The Bane of the Tongue: Book 24 of

Ihya' 'ulum al-din, The Revival of the

Religious Sciences (24) (The Fons Vitae
Al-Ghazali Series) Abu Hamid
Muhammad Al-Ghazali
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-bane-of-the-tongue-book-24-of-ihya-ulum-al-din-t
he-revival-of-the-religious-sciences-24-the-fons-vitae-al-ghazali-series-abu-hamid-mu
hammad-al-ghazali/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Ahmad Al Ghazali Remembrance and the Metaphysics of

Love Joseph E. B. Lumbard

https://textbookfull.com/product/ahmad-al-ghazali-remembrance-
and-the-metaphysics-of-love-joseph-e-b-lumbard/

Light in the Heavens Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad

Library of Arabic Literature 8 Al-Q■■■ Al-Qu■■■■

https://textbookfull.com/product/light-in-the-heavens-sayings-of-
the-prophet-muhammad-library-of-arabic-literature-8-al-
qa%e1%b8%8di-al-qu%e1%b8%8da%ca%bfi/

The Chronicle of Ibn al-Ath■r for the Crusading Period

from al-K■mil f■'l-ta'r■kh. Part 2 - The Years
541-589/1146-1193: The Age of Nur al-Din and Saladin
Izz Ad-D■n Ibn Al-Ath■r
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-chronicle-of-ibn-al-athir-
for-the-crusading-period-from-al-kamil-fil-tarikh-part-2-the-
years-541-589-1146-1193-the-age-of-nur-al-din-and-saladin-izz-ad-
din-ibn-al-athir/

The Chronicle of Ibn al-Ath■r for the Crusading Period

from "al-K■mil f■'l-ta'r■kh". Part 1. The Years
491-541/1097-1146. The Coming of the Franks and The
Muslim Response Izz Ad-D■n Abu Al-Hassan Ibn Al-Ath■r
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-chronicle-of-ibn-al-athir-
for-the-crusading-period-from-al-kamil-fil-tarikh-part-1-the-
years-491-541-1097-1146-the-coming-of-the-franks-and-the-muslim-
The Criterion for Distinguishing Legal Opinions from
Judicial Rulings and the Administrative Acts of Judges
and Rulers Shihab Al-Din Ahmad Ibn Idris Al-Qarafi Al-
Maliki
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-criterion-for-
distinguishing-legal-opinions-from-judicial-rulings-and-the-
administrative-acts-of-judges-and-rulers-shihab-al-din-ahmad-ibn-
idris-al-qarafi-al-maliki/

The Masnavi Book Four Oxford World s Classics Rumi

Jalal Al Din

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-masnavi-book-four-oxford-
world-s-classics-rumi-jalal-al-din/

Intellectual Networks in Timurid Iran Sharaf Al DiN Al

Yazd and the Islamicate Republic of Letters Ilker Evrim
Binbas

https://textbookfull.com/product/intellectual-networks-in-
timurid-iran-sharaf-al-din-al-yazd-and-the-islamicate-republic-
of-letters-ilker-evrim-binbas/

Holy Quran hilali and khan Dr. Muhammad Taqi-Ud-Din Al-

Hilali

https://textbookfull.com/product/holy-quran-hilali-and-khan-dr-
muhammad-taqi-ud-din-al-hilali/

Mysteries of Fasting from Futuhat al Makiyya Ibn al

Arabi 1st Edition Ibn Al Arabi

https://textbookfull.com/product/mysteries-of-fasting-from-
futuhat-al-makiyya-ibn-al-arabi-1st-edition-ibn-al-arabi/
 On the Revival of the Religious Sciences
(Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al‑dīn)

“The Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al‑dīn is the most valuable and

most beautiful of books.”
—Ibn Khallikān (d. 681/1282)

“The Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al‑dīn is one of al-Ghazālī’s best works.”

—Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm (d. 728/1328)

“Any seeker of [felicity of] the hereafter cannot do without the

Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al‑dīn”
—Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī (d. 771/1370)

“The Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al‑dīn is a marvelous book containing a wide

variety of Islamic sciences intermixed with many subtle accounts
of Sufism and matters of the heart.”
—Ibn Kathīr (d. 774/1373)

“The Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al‑dīn is one of best and greatest books on

admonition, it was said concerning it, ‘if all the books of Islam
were lost except for the Iḥyāʾ it would suffice what was lost.’”
—Ḥājjī Khalīfa Kātib Čelebī (d. 1067/1657)

“The Iḥyāʾ [ʿulūm al‑dīn] is one of [Imām al-Ghazālī’s] most noble

works, his most famous work, and by far his greatest work’”
—Muḥammad Murtaḍā l‑Zabīdī (d. 1205/1791)
 On Imām al-Ghazālī

“Al-Ghazālī is [like] a deep ocean [of knowledge].”

—Imām al-Ḥaramayn al-Juwaynī (d. 478/1085)

“Al-Ghazālī is the second [Imām] Shāfiʿī.”

—Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā l-Janzī (d. 549/1154)

“Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī, the Proof of Islam (Ḥujjat al-Islām)

and the Muslims, the Imām of the imāms of religion, [is a man]
whose like eyes have not seen in eloquence and elucidation, and
speech and thought, and acumen and natural ability.”
—ʿAbd al-Ghāfir b. Ismāʿīl al-Fārisī (d. 529/1134)

“[He was] the Proof of Islam and Muslims, Imām of the

imāms of religious sciences, one of vast knowledge, the wonder
of the ages, the author of many works, and [a man] of extreme
intelligence and the best of the sincere.”
—Imām al-Dhahabī (d. 748/1347)

“Al-Ghazālī is without doubt the most remarkable figure in all Islam.”

—T.J. DeBoer

“. . . A man who stands on a level with Augustine and Luther in

religious insight and intellectual vigor.”
—H.A.R. Gibb

“I have to some extent found, and I believe others can find, in

the words and example of al-Ghazālī a true iḥyāʾ . . .”
—Richard J. McCarthy, S.J.
 ٞ ٌ ‫ََّما َيَ ۡۡلِفِ ُُظ ِمِن َقَ ۡۡوٍل ِإَّلَا َل َ ََدۡيِۡهِ ََرِق‬
١٨ ‫د‬ٞ‫ِيٌب ََعِتِي‬ ِ ٍ
[A human being] utters no word except that with him is an
observer prepared [to record]....
Sūrat Qaf
50:18
The Forty Books of the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al‑dīn)

The Quarter of Worship

1 The Book of Knowledge
2 The Principles of the Creed
3 The Mysteries of Purification
4 The Mysteries of the Prayer
5 The Mysteries of Charity
6 The Mysteries of Fasting
7 The Mysteries of the Pilgrimage
8 The Etiquette of the Recitation of the Qurʾān
9 Invocations and Supplications
10 The Arrangement of the Litanies and the Exposition of the Night Vigil
The Quarter of Customs
11 The Proprieties of Eating
12 The Proprieties of Marriage
13 The Proprieties of Acquisition and Earning a Living
14 The Lawful and the Unlawful
15 The Proprieties of Friendship and Brotherhood
16 The Proprieties of Retreat
17 The Proprieties of Travel
18 The Proprieties of the Audition and Ecstasy
19 The Commanding of Right and the Forbidding of Wrong
20 The Proprieties of Living and the Prophetic Mannerisms
The Quarter of Perils
21 The Exposition of the Wonders of the Heart
22 Training the Soul, Refining the Character, and Treating
the Ailments of the Heart
23 Overcoming the Two Desires
24 The Banes of the Tongue
25 The Banes of Anger, Malice, and Envy
26 The Censure of This World
27 The Censure of Greed and the Love of Wealth
28 The Censure of Fame and Hypocritical Ostentation
29 The Censure of Pride and Vanity
30 The Censure of Deceit
The Quarter of Deliverance
31 On Repentance
32 On Patience and Thankfulness
33 On Fear and Hope
34 On Poverty and Abstinence
35 On Unity and Trust
36 On Love, Longing, Intimacy, and Contentment
37 On Intention, Sincerity, and Truthfulness
38 On Vigilance and Accounting
39 On Contemplation
40 On the Remembrance of Death and the Hereafter
 THE BANES OF THE TONGUE
Kitāb āfāt al-lisān

Book 24 of the
Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al‑dīn
The Revival of the Religious Sciences
AL‑GHAZĀLĪ
Kitāb āfāt al-lisān
THE BANES OF
THE TONG U E
Book 24 of the Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al‑dīn
THE REVIVAL OF THE
RELIGIOUS SCIENCES
Translated from the Arabic
with an Introduction and Notes by
M. Abdurrahman Fitzgerald
and M. Fouad Aresmouk

Fons Vitae
2024
 The Banes of The Tongue, Book 24 of the Revival of the Religious
Sciences first published in 2024 by

Fons Vitae
49 Mockingbird Valley Drive
Louisville, KY 40207 USA

www.fonsvitae.com
Copyright © 2024 Fons Vitae
The Fons Vitae Ghazali Series
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023949804
ISBN 978-1-94-1610-68-8

No part of this book may be reproduced

in any form without prior permission of
the publishers. All rights reserved.

Text typeface: Adobe Minion Pro 11/13.5

Cover art courtesy of National Library of Egypt in Cairo.

Qurʾānic frontispiece to part 19. Written and illuminated by ʿAbdallāh b.
Muḥammad al‑Ḥamadānī for Sultan Ūljāytū (Muḥammad Khudābanda
Öljeytü) 713/1313. Hamadan.

Printed in USA
 Contents

Editor’s Note. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Biography of Imām al-Ghazālī . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
About the Revival of the Religious Sciences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Preface by Prof. Kenneth L. Honerkamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Editor’s Note on the Translation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxiii

The Banes of the Tongue

al-Ghazālī’s Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
al-Ghazālī’s Introduction: An Elucidation of the Great
Danger (Khaṭar) of the Tongue and the Merit of Silence (Ṣamt). . . 5
Chapter 1: The First Bane: Speaking about What Does Not
Concern You (Fīma lā yuʿanīk) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Chapter 2: The Second Bane: Superfluous Speech (Fuḍūl al-kalām) . . . 21
Chapter 3: The Third Bane: Delving into Baseless (Bāṭil) [Talk]. . . . . . . 25
Chapter 4: The Fourth Bane: Arguments (Mirāʾ) and
Debates (Jadāl). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Chapter 5: The Fifth Bane: Disputation (Khuṣūma) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Chapter 6: The Sixth Bane: Pretentiousness (Taqʿurr) in Speech. . . . . .40
Chapter 7: The Seventh Bane: Obscenity (Fuḥush), Insult (Sabb),
and a Vulgar Tongue (Bidhāʾa al-lisān) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Chapter 8: The Eighth Bane: Cursing (Laʿn) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Chapter 9: The Ninth Bane: Singing (Ghināʾ) and Poetry (Shiʿr) . . . . . . 57
Chapter 10: The Tenth Bane: Joking (Mizāḥ). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Chapter 11: The Eleventh Bane: Ridicule (Sukhriyya) and
Mockery (Istihizāʾ). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Chapter 12: The Twelfth Bane: Divulging Secrets (Sirr) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Chapter 13: The Thirteenth Bane: False Promises (Waʿd al-kādhib). . . 76
Chapter 14: The Fourteenth Bane: Lying in Speech (Qawl)
and Oaths (Yamīn) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
The elucidation of which [kinds of] lies are permissible . . . . . . . 88
The elucidation of [using] precaution (ḥadhir) [against]
lying by allusion (bi-l-maʿārīḍ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

ix
x The Banes of the Tongue

Chapter 15: The Fifteenth Bane: Backbiting (Ghība) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

An elucidation of the meaning of backbiting (ghība) and its
definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
An elucidation that backbiting (ghība) is not
limited to speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
An elucidation of the causes that motivate (bāʿtha)
backbiting (ghība). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
An elucidation of the remedy for backbiting (ghība):
restraining (yumanʿ) the tongue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
An elucidation of the unlawfulness of backbiting (ghība)
in the heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
An elucidation of the justifications that authorize
backbiting (ghība). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
An elucidation of the expiation (kaffāra) for
backbiting (ghība). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Chapter 16: The Sixteenth Bane: Gossip (Namīma). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
An elucidation of the definition of gossip (namīma)
and what is mandatory to counter it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Chapter 17: The Seventeenth Bane: The Speech of [One with] Two
Tongues, [Someone] Who Goes Back and Forth between Two
Adversaries and Says What Is Agreeable to Each of Them . . . . . . 149
Chapter 18: The Eighteenth Bane: Praise (Madḥ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
An elucidation on what is incumbent on the
[one who] is extolled (mamdūḥ). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Chapter 19: The Nineteenth Bane: Heedlessness (Ghafla) about
Subtle Errors (Khaṭāʾ) in the Meaning[s] of Speech. . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Chapter 20: The Twentieth Bane: Questions from Laymen
about God’s • Attributes, His Speech, and the Letters [of His
Speech] and Whether His [Speech or Attributes] Are Eternal or
Created . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Indexes
Index of Qurʾānic Verses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Index of Ḥadīth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Index of People and Places. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Subject Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
About the Translators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
About the Contributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

 Editor’s Note

T
his is the complete translation of Kitāb āfāt al-lisān (The
Banes of the Tongue) book 24 of the Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al‑dīn of
Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad al‑Ghazālī. It is a translation of the
published Arabic text of volume 5 (pages 387–581), edited by Dār
al‑Minhāj (Jedda, 2011); the Dār al-Minhāj editors utilized manu-
scripts and early printed editions, as mentioned on pages 51–111 of
the introductory volume.
Arabic terms and names follow the transliteration system of the
International Journal of Middle East Studies. Common era (CE) dates
have been added and follow Hijri dates. The blessings on prophets
and others, as used by Imām al‑Ghazālī, are represented in the
original Arabic, as listed below.
Arabic English Usage
 Mighty and majestic is He On mention of God
 Exalted and most high is He Used together or separately

 Blessings and peace of God On mention of the

be upon him Prophet Muḥammad
 Peace be upon him On mention of one
 Peace be upon them or more prophets

 God be pleased with him On mention of one or more

 God be pleased with them Companions of the Prophet

On mention of a female
 God be pleased with her
Companion of the Prophet
On mention of someone
 God have mercy on him
who is deceased

xi
xii The Banes of the Tongue

The majority of sources in the notes are from the Dār al-Minhāj
editors. Other explanatory information is provided by translators
(preceded by Trans.), the reviewer of the translation (preceded by
FC for Faris Casewit), and the editors (preceded by Eds.).
In addition, we have compiled a short biography of Imām
al-Ghazālī with a chronology of important events in his life. This
is followed by an extract from Imām al-Ghazālī’s introduction
to the Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al‑dīn; it serves as a guide to the Revival of the
Religious Sciences for those reading Imām al-Ghazālī for the first
time. For this edition we included the page numbers of this book
in volume 5 of the Arabic edition; these appear in the margins after
the vertical line mark |.


 Biography of Imām al-Ghazālī

H
e is Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. Muḥammad
b. Aḥmad al-Ghazālī l-Ṭūsī; he was born in 450/1058 in
the village of Ṭābarān near Ṭūs (in northeast Iran) and he
died there, at the age of fifty-five, in 505/1111. Muḥammad’s father
died when he and his younger brother Aḥmad were still young; their
father left a little money for their education in the care of a Sufi
friend of limited means. When the money ran out, their caretaker
suggested that they enroll in a madrasa. The madrasa system meant
they had a stipend, room, and board. Al-Ghazālī studied fiqh in
his hometown under a Sufi named Aḥmad al-Rādhakānī; he then
traveled to Jurjān and studied under Ismāʿīl b. Masʿada al-Ismāʿīlī
(d. 477/1084).
On his journey home his caravan was overtaken by highway
robbers who took all of their possessions. Al-Ghazālī went to the
leader of the bandits and demanded his notebooks. The leader
asked, what are these notebooks? Al-Ghazālī answered: “This is the
knowledge that I traveled far to acquire,” the leader acquiesced to
al-Ghazālī’s demands after stating: “If you claim that it is knowledge
that you have, how can we take it away from you?” This incident left
a lasting impression on the young scholar. Thereafter, he returned
to Ṭūs for three years, where he committed to memory all that he
had learned thus far.
In 469/1077 he traveled to Nīshāpūr to study with the leading
scholar of his time, Imām al-Ḥaramayn al-Juwaynī (d. 478/1085),
at the Niẓāmiyya College; al-Ghazālī remained his student for
approximately eight years, until al-Juwaynī died. Al-Ghazālī was
one of his most illustrious students, and al-Juwaynī referred to
him as “a deep ocean [of knowledge].” As one of al-Juwaynī’s
star pupils, al-Ghazālī used to fill in as a substitute lecturer in his

xiii
xiv The Banes of the Tongue

teacher’s absence. He also tutored his fellow students in the subjects

that al-Juwaynī taught at the Niẓāmiyya. Al-Ghazālī wrote his first
book, on the founding principles of legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh), while
studying with al-Juwaynī.
Very little is known about al-Ghazālī’s family, though some
biographers mention that he married while in Nīshāpūr; others
note that he had married in Ṭūs prior to leaving for Nīshāpūr. Some
accounts state that he had five children, a son who died early and
four daughters. Accounts also indicate that his mother lived to see
her son rise to fame and fortune.
After the death of al-Juwaynī, al-Ghazālī went to the camp
(al-muʿaskar) of the Saljūq wazīr Niẓām al-Mulk (d. 485/1192). He
stayed at the camp, which was a gathering place for scholars, and
quickly distinguished himself among their illustrious company.
Niẓām al-Mulk recognized al-Ghazālī’s genius and appointed him
professor at the famed Niẓāmiyya College of Baghdad.
Al-Ghazālī left for Baghdad in 484/1091 and stayed there four
years—it was a very exciting time to be in the heart of the Islamic
empire. At the Niẓāmiyya College he had many students, by some
estimates as many as three hundred. In terms of his scholarly output,
this was also a prolific period in which he wrote Maqāṣid al-falāsifa,
Tahāfut al-falāsifa, al-Mustaẓhirī, and other works.
Al-Ghazālī was well-connected politically and socially; we have
evidence that he settled disputes related to the legitimacy of the rule
of the ʿAbbāsid caliph, al-Mustaẓhir (r. 487–512/1094–1118) who
assumed his role as the caliph when he was just fifteen years old,
after the death of his father al-Muqtadī (d. 487/1094). Al-Ghazālī
issued a fatwā of approval of the appointment of al-Mustaẓhir and
was present at the oath-taking ceremony.
In Baghdad, al-Ghazālī underwent a spiritual crisis, during
which he was overcome by fear of the punishment of the hellfire.
He became convinced that he was destined for the hellfire if he did
not change his ways; he feared that he had become too engrossed in
worldly affairs, to the detriment of his spiritual being. He began to
question his true intentions: was he writing and teaching to serve
God, or because he enjoyed the fame and fortune that resulted
from his lectures. He experienced much suffering, both inward
 Biography of Imām al-Ghazālī xv

and outward; one day as he stood before his students to present

a lecture, he found himself unable to speak. The physicians were
unable to diagnose any physical malady. Al-Ghazālī remained in
Baghdad for a time, then left his teaching post for the pilgrimage.
He left behind fortune, fame, and influence. He was beloved by his
numerous students and had many admirers, including the sultan;
he was also envied by many. The presumption is that he left in the
manner he did—ostensibly to undertake the pilgrimage—because
if he had made public his intentions to leave permanently, those
around him would have tried to convince him to remain and the
temptation might have been too strong to resist.
After leaving Baghdad, he changed direction and headed toward
Damascus; according to his autobiography he disappeared from the
intellectual scene for ten years. This does not mean that he did not
teach, but that he did not want to return to public life and be paid
for teaching. This ten-year period can be divided into two phases.
First, he spent two years in the East—in greater Syria and on the
pilgrimage. We have evidence that while on his return to Ṭūs he
appeared at a Sufi lodge opposite the Niẓāmiyya College in Baghdad.
He spent the second phase of the ten-year period (the remaining
eight years) in Ṭūs, where he wrote the famed Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn, a
work that was inspired by the change in his outlook that resulted
from his spiritual crisis.
When he arrived back in his hometown in 490/1097, he established
a school and a Sufi lodge, in order to continue teaching and learning.
In 499/1106, Niẓām al-Mulk’s son, Fakhr al-Mulk, requested that
al-Ghazālī accept a teaching position at his old school, the Niẓāmiyya
of Nīshāpūr. He accepted and taught for a time, but left this position
in 500/1106 after Fakhr al-Mulk was assassinated by Ismāʿīlīs. He
then returned to Ṭūs and divided his time between teaching and
worship. He died in 505/1111 and was buried in a cemetery near the
citadel of Ṭābarān.
xvi The Banes of the Tongue

Legacy and Contributions of al-Ghazālī

Al-Ghazālī’s two hundred seventy-three works span many disciplines

and can be grouped under the following headings.
1. Jurisprudence and legal theory. Al-Ghazālī made foundational
contributions to Shāfiʿī jurisprudence; his book al-Wajīz is a
major handbook that has been used in teaching institutions
around the world; many commentaries have been written
on it, most notably by Abū l-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Rāfiʿī
(d. 623/1226). In legal theory, al-Mustaṣfa min ʿilm al-uṣūl is
considered one of five foundational texts in the discipline.
2. Logic and philosophy. Al-Ghazālī introduced logic in Islamic
terms that jurists could understand and utilize. His works
on philosophy include the Tahāfut al-falāsifa, which has
been studied far beyond the Muslim world and has been
the subject of numerous commentaries, discussions, and
refutations.
3. Theology, including works on heresiography in refutation
of Bāṭinī doctrines. He also expounded on the theory of
occasionalism.
4. Ethics and educational theory. The Mīzān al-ʿamal and
other works such as the Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn mention a great
deal on education.
5. Spirituality and Sufism. His magnum opus, the Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm
al-dīn is a pioneering work in the field of spirituality, in
terms of its organization and its comprehensive scope.
6. Various fields. Al-Ghazālī also wrote shorter works in a variety
of disciplines, including his autobiography (al-Munqidh min
al-ḍalāl), works on Qurʾānic studies (Jawāhir al-Qurʾān),
and political statecraft (Naṣiḥat al-mūluk).
 Biography of Imām al-Ghazālī xvii

Chronology of al-Ghazālī’s Life

450/1058 Birth of al-Ghazālī at Ṭūs

c. 461/1069 Began studies at Ṭūs

c. 465/1073 Traveled to Jurjān to study

466–469/1074–1077 Studied at Ṭūs
Studied with al-Jūwaynī at the Niẓāmiyya
469/1077
college in Nīshāpūr
al-Ghazālī composed his first book,
473/1080
al-Mankhūl fī l-uṣūl
Death of al-Fāramdhī, one of al-Ghazālī’s
477/1084
teachers
25 Rabīʿ II 478/ Death of al-Jūwaynī; al-Ghazālī left
20 August 1085 Nīshāpūr
Jumāda I 484/ Appointed to teach at the Niẓāmiyya college
July 1091 in Baghdad
10 Ramaḍān 485/
Niẓām-al-Mulk was assassinated
14 October 1092
484–487/1091–1094 Studied philosophy
Muḥarrām 487/ Attended the oath-taking of the new caliph,
February 1094 al-Mustaẓhir
487/1094 Finished Maqāṣid al-falāsifa
5 Muḥarrām 488/
Finished Tahāfut al-falāsifa
21 January 1095
Rajab 488/ July 1095 Experienced a spiritual crisis
Dhū l-Qaʿda 488/
Left Baghdad for Damascus
November 1095
Dhū l-Qaʿda 489/
Made pilgrimage and worked on the
November –
Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn
December 1096
Jumāda II 490/ Taught from the Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn during a
May 1097 brief stop in Baghdad
Rajab 490/June 1097 Seen in Baghdad by Abū Bakr b. al-ʿArabī
Fall 490/1097 Returned to Ṭūs
xviii The Banes of the Tongue

Dhū l-Ḥijja 490/

Established a madrasa and a khānqāh in Ṭūs
November 1097
Dhū l-Qaʿda 499/
Taught at the Niẓāmiyya college in Nīshāpūr
July 1106
500/1106 Wrote al-Munqidh min al-ḍalāl
500/1106 Returned to Ṭūs
28 Dhū l-Ḥijja 502/
Finished al-Mustaṣfā min ʿilm al-uṣūl
5 August 1109
Jumada I 505/
Finished Iljām al-ʿawām ʿan ʿilm al-kalām
December 1111
14 Jumada II 505/
Imām al-Ghazālī died in Ṭūs
18 December 1111

Eulogies in Verse

Because of him the lame walked briskly,

And the songless through him burst into melody.
On the death of Imām al-Ghazālī, Abū l-Muẓaffar Muḥammad
al-Abiwardī said of his loss:
He is gone! and the greatest loss which ever afflicted me,
was that of a man who left no one like him among mankind.


 About the Revival of the Religious Sciences

T
he present work is book 24 of Imām al-Ghazālī’s forty-
volume masterpiece. Below is an excerpt from al-Ghazālī’s
introduction that explains the arrangement and purpose of
the Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn.
People have composed books concerning some of these ideas, but
this book [the Iḥyāʾ] differs from them in five ways, by
1. clarifying what they have obscured and elucidating what they
have treated casually;
2. arranging what they scattered and putting in order what they
separated;
3. abbreviating what they made lengthy and proving what they
reported;
4. omitting what they have repeated; and
5. establishing the truth of certain obscure matters that are
difficult to understand and which have not been presented
in books at all.
For although all the scholars follow one course, there is no reason
one should not proceed independently and bring to light something
unknown, paying special attention to something his colleagues have
forgotten. Or they are not heedless about calling attention to it, but
they neglect to mention it in books. Or they do not overlook it, but
something prevents them from exposing it [and making it clear].
So these are the special properties of this book, besides its
inclusion of all these various kinds of knowledge.
Two things induced me to arrange this book in four parts. The
first and fundamental motive is that this arrangement in establishing
what is true and in making it understandable is, as it were, inevitable
because the branch of knowledge by which one approaches the

xix
xx The Banes of the Tongue

hereafter is divided into the knowledge of [proper] conduct and

the knowledge of [spiritual] unveiling.
By the knowledge of [spiritual] unveiling I mean knowledge
and only knowledge. By the science of [proper] conduct I mean
knowledge as well as action in accordance with that knowledge. This
work will deal only with the science of [proper] conduct, and not
with [spiritual] unveiling, which one is not permitted to record in
writing, although it is the ultimate aim of saints and the ultimate
aim of the sincere. The science of [proper] conduct is merely a
path that leads to unveiling and only through that path did the
prophets of God communicate with the people and lead them to
Him. Concerning [spiritual] unveiling, the prophets  spoke
only figuratively and briefly through signs and symbols, because they
realized the inability of people’s minds to comprehend. Therefore
since the scholars are heirs of the prophets, they cannot but follow
in their footsteps and emulate their way.
The knowledge of [proper] conduct is divided into (1) outward
knowledge, by which I mean knowledge of the senses and (2) inward
knowledge, by which I mean knowledge of the functions of the heart.
The physical members either perform acts of prescribed worship,
or acts that are in accordance with custom, while the heart, because it
is removed from the senses and belongs to the world of dominion, is
subject to either praiseworthy or blameworthy [influences]. Therefore
it is necessary to divide this branch of knowledge into two parts:
outward and inward. The outward part, which is connected to the
senses, is subdivided into acts of worship and acts that pertain to
custom. The inward part, which is connected to the states of the heart
and the characteristics of the soul, is subdivided into blameworthy
states and praiseworthy states. So the total makes four divisions of
the sciences of the practice of religion.
The second motive [for this division] is that I have noticed the
sincere interest of students in jurisprudence, which has become
popular among those who do not fear God  but who seek to boast
and exploit its influence and prestige in arguments. It [jurisprudence]
is also divided into four quarters, and he who follows the style of
one who is beloved becomes beloved.
 Preface

If you wish for effacement [in God], knock upon the door
of remembrance (dhikr) as one seeking shelter and in utter
need, steadfastly abstain from speech (ṣamt) with both peers
and others, and pay heed with every breath to the innermost
soul (al-sirr) over the discourse of the lower self.1
From the sayings of Abū al-Ḥasan as-Shādhilī (656/1258)

T
he Banes of the Tongue (Kitāb āfāt al-lisān) is the fourth
of the ten books that comprise the Quarter of Perils (Rubʿ
al-muhlikāt) of Iḥyā ʿulūm al-dīn (The Revival of the Religious
Sciences). This book enumerates the misuses of the tongue that con-
stitute fatal character flaws, the essential remedy for which, Imam
al-Ghazālī (505/1111) stresses, is ṣamt: to refrain from speech.Ṣamt is
thus treated here as a social ethic or virtue with a salvific dimension,
expressed in the oft-cited ḥadīth, “Whoever is silent is saved,”2 and
even as a condition of faith itself: “Let whoever believes in God and
the Last Day say what is good or else stay silent (yaṣmut).”3
In this book of Iḥyā ʿulūm al-dīn Imam al-Ghazālī enumerates
twenty banes of the tongue beginning with the least serious to
the most egregious, citing, for example, excessive speech, lying,
backbiting, scandalmongering, ostentation, hypocrisy, obscenity,
arguing, self-justification, disputation, excess, vain talk, distortion
and exposing the faults of others. In doing this, his focus is mainly
on speech that gives rise to distress and suffering, either in this
world or the Next, all of which should therefore be avoided. As for
his sources besides the Qur’ān and ḥadīth, al-Ghazālī relies heavily

1 Cited in Ibn ʿAyyād, al-Mafākhir al-ʿiliyya, 50.

2 Al-Tirmidhī, Sunan, 2410, al-Nasāʾī, al-Sunan al-Kubrā, 11425, and in Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, 38.
3 Ibn Abī Dunyā, al-Ṣamt wa adāb al-lisān, 27.

xxi
xxii The Banes of the Tongue

on an earlier work by Ibn Abī al-Dunyā (281/894) entitled Kitāb

al-ṣamt wa ādāb a-lisān (The Book of Silence and Proprieties of the
Tongue) which treats ṣamt as an essential element for journeying
upon the path to purification of the lower-self and for being granted
the intimate knowledge of the Divine which may ensue. For this
reason, all the classic manuals of Sufism dedicate a chapter to ṣamt
as an active principle and a practice of Sufism in and of itself,
summed up best in the words of the Greatest Master, Ibn ʿArabī
al-Ḥātimī (d. 638/1240): “Silence bequeaths gnosis (al-ṣamt yūrithu
maʿrifat Allāh).”4
In The Banes of the Tongue, Imam al-Ghazālī does not ignore the
integral relationship of ṣamt with the heart and spiritual journey-
ing -- in one instance he cites the ḥadīth, “The believer is someone
whose silence is reflection (tafakkur), whose gaze is contemplation
(ʿibra), and whose speech is invocation (dhikr)”5—but his main
focus throughout is on defining the fatal flaws of character that arise
from the misuse of speech, then presenting their causes as well as
advice on how to avoid and overcome them. Thus, for example, in
respect to ṣamt as a means for rectifying the sin of backbiting, he
provides multiple insights into the nature of the lower-soul (nafs),
and concludes, “And if the servant does not find (this) fault in his
own soul, let him give thanks to God D and not sully himself
with the worst of faults which is to defame people and eat dead flesh.
But if he were to truly judge his own soul, he would know that if he
supposes himself innocent of every fault, then he is ignorant of his
own soul, and that in itself is one of the worst of faults.”6
The treatment of ṣamt, however, as an active principle of the Sufi
path of knowledge tended to remain within the domain of Sufi
teachings as passed down by the mentors and heirs of that tradition
who came before and after Imam al-Ghazālī. In an effort to cast some
light on the nature of this teaching and the manner in which the
mentors of the path saw it as a key to their spiritual heritage, I will
cite a selection of ḥadīths from Ibn Abī al-Dunyā’s Kitāb al-ṣamt
4 Muḥyī al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿArabī, “Ḥilyat al-abdāl,” in Rasāil Ibn ʿArabī,
ed. Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Namrī (Beirut: Dār al-kutub al-ʿilmīyyah, 2001).
5 Iḥyā ʿulūm al-dīn, 5:404. Ibn Asakir narrates a similar saying from Abū Ḥāzim
Salmah ibn Dīnār al-Aʿraj al-Zāhid in Tarikh Madinat Dimashq, Beirut: 1995,22: 63.
6 Iḥyā ʿulūm al-dīn, 5:527.
 Preface xxiii

referred to in the first section of The Banes of the Tongue, then move
on to examples from the Risālat al-Qushayrīya of ʿAbd al-Karīm,
al-Qushayrī (465/1072), and conclude with a short selection from
Ibn ʿArabī’s Kitāb ḥilyatu al-abdāl (The Adornment of the Substitutes)
in which he describes and places ṣamt as one of the four active
elements of the Sufi way, along with solitude (ʿuzlah), hunger (jūʿ),
and keeping night vigils (sahar).
Imam al-Ghazālī opens The Banes of the Tongue by concisely
treating the merits of silence in general and warns that the perils of
the tongue are many and the sole means of deliverance from them
is silence, citing the sayings of the Prophet H, “Whoever
is silent is saved,”7 and “Silence is wisdom but few are they who
practice it.”8 He alludes to the close relationship between salvation
and wisdom with faith and the heart of the servant, citing a ḥadīth
related by Anas b. Mālik, from the Prophet H, “The faith
of the servant will not be upright until his heart is upright, and his
heart will not be upright until his tongue is, and no man shall enter
paradise whose neighbor is not safe from his harm.”9 Another facet
of refraining from speech is reflected in a ḥadīth related by Muʿādh
ibn Jabal, who said, “I said, ‘O Messenger of God, are we taken to
account for what we say?’ He answered, ‘O son of Jabal! Would that
your mother had not been burdened by you! Are people cast on to
their noses into hell for anything other than the consequences of their
tongues?’”10 He concludes this section with a summary that brings
together the inward and outward merits of ṣamt saying, “[Silence]
also allows one to collect his concerns and maintain his dignity, to
have time for reflection, worship, and invocation, to be safe from the
consequences of following all that is said about this world, and from
its reckoning in the Next, for as God D says, (A human being)
utters no word except that with him is an observer prepared (to record)
[Q 50:18].”11 He ends his opening chapter without having elucidated
in detail the role of ṣamt as a condition and foundational element
of a sound heart (qalb salīm). ʿUmar b. Khaṭṭāb I, however,
7 Al-Tirmidhī, Sunan, 2501.
8 Ibn ʿAdī, al-Kāmil, 5:169.
9 Aḥmad, al-Musnad, 3:198 and Ibn Abī Dunyā, al-Ṣamt wa adāb al-lisān, 9.
10 Ibn Abī Dunyā, al-Ṣamt wa adāb al-lisān, 6.
11 Iḥyā ʿulūm al-dīn, 5:402.
xxiv The Banes of the Tongue

in his advice to Aḥnāf ibn Qays,12 delineated in detail the stages by

which a lack of restraint in speech leads to the death of the heart: “O
Aḥnāf, one who laughs much, his esteem (hayba) diminishes, one
who jokes (nazaḥa) is taken lightly, one who does something often
becomes known for it, one whose speech increases, his mistakes
increase, one whose mistakes increase, his shame (ḥayāʾ) diminishes,
and one whose shame diminishes, his piety (waraʿ) decreases, and
whoever’s piety decreases, his heart dies.” This is the same al-Aḥnāf
ibn Qays about whom al-Ḥasan said, “People were addressing one
another in the presence of Muʿāwiya, while al-Aḥnāf ibn Qays
remained silent. They asked him, “O Abū Baḥr, what is wrong with
you that you are not speaking?” He answered, “I fear God if I lie,
and I fear you if I tell the truth.”13
Umar’s counsel reflects the essential nature of ṣamt to the heart’s
wellbeing and as an active element of the perfection of faith and the
interior life of the servant. For this reason, all the early compendiums
of Sufism contain a chapter dedicated to ṣamt as a foundational
facet of the path to knowledge of God and Divine reality. In his
Risālat, al-Qushayrī provides multiple insights into the role of ṣamt
as described by the mentors of the path. Important to the discussion
at hand is this passage which differentiates ṣamt into ascending
degrees: “It is said that the ṣamt of the generality (ʿawām) is with their
tongues, the ṣamt of the gnostics is with their hearts, and the ṣamt
of the lovers is in protecting their innermost souls from distracting
thoughts.”14 He also distinguishes between inward and outward ṣamt
saying, “How great is the distance between a servant who remains
silent to protect himself from lies and calumny, and the servant who
remains silent because he is overwhelmed by awe of the Divine.”15
At the same time, he clarifies the role of each within the context of
spiritual striving, saying, “Silence is of two types: outward silence
and silence of the heart and mind. The one who places his trust in
God alone (al-mutawakkil) is silent about his provision, while the
gnostic is silent because his heart is in accord with divine decree.
12 Al-Aḥnāf ibn Qays was commander of Muslim forces in early Islam, lived to see
the Fitna and the caliphate of Muʿāwiyya. He died in Kufa at the age of seventy.
13 Ibn Abī Dunyā, al-Ṣamt wa adāb al-lisān, 62.
14 ʿAbd al-Karīm, al-Qushayrī, Risālat al-Qushayriīya, Bab al-Ṣamt, 346.
15 Risālat al-Qushayriīya, 341.
 Preface xxv

The former trusts in the beauty of what God creates for him, while
the latter is satisfied with all that God decrees, or as they say:
Divine decrees flow over you
while your innermost soul is at peace.”16
Al-Qushayrī completes his introductory comments to this chapter
with an overview of the centrality of refraining from speech, calling
it a cornerstone of the wisdom of journeying though the various
stages of the Path, and differentiating it from the ascetic self-discipline
of remaining silent, saying, “it is one of the cornerstones (arkān)
of striving and the refinement of character.”17
Nearly 150 years after Qushayrī’s Epistle on Sufism, we find Ibn
al-ʿArabī (638/1240), the Greatest Master (al-shaykh al-akbar),
dedicating a treatise that he composed in Tāʼif entitled Ḥilyat
al-abdāl to the four principles of the Path mentioned earlier, the
first of which he considers to be ṣamt. He cites an extraordinary
encounter related to him by ʿAbd al-Majīd b. Salama, in Andalusia.
ʿAbd al-Majīd told him that during his night vigil a mysterious visitor
came to him in his prayer niche whom he recognized as one of the
abdāl18 whom he then asked, “O dear sir, by what means do the abdāl
become abdāl?” to which the visitor replied, “By the four things that
Abū Ṭālib mentioned in al-Qūṭ:19 refraining from speech (ṣamt),
solitude (ʿuzlah), hunger (jūʿ), and keeping vigils at night (sahar).”
Ibn al-ʿArabī then adds, “The four things that this man mentioned
are the pillars of the Lofty Path and its foundations, and whoever
has no part of them, either small or profound, is wandering from
the Path of God Most High…. May God make us and you among
16 Risālat al-Qushayriīya, 341- 342.
17 Risālat al-Qushayriīya, 342.
18 A group of living persons called abdāl (sing. badal), literally, “the Substitutes,”
variously numbered at four, seven, 40, or 70, who form an essential part of Sufi
cosmological hierarchy. These Friends of God are divinely chosen to communicate
blessings and mediate wonders in post-prophetic ages. Members of the larger group
of substitutes are further distinguished as authentic ones (ṣiddīqīn), supports, and
poles. Some authors argue that the number of substitutes – whose identity at any
one time is known only to very few people – remains constant, since when one of
them dies, another “substitutes” for him. John Renard, Historical Dictionary of
Sufism, Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, 2005, 229.
19 Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī (386/996), Qūt al-qulūb fī muʿāmalat al-maḥbūb wa waṣf ṭarīq
al-murīd ilā maqām al-tawhīd, or The Sustenance of Hearts.
xxvi The Banes of the Tongue

those who realize them and are granted constancy in them. Verily,
He is the One Able to do that.” Then he begins by his explanation
of ṣamt, saying:
[It] is of two types: ṣamt of the tongue is to refrain altogether
from speaking without God and with anyone other than God, and
ṣamt of the heart is to refrain from thoughts that arise from the
lower-self concerning anything in creation. So whoever’s tongue is
silent but heart is not, his burden (of sin) is lightened. Whoever’s
tongue and heart both are silent cleanses his innermost soul and
his Lord will reveal Himself to him. Whoever’s heart is silent but
whose tongue is not will speak with wisdom. And whoever is silent
neither with his tongue nor with his heart has become a kingdom for
Satan and the object of his mockery. Thus, silence of the tongue is
a trait both of the generality and the people of the way, and silence
of the heart is a trait of those brought near to God (muqarrabīn),
those witnessing the Divinity. Silence of the tongue imparts peace
and safety from affliction; silence of the heart imparts communion
with the Divine and intimacy.
For someone steadfast in ṣamt in all his states, there remains
only discourse with his Lord. This is because refraining from
speech altogether is an impossibility, but when someone turns from
discourse with other-than-God (maʿa ghayr Allāh) to discourse
with his Lord, he is redeemed, brought near, and supported in his
speech. When he speaks, what he says is correct, for he speaks by
God, Most Exalted, Who said of His Prophet H, Nor does
he speak by his own whims. [Q 53:3]. Truthful speech results from
refraining from errors, and discourse with what is other-than-God
is an error in every circumstance, while discourse about what is
other-than-God is malicious in every context. It is to this (sort of
speech) that the Words of God D refer, There is no good in most
of their secret talks—except those encouraging charity, kindness, or
reconciliation between people [Q 4:114]. Finalizing its conditions,
God D says, They were only commanded to worship Allah alone
with sincere devotion to Him [Q 98: 5]. The spiritual state (ḥāl) of
ṣamt is the station of inspiration (maqām al-waḥī) in all its various
forms; silence bequeaths gnosis.
 Preface xxvii

Ibn al-ʿArabī’s account of the centrality of the role of ṣamt to

Islamic spirituality will be reiterated soon after him in the teachings
of Abū al-Ḥasan al-Shādhilī (656/1258), founder of one of the earliest
and most widespread Sufi brotherhoods. Al-Shādhilī encourages his
students to apply ṣamt as a daily practice. As he is recorded to have
said, “Let your main concern be three things: the return to God,
awareness of God, and vigilance; and strengthen these with three
things: remembrance, seeking forgiveness, and silence, offered as
servanthood for God D; and safeguard these six with four other
things: love, contentment, detachment and trust.”20 The Shādhilī
path is sometimes known as the ‘Path of Love,” and indeed Imām
as-Shādhilī portrays ṣamt as a characteristic of one who loves
God (al-muḥibb): “The attributes of the Lover are perseverance in
contemplation, abundant invocation, a lack of excess in physical
acts of worship, and constant restraint of the tongue. He neither
fears nor hopes. If he is beckoned, he hears not, and when he looks
about, he sees not.”21
These quotes from two of Islam’s most recognized mentors of the
Sufi path highlight the relevance of the central theme of The Banes
of the Tongue, ṣamt, as an active principle of Islamic spirituality,
in theory and practice, to the point where it became integrated
into the normative comportment of Islamic culture itself. Any
discussion of ṣamt will at the same time bring into sharp relief the
dilemma of our modern context with its culture of social media,
a culture that has come to represent the antithesis of the value of
ṣamt. Herein may lie the most relevant aspect of The Banes of the
Tongue to today’s reader.
The importance of this book of the Iḥyā could not be any greater
today than it was almost a thousand years ago in the days of Imam
al-Ghazālī. In his day, the banes enumerated in this book occurred
more or less either in discourse between individuals in discrete
social or demographic settings or within defined circles of either the
scholarly or ruling elite. All, however, took place in an ambience in
20 Abū al-Ḥasan al-Shādhilī, Risālat al-qaṣd ilā Allāh, folio 53/ẓ.
21 Abū al-Ḥasan al-Shādhilī, Risālat al-amīn fī al-wuṣūl li rabb al-ʿālamīn, page 53.
The meaning of these last two sentences is that he has neither fear nor hope vis a
vis creatures, and if something in creation beckons him or demands to be seen, he
pays it no heed.
xxviii The Banes of the Tongue

which the participants knew one another and had a shared heritage,
a communal awareness of what constituted salutary action (al-adab)
that englobed and established norms that transcended any specific
social context and were recognized by each member of the group as
a facet of their shared humanity and identity. For Imam al-Ghazālī,
this heritage was embodied in the universal principles of the Qur’ān
and the example of the Prophet H, as is well testified to in
the text before us. The relevance of The Banes of the Tongue is that
it served and serves as a reminder of this shared heritage and the
values that bind us to the human state and assure us of a certain
respect whoever we may be. From an Islamic perspective, “we are
all servants of God.” In the age of modernity there is a tendency to
forget, to some degree, this awareness, and our ‘discrete identity’
overcomes our awareness of our ‘social identity.’
This rupture is no more glaringly evident in the day to day
interactions we observe in the context of social media which in its
most egregious forms takes place in an atmosphere of anonymity.
Anonymity is the result of a rupture in our identity, a forgetfulness
that has become a characteristic of our time, the social implications
of which we are clearly warned about in the Qurʾān: “And do not
be like those who forgot God, so He made them forget themselves.”
[Q 59:19]. In the introduction to his translation of Shaykh Ahmad
al-ʿAlawī’s commentary on chapter fifty-three of the Qurʾān, The
Star (al-Najm), J.J. González calls our attention to the spiritual crisis
confronting humanity in the age of modernity: “This caution from
the Qurʾān distinguishes between two degrees of forgetting: the
forgetting of God and the forgetting of one’s self. Although the first
is the cause of the second, it is the last that engenders the gravest
and most definitive consequences, for it consists of an essential
forgetfulness that produces a rupture between the human being
and his/her origin and very significance. This is the forgetfulness
that in our times is impacting an ever-growing number of people.”22
Such a contextualization of forgetfulness helps to explain the
absolute incapacity of this age to respond to the questions and
prerequisites of the human condition that in the end we have put

22 Ahmad al-ʿAlawī, De La Révélation: Commentaire Ésotérique de al sourate al-Étoile,

Trans. M. Chabry et J.J. González (Éd. Entrelacs: Paris, 2011), 9.
 Preface xxix

aside and replaced with a state of permanent agitation, frantic and

artificial, which is the product of the permanent flux of illusions
that never satisfy and a life of endless change and permutation.
All of this finds its most overt expression in human discourse, and
in particular on the individual level in the niche of social media
itself. Studying and engaging oneself in the essential themes of The
Banes of the Tongue is therefore a rare opportunity to remember
and take account of our shared human heritage as well as a means
of addressing a crisis that is too often seen as the inevitable result
of modern times and a loss of any clear concept of who we are.
The above discussion of ṣamt within the Sufi tradition has
hopefully provided insight into its essential role as an active element
of the path, a solution to forgetfulness, and a key to seeing our own
present challenges from a new perspective. The Prophet’s words
H, “The believer is someone whose silence is reflection
(tafakkur), whose gaze is contemplation (ʿibra), and whose speech
is invocation (dhikr),”23 and “Ṣamt is the Lord (sayyid) of laudable
character,”24 speak eloquently to this point. It has been a central
theme of this brief introduction to help the reader understand
The Banes of the Tongue in the context of our identity crisis, not
as a book of Islamic etiquette or Muslim version of How to Win
Friends and Influence People. Let it not be supposed however that
the relevance of The Banes of the Tongue is limited to any partic-
ular time or place. The modern attitudes mentioned above are as
pervasive within every context and culture as any other. Although
ṣamt is perceived as playing a key social role within Islamic society
today, for example, one too often notices that ṣamt and the themes
addressed by Imam al-Ghazali in this chapter of Iḥyā are perceived
from within a context of social etiquette rather than as keys that
address the essential forgetfulness that produces a rupture between
the human being and his/her origins.
In summary, this translation of The Banes of the Tongue will
serve as an oft-cited primary tool for researchers engaged in
Islamic values as well as in the domains of social psychology and

23 Iḥyā ʿulūm al-dīn, 5:404. Ibn Asakir narrates a similar saying from Abū Ḥāzim
Salmah ibn Dīnār al-Aʿraj al-Zāhid in Tarikh Madinat Dimashq, Beirut: 1995, 22:63.
24 Ibn Abī Dunyā, al-Ṣamt wa adāb al-lisān, 62.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
adjournment, it is thereby removed from before the House, and does
not stand ipso facto before them at their next meeting, but must
come forward in the usual way. So, when it is interrupted by the
order of the day. Such other privileged questions also as dispose of
the main question, (e. g., the previous question, postponement, or
commitment,) remove it from before the House. But it is only
suspended by a motion to amend, to withdraw, to read papers, or by
a question of order or privilege, and stands again before the House
when these are decided. None but the class of privileged questions
can be brought forward while there is another question before the
House, the rule being that when a motion has been made and
seconded, no other can be received except it be a privileged one.

SEC. XXXVIII.—EQUIVALENT QUESTIONS.

If, on a question for rejection, a bill be retained, it passes, of

course, to its next reading. Hakew., 141; Scob., 42. And a question for
a second reading determined negatively, is a rejection without
further question. 4 Grey, 149. And see Elsynge’s Memor., 42, in what
cases questions are to be taken for rejection.
Where questions are perfectly equivalent, so that the negative of
the one amounts to the affirmative of the other, and leaves no other
alternative, the decision of the one concludes necessarily the other. 4
Grey, 157. Thus the negative of striking out amounts to the
affirmative of agreeing; and therefore to put a question on agreeing
after that on striking out, would be to put the same question in effect
twice over. Not so in questions of amendments between the two
Houses. A motion to recede being negatived, does not amount to a
positive vote to insist, because there is another alternative, to wit, to
adhere. A bill originating in one House is passed by the other with an
amendment. A motion in the originating House to agree to the
amendment is negatived. Does there result from this vote of
disagreement, or must the question on disagreement be expressly
voted? The question respecting amendments from another House
are—1st, to agree; 2d, disagree; 3d, recede; 4th, insist; 5th, adhere,
 Either of these concludes the other necessarily, for the positive of
either is exactly the equivalent of the negative of the other, and no
1st. To
other alternative remains. On either motion amendments to the
agree.
amendment may be proposed; e. g., if it be moved to disagree, those
2d. To
who are for the amendment have a right to propose amendments,
disagree.
and to make it as perfect as they can, before the question of
disagreeing is put.
You may then either insist or adhere.
3d. To You may then either recede or adhere.
recede. You may then either recede or insist.
4th. To Consequently the negative of these is not equivalent to a positive
insist. vote, the other way. It does not raise so necessary an implication as
5th. To may authorize the Secretary by inference to enter another vote; for
adhere. two alternatives still remain, either of which may be adopted by the
House.

SEC. XXXIX.—THE QUESTION.

The question is to be put first on the affirmative, and then on the

negative side.
After the Speaker has put the affirmative part of the question, any
member who has not spoken before to the question may rise and
speak before the negative be put; because it is no full question till the
negative part be put. Scob., 23; 2 Hats., 73.
But in small matters, and which are of course, such as receiving
petitions, reports, withdrawing motions, reading papers, &c., the
Speaker most commonly supposes the consent of the House where
no objection is expressed, and does not give them the trouble of
putting the question formally. Scob., 22; 2 Hats., 87; 5 Grey, 129; 9
Grey, 301.

SEC. XL.—BILLS, THIRD READING.

To prevent bills from being passed by surprise, the House, by a

standing order, directs that they shall not be put on their passage
before a fixed hour, naming one at which the House is commonly
full. Hakew., 153.
 [The usage of the Senate is, not to put bills on their passage till
noon.]
A bill reported and passed to the third reading, cannot on that day
be read the third time and passed; because this would be to pass on
two readings in the same day.
At the third reading the Clerk reads the bill and delivers it to the
Speaker, who states the title, that it is the third time of reading the
bill, and that the question will be whether it shall pass. Formerly the
Speaker, or those who prepared a bill, prepared also a breviate or
summary statement of its contents, which the Speaker read when he
declared the state of the bill, at the several readings. Sometimes,
however, he read the bill itself, especially on its passage. Hakew.,
136, 137, 153; Coke, 22, 115. Latterly, instead of this, he, at the third
reading, states the whole contents of the bill verbatim, only, instead
of reading the formal parts, “Be it enacted,” &c., he states that
“preamble recites so and so—the 1st section enacts that, &c.; the 2d
section enacts,” &c.
[But in the Senate of the United States, both of these formalities
are dispensed with; the breviate presenting but an imperfect view of
the bill, and being capable of being made to present a false one; and
the full statement being a useless waste of time, immediately after a
full reading by the Clerk, and especially as every member has a
printed copy in his hand.]
A bill on the third reading is not to be committed for the matter or
body thereof, but to receive some particular clause or proviso, it hath
been sometimes suffered, but as a thing very unusual. Hakew., 156.
Thus, 27 El., 1584, a bill was committed on the third reading, having
been formerly committed on the second, but is declared not usual.
D’Ewes, 337, col. 2; 414, col. 2.
When an essential provision has been omitted, rather than erase
the bill and render it suspicious, they add a clause on a separate
paper, engrossed and called a rider, which is read and put to the
question three times. Elsynge’s Memo., 59; 6 Grey, 335; 1 Blackst.,
183. For examples of riders, see 3 Hats., 121, 122, 124, 156. Every one
is at liberty to bring in a rider without asking leave. 10 Grey, 52.
It is laid down as a general rule, that amendments proposed at the
second reading shall be twice read, and those proposed at the third
reading thrice read; as also all amendments from the other House.
Town., col. 19, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28.
It is with great and almost invincible reluctance that amendments
are admitted at this reading, which occasion erasures or
interlineations. Sometimes a proviso has been cut off from a bill;
sometimes erased. 9 Grey, 513.
This is the proper stage for filling up blanks; for if filled up before,
and now altered by erasure, it would be peculiarly unsafe.
At this reading the bill is debated afresh, and for the most part is
more spoken to at this time than on any of the former readings.
Hakew., 153.
The debate on the question whether it should be read a third time,
has discovered to its friends and opponents the arguments on which
each side relies, and which of these appear to have influence with the
House; they have had time to meet them with new arguments, and to
put their old ones into new shapes. The former vote has tried the
strength of the first opinion, and furnished grounds to estimate the
issue; and the question now offered for its passage is the last
occasion which is ever to be offered for carrying or rejecting it.
When the debate is ended, the Speaker, holding the bill in his
hand, puts the question for its passage, by saying, “Gentlemen, all
you who are of opinion that this bill shall pass, say aye;” and after the
answer of the ayes, “All those of the contrary opinion, say no.”
Hakew., 154.
After the bill is passed, there can be no further alteration of it in
any point. Hakew., 159.

SEC. XLI.—DIVISION OF THE HOUSE.

The affirmative and negative of the question having been both put
and answered, the Speaker declares whether the yeas or nays have it
by the sound, if he be himself satisfied, and it stands as the judgment
of the House. But if he be not himself satisfied which voice is the
greater, or if before any other member comes into the House, or
before any new motion made, (for it is too late after that,) any
member shall rise and declare himself dissatisfied with the Speaker’s
decision, then the Speaker is to divide the House. Scob., 24; 2 Hats.,
140.
When the House of Commons is divided, the one party goes forth,
and the other remains in the House. This has made it important
which go forth and which remain; because the latter gain all the
indolent, the indifferent, and inattentive. Their general rule,
therefore, is, that those who give their vote for the preservation of the
orders of the House shall stay in; and those who are for introducing
any new matter or alteration, or proceeding contrary to the
established course, are to go out. But this rule is subject to many
exceptions and modifications. 2 Hats., 134; 1 Rush., p. 3, fol. 92;
Scob., 43, 52; Co., 12, 116; D’Ewes, 505, col. 1; Mem. in Hakew., 25,
29; as will appear by the following statement of who go forth:
Petition that it be received
Ayes.
Read

Lie on the table

Noes.
Rejected after refusal to lie on table

Referred to a committee, for further proceeding Ayes.

Bill, that it be brought in

Read first or second time
Engrossed or read third time Ayes.
Proceeding on every other stage
Committed

To Committee of the whole Noes.

To a select committee Ayes.

Report of bill to lie on table Noes.

Be now read Ayes.

Be taken into consideration three months hence 30, P.J. 251.

Amendments to be read a second time Noes.

Clause offered on report of bill to be read second time

For receiving a clause Ayes. 334.
With amendments be engrossed 395.

That a bill be now read a third time Noes. 398.

Receive a rider 260.

Pass Ayes.
259.
Be printed

Committees. That A take the chair Noes. 291.

To agree to the whole or any part of report
That the House do now resolve into committee
Speaker. That he now leave the chair, after order to go into
committee
That he issue warrant for a new writ
Member. That none be absent without leave

Witness. That he be further examined Ayes. 344.

Previous question Noes.

Blanks. That they be filled with the largest sum.

Ayes.
Amendments. That words stand part of

Lords. That their amendment be read a second time Noes.

Messenger be received
Ayes.
Orders of day to be now read, if before 2 o’clock

If after 2 o’clock Noes.

Adjournment. Till the next sitting day, if before 4 o’clock Ayes.

If after 4 o’clock Noes.

Over a sitting day, (unless a previous resolution.) Ayes.

Over the 30th of January Noes.

For sitting on Sunday, or any other day not being a sitting day Ayes.
The one party being gone forth, the Speaker names two tellers
from the affirmative and two from the negative side, who first count
those sitting in the House and report the number to the Speaker.
Then they place themselves within the door, two on each side, and
count those who went forth as they come in, and report the number
to the Speaker. Mem. in Hakew., 26.
A mistake in the report of the tellers may be rectified after the
report made. 2 Hats., 145, note.
[But in both Houses of Congress all these intricacies are avoided.
The ayes first rise, and are counted standing in their places by the
President or Speaker. Then they sit, and the noes rise and are
counted in like manner.]
[In Senate, if they be equally divided, the Vice-President
announces his opinion, which decides.]
 [The Constitution, however, has directed that “the yeas and nays of
the members of either House on any question, shall at the desire of
one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.” And again: that
in all cases of reconsidering a bill disapproved by the President, and
returned with is objections, “the votes of both Houses shall be
determined by yeas and nays, and the names of persons voting for
and against the bill shall be entered on the journals of each House
respectively.”]
[By the 16th and 17th rules of the Senate, when the yeas and nays
shall be called for by one-fifth of the members present, each member
called upon shall, unless for special reasons he be excused by the
Senate, declare openly, and without debate, his assent or dissent to
the question. In taking the yeas and nays, and upon the call of the
House, the names of the members shall be taken alphabetically.]
[When the yeas and nays shall be taken upon any question in
pursuance of the above rule, no member shall be permitted, under
any circumstances whatever, to vote after the decision is announced
from the Chair.]
[When it is proposed to take the vote by yeas and nays, the
President or Speaker states that “the question is whether, e. g., the
bill shall pass—that it is proposed that the yeas and nays shall be
entered on the journal. Those, therefore, who desire it, will rise.” If
he finds and declares that one-fifth have risen, he then states that
“those who are of opinion that the bill shall pass are to answer in the
affirmative; those of the contrary opinion in the negative.” The Clerk
then calls over the names, alphabetically, note the yea or nay of each,
and gives the list to the President or Speaker, who declares the result.
In the Senate, if there be an equal division, the Secretary calls on the
Vice-President and notes his affirmative or negative, which becomes
the decision of the House.]
In the House of Commons, every member must give his vote the
one way or the other, Scob., 24, as it is not permitted to any one to
withdraw who is in the House when the question is put, nor is any
one to be told in the division who was not in when the question was
put. 2 Hats., 140.
This last position is always true when the vote is by yeas and nays;
where the negative as well as affirmative of the question is stated by
the President at the same time, and the vote of both sides begins and
proceeds pari passu. It is true also when the question is put in the
usual way, if the negative has also been put; but if it has not, the
member entering, or any other member, may speak, and even
propose amendments, by which the debate may be opened again,
and the question be greatly deferred. And as some who have
answered ay may have been changed by the new arguments, the
affirmative must be put over again. If, then, the member entering
may, by speaking a few words, occasion a repetition of a question, it
would be useless to deny it on his simple call for it.
While the House is telling, no member may speak or move out of
his place; for if any mistake be suspected, it must be told again.
Mem. in Hakew., 26; 2 Hats., 143.
If any difficulty arises in point of order during the division, the
speaker is to decide peremptorily, subject to the future censure of the
House if irregular. He sometimes permits old experienced members
to assist him with their advice, which they do sitting in their seats,
covered, to avoid the appearance of debate; but this can only be with
the Speaker’s leave, else the division might last several hours. 2
Hats., 143.
The voice of the majority decides; for the lex majoris partis is the
law of all councils, elections, &c., where not otherwise expressly
provided. Hakew., 93. But if the House be equally divided, semper
presumatur pro negante; that is, the former law is not to be changed
but by a majority. Towns., col. 134.
[But in the Senate of the United States, the Vice-President decides
when the House is divided. Const. U. S., I, 3.]
When from counting the House on a division it appears that there
is not a quorum, the matter continues exactly in the state in which it
was before the division, and must be resumed at that point on any
future day. 2 Hats., 126.
1606, May 1, on a question whether a member having said yea may
afterwards sit and change his opinion, a precedent was remembered
by the Speaker, of Mr. Morris, attorney of the wards, in 39 Eliz., who
in like case changed his opinion. Mem. in Hakew., 27.

SEC. XLII.—TITLES.
 After the bill has passed, and not before, the title may be amended,
and is to be fixed by a question; and the bill is then sent to the other
House.

SEC. XLIII.—RECONSIDERATION.

[When a question has been once made and carried in the

affirmative or negative, it shall be in order for any member of the
majority to move for the reconsideration thereof; but no motion for
the reconsideration of any vote shall be in order after a bill,
resolution, message, report, amendment, or motion upon which the
vote was taken shall have gone out of the possession of the Senate
announcing their decision; nor shall any motion for reconsideration
be in order unless made on the same day on which the vote was
taken, or within the two next days of actual session of the Senate
thereafter. Rule 20.]
[1798, Jan. A bill on its second reading being amended, and on the
question whether it shall be read a third time negatived, was restored
by a decision to reconsider that question. Here the votes of negative
and reconsideration, like positive and negative quantities in
equation, destroy one another, and are as if they were expunged from
the journals. Consequently the bill is open for amendment, just so far
as it was the moment preceding the question for the third reading;
that is to say, all parts of the bill are open for amendment except
those on which votes have been already taken in its present stage. So,
also, it may be recommitted.]
[[102]The rule permitting a reconsideration of a question affixing to
it no limitation of time or circumstance, it may be asked whether
there is no limitation? If, after the vote, the paper on which it is
passed has been parted with, there can be no reconsideration; as if a
vote has been for the passage of a bill, and the bill has been sent to
the other House. But where the paper remains, as on a bill rejected;
when, or under what circumstances, does it cease to be susceptible of
reconsideration? This remains to be settled; unless a sense that the
right of reconsideration is a right to waste the time of the House in
repeated agitations of the same question, so that it shall never know
when a question is done with, should induce them to reform this
anomalous proceeding.]
In Parliament a question once carried cannot be questioned again
at the same session, but must stand as the judgment of the House.
Towns., col. 67; Mem. in Hakew., 33. And a bill once rejected,
another of the same substance cannot be brought in again the same
session. Hakew., 158; 6 Grey, 392. But this does not extend to
prevent putting the same question in different stages of a bill;
because every stage of a bill submits the whole and every part of it to
the opinion of the House, as open for amendment, either by insertion
or omission, though the same amendment has been accepted or
rejected in a former stage. So in reports of committees, e. g., report
of an address, the same question is before the House, and open for
free discussion. Towns., col. 26; 2 Hats., 98, 100, 101. So orders of
the House, or instructions to committees, may be discharged. So a
bill, begun in one House, and sent to the other, and there rejected,
may be renewed again in that other, passed and sent back Ib., 92: 3
Hats., 161. Or if, instead of being rejected, they read it once and lay it
aside or amend it, and put it off a month, they may order in another
to the same effect, with the same or a different title. Hakew., 97, 98.
Divers expedients are used to correct the effects of this rule; as, by
passing an explanatory act, if anything has been omitted or ill
expressed, 3 Hats., 278, or an act to enforce, and make more
effectual an act, &c., or to rectify mistakes in an act, &c., or a
committee on one bill may be instructed to receive a clause to rectify
the mistakes of another. Thus, June 24, 1685, a clause was inserted
in a bill for rectifying a mistake committed by a clerk in engrossing a
bill of supply. 2 Hats., 194, 6. Or the session may be closed for one,
two, three or more days, and a new one commenced. But then all
matters depending must be finished, or they fall, and are to begin de
novo. 2 Hats., 94, 98. Or a part of the subject may be taken up by
another bill, or taken up in a different way. 6 Grey, 304, 316.
And in cases of the last magnitude, this rule has not been so
strictly and verbally observed as to stop indispensable proceedings
altogether. 2 Hats., 92, 98. Thus when the address on the
preliminaries of peace in 1782 had been lost by a majority of one, on
account of the importance of the question, and smallness of the
majority, the same question in substance, though with some words
not in the first, and which might change the opinion of some
members, was brought on again and carried, as the motives for it
were thought to outweigh the objection of form. 2 Hats., 99, 100.
A second bill may be passed to continue an act of the same session,
or to enlarge the time limited for its execution. 2 Hats., 95, 98. This
is not in contradiction to the first act.

SEC. XLIV.—BILLS SENT TO THE OTHER HOUSE.

[All bills passed in the Senate shall, before they are sent to the
House of Representatives, be examined by a committee, consisting of
three members, whose duty it shall be to examine all bills,
amendments, resolutions, or motions, before they go out of the
possession of the Senate, and to make report that they are correctly
engrossed; which report shall be entered on the journal. Rule 34.]
A bill from the other House is sometimes ordered to lie on the
table. 2 Hats., 97.
When bills, passed in one House and sent to the other, are
grounded on special facts requiring proof, it is usual, either by
message or at a conference, to ask the grounds and evidence; and
this evidence, whether arising out of papers, or from the examination
of witnesses, is immediately communicated. 3 Hats., 48.

SEC. XLV.—AMENDMENTS BETWEEN THE HOUSES.

When either House, e. g., the House of Commons, send a bill to the
other, the other may pass it with amendments. The regular
progression in this case is, that the Commons disagree to the
amendment; the Lords insist on it; the Commons insist on their
disagreement; the Lords adhere to their amendment; the Commons
adhere to their disagreement. The term of insisting may be repeated
as often as they choose to keep the question open. But the first
adherence by either renders it necessary for the other to recede or
adhere also; when the matter is usually suffered to fall. 10 Grey, 148.
Latterly, however, there are instances of their having gone to a
second adherence. There must be an absolute conclusion of the
subject somewhere, or otherwise transactions between the Houses
would become endless. 3 Hats., 268, 270. The term of insisting, we
are told by Sir John Trevor, was then (1679) newly introduced into
parliamentary usage, by the Lords. 7 Grey, 94. It was certainly a
happy innovation, as it multiplies the opportunities of trying
modifications which may bring the Houses to a concurrence. Either
House, however, is free to pass over the term of insisting, and to
adhere in the first instance; 10 Grey, 146; but it is not respectful to
the other. In the ordinary parliamentary course, there are two free
conferences, at least, before an adherence. 10 Grey, 147.
Either House may recede from its amendment and agree to the
bill; or recede from their disagreement to the amendment, and agree
to the same absolutely, or with an amendment; for here the
disagreement and receding destroy one another, and the subject
stands as before the agreement. Elsynge, 23, 27; 9 Grey, 476.
But the House cannot recede from or insist on its own
amendment, with an amendment; for the same reason that it cannot
send to the other House an amendment to its own act after it has
passed the act. They may modify an amendment from the other
House by ingrafting an amendment on it, because they have never
assented to it; but they cannot amend their own amendment,
because they have, on the question, passed it in that form. 9 Grey,
363; 10 Grey, 240. In the Senate, March 29, 1798. Nor where one
House has adhered to their amendment, and the other agrees with
an amendment, can the first House depart from the form which they
have fixed by an adherence.
In the case of a money bill, the Lords’ proposed amendments,
become, by delay, confessedly necessary. The Commons, however,
refused them, as infringing on their privilege as to money bills; but
they offered themselves to add to the bill a proviso to the same effect,
which had no coherence with the Lords’ amendments; and urged
that it was an expedient warranted by precedent, and not
unparliamentary in a case become impracticable, and irremediable
in any other way. 3 Hats., 256, 266, 270, 271. But the Lords refused,
and the bill was lost. 1 Chand., 288. A like case, 1 Chand., 311. So the
Commons resolved that it is unparliamentary to strike out, at a
conference, anything in a bill which hath been agreed and passed by
both Houses. 6 Grey, 274; 1 Chand., 312.
 A motion to amend an amendment from the other House takes
precedence of a motion to agree or disagree.
A bill originating in one House is passed by the other with an
amendment.
The originating House agrees to their amendment with an
amendment. The other may agree to their amendment with an
amendment, that being only in the 2d and not the 3d degree; for, as
to the amending House, the first amendment with which they passed
the bill is a part of its text; it is the only text they have agreed to. The
amendment to that text by the originating House, therefore, is only
in the 1st degree, and the amendment to that again by the amending
House is only in the 2d, to wit, an amendment to an amendment, and
so admissible. Just so, when, on a bill from the originating House,
the other, at its second reading, makes an amendment; on the third
reading this amendment is become the text of the bill, and if an
amendment to it be moved, an amendment to that amendment may
also be moved, as being only in the 2d degree.

SEC. XLVI.—CONFERENCES.

It is on the occasion of amendments between the Houses that

conferences are usually asked; but they may be asked in all cases of
difference of opinion between the two Houses on matters depending
between them. The request of a conference, however, must always be
by the House which is possessed of the papers. 3 Hats., 31; 1 Grey,
425.
Conferences may be either simple or free. At a conference simply,
written reasons are prepared by the House asking it, and they are
read and delivered, without debate, to the managers of the other
House at the conference; but are not then to be answered. 4 Grey,
144. The other House then, if satisfied, vote the reasons satisfactory,
or say nothing; if not satisfied, they resolve them not satisfactory and
ask a conference on the subject of the last conference, where they
read and deliver, in like manner, written answers to those reasons. 3
Grey, 183. They are meant chiefly to record the justification of each
House to the nation at large, and to posterity, and in proof that the
miscarriage of a necessary measure is not imputable to them. 3 Grey,
255. At free conferences, the managers discuss, viva voce and freely,
and interchange propositions for such modifications as may be made
in a parliamentary way, and may bring the sense of the two Houses
together. And each party reports in writing to their respective
Houses the substance of what is said on both sides, and it is entered
on their journals. 9 Grey, 220; 3 Hats., 280. This report cannot be
amended or altered, as that of a committee may be. Journal Senate,
May 24, 1796.
A conference may be asked, before the House asking it has come to
a resolution of disagreement, insisting or adhering. 3 Hats., 269, 341.
In which case the papers are not left with the other conferees, but are
brought back to be the foundation of the vote to be given. And this is
the most reasonable and respectful proceeding; for, as was urged by
the Lords on a particular occasion, “it is held vain, and below the
wisdom of Parliament, to reason or argue against fixed resolutions,
and upon terms of impossibility to persuade.” 3 Hats., 226. So the
Commons say, “an adherence is never delivered at a free conference,
which implies debate.” 10 Grey, 137. And on another occasion the
Lords made it an objection that the Commons had asked a free
conference after they had made resolutions of adhering. It was then
affirmed, however, on the part of the Commons, that nothing was
more parliamentary than to proceed with free conferences after
adhering, 3 Hats., 269, and we do in fact see instances of conference,
or of free conference, asked after the resolution of disagreeing, 3
Hats., 251, 253, 260, 286, 291, 316, 349; of insisting, ib., 280, 296,
299, 319, 322, 355; of adhering, 269, 270, 283, 300; and even of a
second or final adherence. 3 Hats., 270. And in all cases of
conference asked after a vote of disagreement, &c., the conferees of
the House asking it are to leave the papers with the conferees of the
other; and in one case where they refused to receive them, they were
left on the table in the conference chamber. ib., 271, 317, 323, 354; 10
Grey, 146.
After a free conference, the usage is to proceed with free
conferences, and not to return again to a conference. 3 Hats., 270; 9
Grey, 229.
After a conference denied, a free conference may be asked. 1 Grey,
45.
 When a conference is asked, the subject of it must be expressed, or
the conference not agreed to. Ord. H Com., 89; Grey, 425; 7 Grey,
31. They are sometimes asked to inquire concerning an offense or
default of a member of the other House. 6 Grey, 181; 1 Chand., 304.
Or the failure of the other House to present to the King a bill passed
by both Houses, 8 Grey, 302. Or on information received, and
relating to the safety of the nation. 10 Grey, 171. Or when the
methods of Parliament are thought by the one House to have been
departed from by the other, a conference is asked to come to a right
understanding thereon. 10 Grey, 148. So when an unparliamentary
message has been sent, instead of answering it, they ask a
conference. 3 Grey, 155. Formerly an address or articles of
impeachment, or a bill with amendments, or a vote of the House, or
concurrence in a vote, or a message from the King, were sometimes
communicated by way of conference. 6 Grey, 128, 300, 387; 7 Grey,
80; 8 Grey, 210, 255; 1 Torbuck’s Deb., 278; 10 Grey, 293; 1
Chandler, 49, 287. But this is not the modern practice. 8 Grey, 255.
A conference has been asked after the first reading of a bill. 1 Grey,
194. This is a singular instance.

SEC. XLVII.—MESSAGES.

Messages between the Houses are to be sent only while both

Houses are sitting. 3 Hats., 15. They are received during a debate
without adjourning the debate. 3 Hats., 22.
[In Senate the messengers are introduced in any state of business,
except, 1. While a question is being put. 2. While the yeas and nays
are being called. 3. While the ballots are being counted. Rule 51. The
first case is short; the second and third are cases where any
interruption might occasion errors difficult to be corrected. So
arranged June 15, 1798.]
In the House of Representatives, as in Parliament, if the House be
in committee when a messenger attends, the Speaker takes the chair
to receive the message, and then quits it to return into committee,
without any question or interruption. 4 Grey, 226.
Messengers are not saluted by the members, but by the Speaker
for the House. 2 Grey, 253, 274.
 If messengers commit an error in delivering their message, they
may be admitted or called in to correct their message. 4 Grey, 41.
Accordingly, March 13, 1800, the Senate having made two
amendments to a bill from the House of Representatives, their
Secretary, by mistake, delivered one only; which being inadmissible
by itself, that House disagreed, and notified the Senate of their
disagreement. This produced a discovery of the mistake. The
Secretary was sent to the other House to correct his mistake, the
correction was received, and the two amendments acted on de novo.
As soon as the messenger, who has brought bills from the other
House, has retired, the Speaker holds the bills in his hand, and
acquaints the House “that the other House have by their messenger
sent certain bills,” and then reads their titles, and delivers them to
the Clerk, to be safely kept till they shall be called for to be read.
Hakew., 178.
It is not the usage for one House to inform the other by what
numbers a bill is passed. 10 Grey, 150. Yet they have sometimes
recommended a bill, as of great importance, to the consideration of
the House to which it is sent. 3 Hats., 25. Nor when they have
rejected a bill from the other House, do they give notice of it; but it
passes sub silentio, to prevent unbecoming altercations. 1 Blackst.,
183.
[But in Congress the rejection is notified by message to the House
in which the bill originated.]
A question is never asked by the one House of the other by way of
message, but only at a conference; for this is an interrogatory, not a
message. 3 Grey, 151, 181.
When a bill is sent by one House to the other, and is neglected,
they may send a message to remind them of it. 3 Hats., 25; 5 Grey,
154. But if it be mere inattention, it is better to have it done
informally by communications between the Speakers or members of
the two Houses.
Where the subject of a message is of a nature that it can properly
be communicated to both Houses of Parliament, it is expected that
this communication should be made to both on the same day. But
where a message was accompanied with an original declaration,
signed by the party to which the message referred, its being sent to
one House was not noticed by the other, because the declaration,
being original, could not possibly be sent to both Houses at the same
time. 2 Hats., 260, 261, 262.
The King having sent original letters to the Commons, afterward
desires they may be returned, that he may communicate them to the
Lords. 1 Chandler, 303.

SEC. XLVIII.—ASSENT.

The House which has received a bill and passed it may present it
for the King’s assent, and ought to do it, though they have not by
message notified to the other their passage of it. Yet the notifying by
message is a form which ought to be observed between the two
Houses from motives of respect and good understanding. 2 Hats.,
242. Were the bill to be withheld from being presented to the King, it
would be an infringement of the rules of Parliament. Ib.
[When a bill has passed both Houses of Congress, the House last
acting on it notifies its passage to the other, and delivers the bill to
the Joint Committee of Enrolment, who see that it is truly enrolled in
parchment]. When the bill is enrolled, it is not to be written in
paragraphs, but solidly, and all of a piece, that the blanks between
the paragraphs may not give room for forgery. 9 Grey, 143. [It is then
put into the hands of the Clerk of the House of Representatives to
have it signed by the Speaker. The Clerk then brings it by way of
message to the Senate to be signed by their President. The Secretary
of the Senate returns it to the Committee of Enrolment, who present
it to the President of the United States. If he approve, he signs, and
deposits it among the rolls in the office of the Secretary of State, and
notifies by message the House in which it originated that he has
approved and signed it; of which that House informs the other by
message. If the President disapproves, he is to return it, with his
objections, to that House in which it shall have originated; who are to
enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to
reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of that House
shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the
President’s objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise
be reconsidered; and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall
become a law. If any bill shall not be returned by the President
within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented
to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner after he had signed it,
unless the Congress, by their adjournment, prevent its return; in
which case it shall not be a law. Const., I, 7.]
[Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary, (except on a
question of adjournment), shall be presented to the President of the
United States, and, before the same shall take effect, shall be
approved by him; or, being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by
two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to
the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill. Const., I, 7.]

SEC. XLIX.—JOURNALS.

[Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time
to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may, in their
judgment, require secrecy. Const., I, 5.]
[The proceedings of the Senate, when not acting as in a Committee
of the Whole, shall be entered on the journals as concisely as
possible, care being taken to detail a true account of the proceedings.
Every vote of the Senate shall be entered on the journals, and a brief
statement of the contents of each petition, memorial, or paper
presented to the Senate, be also inserted on the journal. Rule 5.]
[The titles of bills, and such parts thereof, only, as shall be affected
by proposed amendments, shall be inserted on the journals. Rule 5.]
If a question is interrupted by a vote to adjourn, or to proceed to
the orders of the day, the original question is never printed in the
journal, it never having been a vote, nor introductory to any vote; but
when suppressed by the previous question, the first question must be
stated, in order to introduce and make intelligible the second. 2
Hats., 83.
So also when a question is postponed, adjourned, or laid on the
table, the original question, though not yet a vote, must be expressed
in the journals; because it makes part of the vote of postponement,
adjourning, or laying it on the table.
 Where amendments are made to a question, those amendments
are not printed in the journals, separated from the question; but only
the question as finally agreed to by the House. The rule of entering in
the journals only what the House has agreed to, is founded in great
prudence and good sense; as there may be many questions proposed,
which it may be improper to publish to the world in the form in
which they are made. 2 Hats., 85.
[In both Houses of Congress, all questions whereon the yeas and
nays are desired by one-fifth of the members present, whether
decided affirmatively or negatively, must be entered in the journals.
Const., I, 5.]
The first order for printing the votes of the House of Commons
was October 30, 1685. 1 Chandler, 387.
Some judges have been of opinion that the journals of the House of
Commons are no records, but only remembrances. But this is not
law. Hob., 110, 111; Lex Parl., 114, 115; Jour. H. C., Mar. 17, 1592;
Hale, Parl., 105. For the Lords in their House have power of
judicature, the Commons in their House have power of judicature,
and both Houses together have power of judicature; and the book of
the Clerk of the House of Commons is a record, as is affirmed by act
of Parl., 6 H. 8, c. 16; 4 Inst., 23, 24; and every member of the House
of Commons hath a judicial place. 4 Inst., 15. As records they are
open to every person, and a printed vote of either House is sufficient
ground for the other to notice it. Either may appoint a committee to
inspect the journals of the other, and report what has been done by
the other in any particular case. 2 Hats., 261; 3 Hats., 27–30. Every
member has a right to see the journals and to take and publish votes
from them. Being a record, every one may see and publish them. 6
Grey, 118, 119.
On information of a mis-entry or omission of an entry in the
journal, a committee may be appointed to examine and rectify it, and
report it to the House. 2 Hats., 194, 1195.

SEC. L.—ADJOURNMENT.

The two Houses of Parliament have the sole, separate, and

independent power of adjourning each their respective Houses. The