“The tongue is the translator of the heart.”

An old saying with a long record. Al-Ghazali uses it in the Ihya’ when he ranks those who recite the Qur’an: the highest are those whose hearts reach the meaning first, so that the tongue serves the heart as its interpreter rather than its teacher. Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr lists “the tongue is the interpreter of the inner heart” among the sayings of earlier generations. The Sunnah gives it its weight: whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should speak good or stay silent.