وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنِ اللَّغْوِ مُّعْرِضُونَ
Those who turn away from idle talks.
"alatheena hum ain allaghui ma'ridhoon"
Stranger: The next characteristic of Mu'mineen is the shunning of empty or idle talk. We all know how damaging idle talk can be to us and to others. I understand that laghoo extends to more than what most of us think of initially - the gossiping and so on.
Dr: Laghoo in the dictionary means errors and mistakes in talk or action. Here in the ayah it means the same and includes all types of useless talks, and anything in which there is no benefit.
Stranger: This would then extend to types of entertainment programs on TV, like soap operas and similar programs.
Dr: Yes, there is a lot of laghoo in the TV, and it is an easy temptation to watch these but we need to be disciplined because there are also useful programs on the TV where we can benefit in Islamic knowledge as well as in sciences and history and so on, documentaries and the like.
Stranger: What about the news? Some news spread untruths - that would be laghoo wouldn't it?
Dr: The news is useful, but we need to review our intention for watching a program and to use our intelligence when viewing it. We should know how the situation is for Muslims around the world, especially now that everything has become so messed up politically. We get ourselves informed but be aware of these untruths, and which alliances the news agency has. For example if you watch the BBC (Arabic service) you will find General Sisi presented in a more positive light than al-Jazeera where the lean is more towards revolutionaries. Also with the news now on 24 hour cycle, we don't need to waste time watching the exact same news twenty times, watch once, then again the next day when the news is updated.
Stranger: What other things are included in laghoo?
Dr: games of no benefit like dice games, they are haram anyway. Joking and idle silliness, anything where there is no benefit. Even if for example you yell at someone without good reason, it is not haram but it is not from good manners and so no benefit. This is laghoo too.
Stranger: Someone serious about pleasing Allah would have no time for this anyway. What about sports?
Dr: Playing sports for the purpose of building strength and fitness is good but all this mass mega-spectator sports are laghoo and surrounded by haram such as illegal betting and alcohol.
Yes, the leaving of laghoo is linked to khushoo which we discussed before. When someone seriously starts building their khushoo, they start to dislike laghoo and turn away from it, and the stronger the khushoo becomes the less desirable it is to indulge in laghoo. They end up having absolutely no interest in it in any of its forms. So shunning and turning away from laghoo increases khushoo which then benefits the Muslim in their prayer.
stranger: This is good to know, and I hope we can all be determined to shun the laghoo and build our khushoo, so esential to reaching Mu'min Status. Thank you Dr!
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