Human beings can be recognized and known through their good senses, and their senses can be recognized through their thoughts, and their thoughts through their words.
Human beings can be recognized and known through their good senses, and their senses can be recognized through their thoughts, and their thoughts through their words. For example, if we want to know God, we can read the holy Quran, because it is the word of God that has been sent to the holy prophet (PBUH).
Imam Ali (PBUH) says: Allah, the Glorified, revealed Himself to them through His Book without their having seen Him. [1]
We can also get to know the prophet (PBUH) and the infallible leaders through the great traditions which have been narrated from them.
To view this matter from an Islamic angle, let's take a look at a tradition from Imam Ali (PBUH), he has said:
Man has hidden behind his words, his wisdom and intelligence and insight is hidden beneath his tongue. [3]
This basically means that we can be valued through our sayings, and our words are reflection of our thoughts and our personality, our words are representatives of what goes on in our minds. It is how we express our thoughts and feelings, our sense and sensibility that truly shows our personality and if we pretend to be someone that we are not, it will not take so long until people will realize who we really are. Imam Ali (PBUH) says:
Often your utterances and expressions of your face leak out the secrets of your hidden thoughts. [4]
So basically mature words represent a mature mind and immature choice of language would truly reflect an immature characteristic that lives in a person's body, as imam Ali says:
The tongue of the intelligent one is behind his heart and the heart of a fool is behind his tongue.
this means that whenever an intelligent person wishes to say something, first, he refers to his intellect and thinks about the consequences of saying what he is about to say, however, a foolish person says whatever he wishes without giving enough thought to it.
So we should feel more obligated to use our intellect before speaking and to pay attention to the set of words and the kind of language we use, and pay attention to the way we express our thoughts and the way that we communicate with people.
Notes
[1] Nahj al-balagha. Sermon 146.
فتجلّي لهم سُبحانه في كتابه من غير أن يكونوا رأوه؛
[2] Nahj al-balagha, saying 148.
الْمَرْءُ مَخْبُوءٌ تَحْتَ لِسَانِه.
[3] Nahj al-balagha, saying 26.
مَا أَضْمَرَ أَحَدٌ شَیْئاً إِلَّا ظَهَرَ فِی فَلَتَاتِ لِسَانِهِ، وَصَفَحَاتِ وَجْهِهِ.
[4] Nahj al-balagha, saying 40.
«لِسَانُ الْعَاقِلِ وَرَاءَ قَلْبِهِ وَ قَلْبُ الْأَحْمَقِ وَرَاءَ لِسَانِه »