The Garden of Words
The Quran likens a good word to a sturdy tree with firm roots, tall branches, and abundance of fruits, while it compares an evil word to a frail tree “uprooted from the surface of the earth”. Words are not mere utterances; they are the vehicles of our thoughts and symbols of our language and culture. The individuality of a person or the linguistic and cultural identity of a society manifests itself in the words and the narrative style they employ for communication. As the building blocks of human language, words serve to bridge the abstract world of ideas with the concrete world outside; and as symbols of culture, they reflect, represent, and even betray the individuality and true identity of people and nations. The vocabulary of an individual and the collective vocabulary of a society, nation or a whole civilization, bears some indelible imprints of how they think, behave and communicate. It is words that capture and give expression to their feelings and thoughts, ideals and perceptions, and all behavioural and cultural idiosyncrasies.
Human language is not a skill that one can master overnight. Like trees, it’s cultivated over a long period of time, influenced by the locality where one lives in, the people one is surrounded by, and the culture one is nurtured in.
The cultivation of a tree is influenced by a multitude of factors such as the fertility of the soli, height of the land from the sea level, availability of water, climatic changes etc. Different plants grow in different climates and geographies; even plants belonging to the same species, but cultivated in different places, will have slightest variations in the quality and quantity of their yields.
Similarly, human language is purely a product of the culture where it sprouts. One’s mother tongue is the dialect one’s parents speak at home, and the expertise in active skills of speaking and writing is achieved through prolonged exposure to the passive skills of listening and reading. In other words, what we listen and what we read, play an important part in determining what we speak and write.
Human language is sometimes misleadingly referred to as spontaneous. But actually there is nothing spontaneous about the way a child manages to speak her mother tongue by trial and error lasting for years, after strenuous efforts picking up different words and usages to coin meaningful expressions. Words may appear to be spontaneous expressions of what one thinks, but what spontaneously comes out of one’s mouth is cultivated inside one’s psyche over a period of time. The spontaneity of later years is grown out of this training and practice.
This is true of those who master a foreign language later in life. The command over any language is achieved through this process of cultivation. A gifted orator, a prolific writer of prose or even a spontaneous poet is born out of years of unflinching commitment and dedication to his or her craft. That is why a good piece of writing or a nice speech appears to be as beautiful as a plant in full bloom or as fruitful as a tree laden with fruits.
Life-long process of cultivation
What trees and plants do to a landscape or garden where they grow bear an uncanny resemblance to what words do in a given social or cultural landscape where they are in use. Not all saplings are destined to grow as big trees, but plants cultivated well with proper irrigation, weeding and pruning, adds to the beauty and productivity of the garden. Similarly, we need to make some sort of weeding and pruning in our choice of words to make our language more fruitful and culture more productive. One who pleases others with soothing words or even with a silent smile looks like a plant in blossom, because the happiness that he/she spreads through his/her words and smile is contagious. What we are engaged in is a life-long process of cultivation in the farmland of ‘duniya’ and therefore we need to ensure we use good words and weed out bad words from time to time, in order to make our farm more cultivable, our garden more beautiful and the whole project more productive and prosperous in the long run.
Good words- and even harmless silence-are productive while bad words- and harmful silence as well- are destructive. One who does not communicate with others is like a lonely, fruitless tree growing in a wilderness or thorny bushes in a desert parched with drought.
Quran employs the metaphor of vegetation in verse 58 of Sura A’raf to strike home the same message. “From the good (fertile) land springs up plant (which are good) with its Lord’s permission while a bad (barren) one turns out niggardly. (Aaraf 58). This verse compares the circumstances out of which a productive man (a true believer) grows to a fertile land, whereas the circumstances which create a spiritually impotent man are likened to a wasteland which produces nothing.
By cultivating words, you are cultivating a pattern of behaviour and a set of beliefs as well. What you choose to say and how and where you tell them reflect your identity and your purpose and priorities in life. Children who grow up listening to foul words or offensive language will gradually imbibe them as part of their internal vocabulary and duly start reproducing them in their conversations. It is through this process of imitating vocabulary and diction, that a young generation inherits the linguistic and cultural legacy of their elders or people who surround them. However, this inheritance is not limited to language alone, but encompasses one’s behaviour and manners. While words are only external manifestations, couched in them is the whole behavioural pattern of an individual formed over a period of time. Telling lies, backbiting, conceit, cover-up, using words full of venom and gall and other behavioural problems are highly contagious and young children are especially vulnerable to their attack. The degeneration is so gradual and seems to be so natural, that it takes constant exposure and repeated practice before one overcomes the moral scruple about committing them. As the Messenger of Allah mentions, it is with repeated and relentless indulging in lying that a man is branded as a liar.
Chiselling one’s language
If words that come out of your moth reflect the person who you are, it is absolutely imperative to hold your tongue in check and speak in a careful and measured tone. Such a disciplining is essential to constantly polish your personality and to develop an effective communication strategy.
If it is imperative for a good communicator such as an orator or writer to master his language in order to become a gifted artist in his/her genre, it’s absolutely important for a human being to master his/her choice of words in day-to-day life to become a good human being. Chiselling one’s language by clearing it off lies, slander, backbiting, bullying, envy, ill-feeling, malice, boasting, cynicism and what not, is essential for sustaining its health and beauty. Malicious thoughts will wreak havoc on your words and language, just like insects do away with the health and fecundity of a tree. Since words spring forth from thought, purifying one’s thoughts is a prerequisite to purify one’s words. A tree growing in a contaminated soil, or constantly exposed to bad weather or polluted water and air, is destined to a miserable existence. Similarly, a human being who lives in the midst of filthy languages- breathing and feeding on contaminated words- will grow in character with what he listens in his day-to-day life.
Since we live in a media-infested world, surrounded by a diarrhoea of words from everywhere, including a multitude of mass media and social media outlets, it’s very important to decide what we should watch, read and listen and what we should not. There is no denying the fact that uncensored words, images and videos have expanded the scope of freedom of expression, opening up a plethora of outlets for people to give vent to their suppressed voices. The internet and social media offer a dizzying assortment of oopportunities for the convergence and cross-fertilisation of people and ideas. But at the same time, mass and social media channels have grown to become a huge garbage space where people dump all their filthy thoughts couched in all sorts of words, images, graphics, vicious trolls, videos. Since we live in close proximity to this mammoth pile of refuse which is constantly being replenished at regular intervals, it’s very difficult to avoid being polluted by the miasma emanating from there and getting infected with highly infectious spiritual diseases. As our character and personality traits are being moulded and coloured by what we interact with on a daily basis (be it listening, watching, reading or chatting), we need to be conscious and careful about our choices of interaction.
It’s through words that we concretize our ideas, vision and even prayers. As a mason builds brick by brick, we build our thoughts word by word. Even a believer’s adherence to the faith of Islam is built on the word of testimony-Shahada. That a few words serve as the rock-solid foundation of a faith means that words are not mere utterance, but can be built into powerful statement of allegiance defining a comprehensive way of life, outlining one’s vision and mission of life and governing one’s priorities in it.
By comparing words to trees, the Quran is pointing out three unique characteristics that tell a solid word from a feeble one. Like a fairly solid tree which is deeply rooted on the soil, a solid word is firmly and securely anchored on its basis of truth, and shall remain rooted to its foundation even in the face of adversities. Good words are strong and solid because they are deeply embedded on the foundation of truth. Since God is the one and only ultimate truth, belief in God is the securest foundation that one can build one’s spiritual edifice on. Any foundation other than God is only a travesty of truth, and the structure built on it is bound to collapse sooner rather than later.
The confidence and nonchalance of a believer in Allah whose deep faith remain unshaken even while facing up to the harsh realities and trials and tribulations of material life, and who rather takes it as an opportunity to improve his/her faith in God and test spiritual resilience, can be compared to a rock solid tree, weathering the storm, rhythmically dancing, swaying its branches to the music of wind. Probably, a heavy squall might cause its leaves and fruits to fall or a couple of branches to crumble, but the tree will remain firmly entrenched in its roots.
However, the roots which enable a tree to stand bolt upright and are responsible for the provision of its nourishment are kept hidden under the soil. They are working hard to keep the tree grow, but keep a low profile remaining almost unnoticed by outsiders. The more its roots explore and the deeper they delve into, the more resourceful and healthier the tree grows; its trunk becoming stronger, its branches spreading out farther and wider, its foliage thriving, denser and greener, its flowers blooming more lively and beautifully; its fruits sprouting more plentiful. The roots are not visible, but the impact of its action permeates the entire ecosystem of the tree.
Similarly, faith which helps a believer draw his/her spiritual sustenance is encased within their body. But its presence reflects in each of their words and deeds. Faith is instrumental for the holistic and sustainable growth of our personality, an essential component of maximising our productivity. Faith is so essential for a spiritually productive earthly life and a long-term, sustainable existence stretching all the way to the hereafter. All material achievements made in the absence of faith are short-lived, like the fruits and flowers of a tree cut off from its roots, similar to a luxury building about to crumble into dust, because of its poor foundation.
Apart from solid roots, the metaphorical tree is described to have two other unique characteristics: tall branches and abundance of fruits. The life of a believer who nurtures his faith properly and constantly will be blessed with a spiritually fruitful and prosperous life. Roots alone, devoid of branches and leaves, do not make up a tree. It requires for its natural, balanced and healthy growth both inwardly growing roots and upwardly expanding branches.
A tree cannot enjoy an underground life secluded with its roots, without letting its trunks and branches sprout out, nor can it live with outwardly flourishes alone like branches and leaves, cutting itself off from the roots. Likewise, a believer cannot live a secretive and secluded life with his faith intact. That’s quite unnatural and unsustainable. The faith cannot grow without showing its worldly manifestations in good words and deeds.
It is through growing branches, producing blooms, yielding fruits, casting shadows, hosting birds, and indulging in photosynthesis that a tree demonstrates its dynamism and creativity. It’s also the natural way how it can grow, makes its presence felt, and how it’s getting identified, its beauty appreciated, its services valued. In the absence of these outward appearances, nobody will bother to think about a tree’s existence at all, let alone appreciate its beauty and benefit from its services. Trees are hardly identified by their roots, except in the case of some medicinal plants.
This relationship between roots and branches is of mutual coexistence and perfect symbiosis. The roots are in action under the soil, but they are conspicuously absent while the branches are stationed in the frontline. But the fruits are the results of a collective effort. There is an unmistakable element of mutual collaboration and perfect harmony in the way the roots support the branches and the vice versa.
This metaphor also sheds light on another aspect of human productivity- on achieving a fruitful combination of internal thoughts and external actions. Thoughts and actions support and complement each other. The former supplies heavy inputs of resources and nutrients for the production of the latter, which in turn, serves as a perfect outlet for the former helping its smooth flow and preventing its stagnation. Actions disconnected from the supply of thoughts and knowledge run the risk of sinking into atrophy and losing its verve and vitality. By comparing bad words to a plant cut off from its roots, the Quran is laying emphasis on building our action on the solid foundation of thoughts. But at the sometime, knowledge and thoughts which are not duly converted into practical wisdom or channelled into fruitful outlets of words and deeds or processed into more upgraded thoughts will prevent the flow of your mind, making it suffer from an oversupply of rotten ideas constantly being dumped in its backyard. It sinks like stagnant water or, like poisonous or undigested food, creates gastrointestinal troubles.
No true believer can live within the secure walled precincts of his or her faith, with no interaction with the people and society around, because faith, in its true and natural form, cannot tolerate such an isolated existence.
A productive individual is not someone indulging in a lot of cerebral exercises who churn out a lot of abstract thoughts, hardly bothering about concretizing them into fruitful actions.
Like roots, thoughts work hiding themselves away in the dark vestibule of your mind while actions are put on public display like branches. But the end result of who we are is a combination of both hidden thoughts and public actions. The knowledge and wisdom we derive from thoughts are processed into action and a balanced and healthy relationship between the two is necessary for a fruitful, productive human existence. Actions without being fortified by a constant supply of knowledge and wisdom produced by reflections, thoughts and out of good intentions as well, will have only ritualistic significance. Quran criticises in the strongest terms those who pray without being aware of it. Their action, even if it’s a prayer to God, since it is not supported by thoughts, ends up as a meaningless ritual, which was not only rejected by God, but also caused to trigger His wrath.
All thoughts are converted into action in one way or the other. The merit of an action is decided by the merit of thoughts and intentions behind it. Therefore unclogging channels of thoughts and streamlining the process of thinking is an essential prerequisite to make the action healthy, effective and productive. Detoxifying one’s thoughts from time to time is essential for maintaining spiritual health.
The process of human productivity has a lot in common with that of the plants and trees. Farming is not just one of the professions or a means of livelihood that we adopted at one phase of our civilization’s evolution, but is a sustainable model of production, methods and techniques-or the entire business model-of which were adapted for use in all later phases. The whole range of activities involved in cultivation starting from tilling soils, sowing seeds and nursing tender plants to reaping the harvest is a metaphor for all modes of production and any kind of serious pursuits in human life. That is why even those who no longer practice farming, still proverbially reap what they proverbially sow. Tall oaks from little acorns grow. No sapling grows into a plant, comes into bloom and bears fruit overnight, just like none of our enterprises comes to fruition and none of our businesses reach the break-even, the next day of statring the operations.
We can’t make a profit overnight in any enterprise, without investing a great deal of time and energy. A lot of efforts go into making a seed or a sapling into a full-fledged tree, with beautiful and fragrant flowers, edible fruits, solid roots, bulky trunk, lush green foliage, and shady branches. A tree braving the elements of a hot dry summer or severe winter is a study in determination and perseverance.
With its different parts working in close collaboration, a tree constitutes a harmonious whole. Each part has a well designed form and function planned in meticulous detail. They work according to a stipulated schedule and timeframe.
Each one has its own individuality which gets empowered, and the potential which is fully tapped, only while working in concord with others. A tree is par excellence a collective enterprise. The parts make up the whole, while the whole protects and preserves the parts. In addition, by hosting, feeding and sheltering numerous animals, birds, worms and parasitic creepers, it functions as a unique ecosystem.
There is a bottom-up process involved in how deep spreading roots absorb water and minerals to keep the rest of the plant alive, and a top-down process in the photosynthesis.
Thus a tree is a perfect embodiment of productive life, with a unique blend of dynamism, determination, punctuality, generosity, and holistic approach. That is why the Messenger of Allah compared believers with a date palm tree, which grows in one of hottest regions in the world and reaches the acme of its production in the hottest seasons of the year. Productivity of a believer does not plummet in a challenging situation, but will be enhanced and emerge more resilient after being tested and tired.
If good words are like good trees, and if a good life in this world is going to be immortalized in the hereafter in a lush green garden by the side of a river, is it enticing to think that the trees and plants in our paradise are grown out of the ‘word saplings’ that we sow in this world? How can it be otherwise, if this world is the farmland of the hereafter, albeit metaphorically?
