and feel nothing in a darkened soundproof chamber. On Cape Cod, where I used to live, you see landscape and feel beachgrass when it is quiet, but pinewoods and spartina are gentle; they do not attack you, they are low level actors.” — George Michelsen Foy, “Why We Need Silence to Survive”

وَمَنْ كَانَ يُؤْمِنُ باللهِ وَاليَومِ الآخِرِ ، فَلْيَصِلْ رَحِمَهُ ، وَمَنْ كَانَ يُؤْمِنُ بِاللهِ وَاليَومِ الآخِرِ ، فَلْيَقُلْ خَيْراً أَوْ لِيَصْمُتْ

“He who believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him be hospitable to his guest; and he who believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him maintain good the ties of blood relationship; and he who believes in Allah and the Last Day, must speak good or remain silent.“ — Sahih Muslim, #9