The Limits of Speech: Between the Heart and the Tongue
Examines how silence and speech are treated by rulers, security apparatuses and social customs—covering interrogation, patronage, censorship, employment barriers and the pressure to remain silent.
العربيةRead the Arabic original
English translation, prepared and reviewed before publication. The Arabic text is authoritative.
- Published
- Reading time
- 5 min read

4-11-2018
- To remain silent.. to keep quiet.... for then you are accused of being of those with calm...suspicious traits!!! according to customs and human nature...they say..."You only fear the silent one"!!, or "Look why he is silent"!!.... And in another custom...silence...means a nod of consent in marriage contracts....and in deal contracts....and acceptance of injustice and tyranny.!!.
- As for silence and quietness.... in the understanding of the security apparatuses ..of the ruling authorities.... it is considered a failure....of the teams of those apparatuses in interrogation...and extracting confessions... they use lie-detector devices made in the last century.....that work by deception...so they detect your lie...through the appearance of sweating on your body...!!.. and they will not accept that you are sweating from torture... so the citizen confesses that it was he who offended the ruler!!..and they issue an order against him..and that he is one of the terrorists..according to the regimes’ classification lists that they recite to him!! In bygone times...when people decided to speak in the ruler’s presence..the gifted went there.. so whoever God had endowed with the talent of composing poetry..or mastering timely legal opinion (iftāʼ)!!.would go to the ruler....recite verses of poetry in praise..of the ruler and his entourage, or answer the ruler’s riddles,,,if he answered with what the ruler wanted..or issued the fatwa the ruler wished to hear....he would leave...carrying a purse of money from the public treasury or from the ruler’s coffers!! and a bundle of appointments by the ruler’s gesture...appointing family members for the fortunate citizen to jobs created to suit their kind..!! advisers to the ruler for South Asia and West Africa and Central Europe...!! so he and his children and clan become lackeys of the ruler............!! And among them...those who went to the ruler drugged.....carried....silent...because they spoke a word of truth before a crowd half of whom were soldiers civilians conscripted...for the ruler...!! he would leave carried from there a scrap of cloth..or a rag!! after his neck was cut because he had insulted the ruler’s rank...and disparaged his entourage.....!!..that was the time...!! No..it is still being reproduced..in the courts of sultans and rulers.. rather more lethal!!
- In other places in the great Arab homeland ..any voices opposing the prevailing system are considered an act of rebellion against the system....you are thrown into prison even if you have children behind you, who need sustenance...!!..they prevent your children from traveling..or they fire warning shots at you in the blackness of night...the source of the shots is not discovered by the surveillance cameras...installed..in the streets...and homes..but they malfunction and the perpetrator..is unknown..!! Young people graduate from their universities..and their families who spent the blood of their hearts for their education and paid their fees and expenses at the universities..and cohorts graduate...and they try to knock on doors...and meet the official where jobs are announced...according to equal opportunity!! but you wait for months and you reckon that you are among the qualified for the job.!!.according to what you deduce from the answers, qualifications and courses obtained...but no one calls you!!..they announce..vacancies...the jobs formally in line with the law and transparency...but they conceal...their approval to appoint others with connections...before the announcement is issued...and they postpone appointing those they chose...until the sham interviews are finished...and when you start asking about connections to employ the son or daughter...and who suits His Highness the responsible general..!!...they answer you that your son or daughter...are more qualified than the job requires. in skills..!! Over Qualified!! They announce in the press and media and social communication means..and at their gathering forums.!!.that they are the country of freedom and justice...and that the citizen is the dearest thing they possess...where freedom for them has the sky as its limit.... and the judiciary...they do not interfere with it..it is independent..and their elections are transparent..where citizens vote according to their will to renew the governor’s mandate...for the fifth time..despite infirmity.. ..according to the constitution amended by them repeatedly..!!...As for the ruling families by God’s decree...rule is confined to their lineage..no elections and no governments and no parliaments...no freedoms nor democracies nor human rights..nor constitutions ...only bayʿa by whisper!! or raising the index finger high!!..and the debate ends...and confined to the male line. where photography and use of phones and smart minds are prohibited..!!
- Yes the citizen is the dearest thing they possess...because he keeps silent about saying the word of truth, compelled, broken in spirit. Occupation crouches on the chests of some...they want citizens..mouth-owners without the year.!!.no rather without fingers to write.!!....through computers and technology...so that you write while you are silent!!..and it has become required of the citizen to be silent even the finger that writes. and they will enact a cybercrimes law for him...and they introduced iris-scanning movement!! ..to track you anywhere not to provide you services according to constitutions most members of whose councils who enacted them are dead or among the dead!! ....they erase your records for security not for food!!...in case you win a job competition...in the loyalty register... and the social communication register... passing through the phone call log...and your movement log..and so on from holding records and modern digital ledgers.!!.. for weeks, until they are reassured by their devices....that you are clean...umm? for not having previously participated in any offensive movement..in word or writing...that may, in their broad interpretation, offend the ranks of cronies and officials.!!....if you are clean they congratulate you on the job...and you ascend stairs and ranks and semiannual promotions..!!..but if you are dirty!! –without excusing the word itself - according to their specifications...they summon you for investigation and you lose the job...and sit at home in a seat. blamed, confined...you bewail your fate.in this wretched time.. !!
- In the same context...Arab societies have been emptied of effective trade unions..and real parliamentary councils.and transparent civil society organizations..and they banned gatherings..and extended the application of emergency laws. for the season of their breeding!! so they showered their security apparatuses with gifts...to buy their consciences...and to brutalize the masses that might demonstrate over the rise in the price of a loaf of bread or a deduction from their meager wages.!!...and in their breeding seasons the authorities choose chicks of the wealthy...they enact laws for them to protect their imports...and they exempt them from taxes..for years .under the pretext of encouraging investment. to create jobs ....which in the end become the preserve of the tribe..!!.and they intervene to protect them and protect their high-priced goods...and enact laws banning the import of cheaply priced goods... so competition is not allowed as long as monopoly..is in the hands of the wealthy and the rulers’ cronies are present!!..
- The citizen’s decision has become difficult..the list is long....!!!.either he uses his index finger in the tashahhud and prayer upon the prophets and the messengers..and the leaders.!!..or he adds a qualitative function to that index finger...by performing the tashahhud and praying on the prophets and placing dots on the letters... by word and deed for change.!!..for there is no longer room to be content with the weakest level of faith...and to confine anger to the heart and tongue.. rather with speech and action..and reform..peacefully......not by war..!!!.
- Tyranny .....brings the flood .....the flood of the wronged peoples ....not only in spring, but in the four seasons....!! for the one who is silent about saying the truth is a dumb devil...so do not be devils!!
- Writing scale::: 1/23 of the Arab University....
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Zuhdi Shubeitah, “The Limits of Speech: Between the Heart and the Tongue” (English translation of «حدود الكلام..........بين القلب واللسان...», originally published 20 September 2022), https://www.zuhdish.co/en/articles/the-limits-of-speech-between-the-heart
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