Mahmoud Al-Halawani (*)

The fear of uttering something wrong or even saying something right in a wrong way makes some people feel uncomfortable speaking in front of others, and they consider it an extreme burden so they remain silent, and perhaps you find them fleeing those situations that require them to speak. How many are those situations that require us to speak: self-defense, claiming a right, managing a department including directing subordinates and dialogue with them and with bosses, attending company meetings, the club, the family, speaking to radio or television, writing for the press, writing letters, exchanging words of love with the wife, talking with friends, neighbors, practicing trade, and before all that revealing the personal identity which is part of the total identity .. but some of us fear, that fear which a writer justified by saying: «To remain silent and be thought a fool is better than to open your mouth and confirm the suspicion». I wonder if an instigation like this was what bridled the tongue of Socrates' student, making him remain silent while the teacher conducted his dialogue with his students?

In order to get rid of these fears first, and then for the higher purpose of making speech which is effective communication with people second, then getting to know the personal identity before that, for us, for us to know people and for them to know us by our identities, Socrates shouted at his silent student saying: My son, speak so that I may see you. Speak so that others may see you. Let us all communicate for life.

But beware while you speak of being like these pedants and pretenders: A man went to the doctor complaining to him saying: I ate the meat of these squabs, and I became nauseous, and a pain hit me between the clavicle and the neck vertebra, and it continued to grow and increase until it mixed with the pleura and the ribs» and another example, someone was asked about his son and he replied: Fever took him and cooked him cookingly, and crushed him crushingly, and weakened him weakeningly, so it left him a chick? Or like Ghurab, the master of birds' paradise in an Egyptian movie (Abdel Salam Al-Nabulsi) when his friend resorted to him to write him a letter to win the heart of his beloved, so he dictated the following letter to him:

My singing bird, may d preserve you and keep you a treasure... and a greeting like a cool damp breeze from a bird hit by exhaustion, this poor bird was hit by the storm of your anger, so its wing broke, alas.. alas.. alas.. its feathers are plucked, its hair is exposed, and its color is stolen!

It is said that Imam Al-Shafi'i was sitting before his students simply stretching his leg due to a pain in it, and a man of prestige and dignity whom Shafi'i did not know entered the mosque, so he folded his leg in respect for the man's prestige and dignity thinking that the man might be a scholar, and he continued his lesson. As soon as Shafi'i finished, the man asked him a question that did not reflect his belonging to science, but his question revealed a scandalous ignorance and lack of understanding of the lesson, so Shafi'i was surprised and did not answer him, but contented himself with stretching his leg, saying: It is time for Shafi'i to stretch his leg.

In order not to be like this man and like those we gave as examples of pretenders, we must seek to develop our abilities to dialogue with others, to clarify and express ourselves and our identities, so that we establish excellent relationships with society, and establish effective and fruitful communication that supports the collective identity and nurtures its determinants such as religion and language and adds to life itself effectiveness and splendor.

Dialogue surrounds the universe and things, and through it life bears fruit and continues. The sun is there and the plant is here, how do you see life without their dialogue, stars and planets, winds and ships, soul and body, even the body itself which if an organ complains, the rest of the organs fall into fever and wakefulness, they are the signs of d in His universe, indicating His greatness, which do not stop telling us every day, even every moment, about d's greatness and the freedom of His power and His signs ..

Speech is our window to others. Speech is our important and wide window through which we look at our identities and at others. We know them and they know us, we see them and they see us. Through it is our agreement and disagreement. Through it identities are revealed and upon it civilization was built and by it people knew each other, and construction arose, and man ruled d's kingdom on earth.. So do you want to be silent? Everyone around you and everything around you extends their hand to you, wanting to communicate with you, saying to you as the philosopher said to his student: Speak so that I may see you.. Speak so that we may communicate together.. For others are not hell «as Sartre said» you must always be stretching your hand, open with your soul and mind to those around you and it was said: «Man does not find those who put their hands in his hand, if his hand is closed», also it was said: «The wise man is he who makes a boat to cross the river, instead of building walls around himself to protect him from the flood». 

Long a Socrates said: «Know thyself» and you cannot know yourself without speaking, for your speech indicates you, and because Socrates was not just a philosopher or a speaking teacher, but he considered that listening to others is an (art) in which there are many benefits for the listener, if he masters it, as it enables him to know the «subject» from all points of view. Socrates missed the point of view of his silent student, missed his participation in producing knowledge and reaching correctness through striking opinions against each other, through establishing dialogue between them..

We do not want to reduce people's value to their ability to talk only, and their brilliance in speech.. for a person might not be od at expressing himself in spoken words, but he is od at expressing himself in another way, like one who expresses himself with music, or painting, or by od performance in his work like a successful doctor or an efficient employee or a hard worker, or an architect or builder whose architecture speaks for him. Imam Ali, may d honor his face, says «The value of every person is what he does well».

It can also be said that every expression of the self by any tool whatever is also an expression of identity, which can be manifested in every authentic human product. Deep self-expression helps create an effective, healthy environment, and activates silent identities, so we must all practice speech, releasing our voices ..to speak of what is useful and not harmful to others nor the community “speak od or stay silent”, and before expressing yourself in speech or by any means, train your ears to listen and heed, which is an art that many do not master..