What Is the “Laghwu” Believers Should Avoid?

Shaikh Rabīʿ ibn Hādī Al-Madkhalī, may Allāh protect him, said:

And those who turn away from al-laghwu [false or wasteful talk].

(Al-Muʾminūn: 3, English explanation)

Al-Laghwu has been explained as speech that has no benefit in it; it has been explained as shirk¹; it has been explained as bāṭil [that which is false or baseless]. And it may be that the verse encompasses all of these variations.

So believers do not commit shirk with Allāh, nor do they fall into bāṭil, nor do they get themselves involved in idle talk [devoid of any benefit] and wasting time on distracting pleasures and frivolous amusements.

They are nothing but serious about their lives. They work righteous acts, seek favor with Allāh, seek [Islāmic] knowledge, and call to Allāh–serious deeds–because they have put Paradise [right there] before their eyes.

So be from among these types and turn away from al-laghwu. How much laghwu there is in this time [of ours], for it comes to people from above them, from outer space, and from under their feet, and from newspapers and magazines; and they have partaken–by Allāh–of much laghwu and bāṭil.

Don’t let the like of these matters distract you from that which Allāh, the Great and All-High, has created you for: worshipping and obeying Him, doing [all religious acts] for Him alone, standing upright upon His religion and remaining firm upon it in this life.

Don’t be from the people of worldly pleasures, of false or wasteful talk, of loss and waste–and refuge from [all] that is with Allāh.

We ask Allāh to keep us safe from these trials and tribulations, and we ask Him to keep us away from them.

Notes:

¹Shirk is treating other than Allāh as an equal of Allāh in something that is only Allāh’s (ʿAbd al-Razzāq Al-Badr)

Sources:

Al-Madkhalī, Rabīʿ ibn Hādī. Nafaḥāt al-Hudá wa-l-Īmān min Majālis al-Qurʾān. Dār al-Mīrāth al-Nabawī, 1436 H | 2016 CE, Algeria, p.179.

Al-Badr, ʿAbd al-Razzāq. Sharḥ al-Risālah Anwāʿ al-Tawḥīd wa Anwāʿ al-Shirk, recording 1 of 6, 37:05