Secrets of al-Jāḥiẓ

<p>Among the lesser works of the ninth-century Iraqi writer Jāḥiẓ is an essay titled “The Guarding of the Secret and the Holding of the Tongue.” It teaches two skills seldom named in the enumeration of the arts of language: how not to speak at the wrong time and how not to lose a secret by divulging it.1 Al-Jāḥiẓ wastes no time recalling that all secrets can be disclosed, and that it is a good in itself, for those who hold them, that they remain concealed. He begins, instead, by commenting on the causes that may lead to unwanted revelations. It would be an error to ascribe these solely to the many infirmities of the will. Admittedly, “there is nothing more difficult than fighting with cunning against one’s instinct, and seeking to vanquish one’s passions,” and, at all times, the intellect must strive to dominate the organ of its expression, the tongue, as if it were a camel to be shackled. The human breast, by nature, feels the weight of its many contents. It relieves itself when it finds an occasion to rid itself of all that it has stored, not only in solitude, as when one speaks to oneself, but also in company, as when one relates a secret to “someone who is incapable of keeping or maintaining it.” At such times, the tongue, al-Jāḥiẓ notes, takes pleasure in releasing what the mind has long kept to itself. Yet unwanted disclosures may also result from inclinations of the noblest sort…</p>