«كِلْمِةِ الْفمِّ سَلَفْ وَلَوْ بَعْد حِينْ»

Spoken words are pictured as a loan or advance that must be repaid, not as anything inherited from forebears. Whatever a person says about others is not lost once it leaves the mouth. It is held like a debt and will be paid back to the speaker in the same coin, whether soon or long afterward.

The principle applies to both good and bad speech, but it is mostly invoked against harmful talk such as slander, backbiting, or baseless accusations. Its usual tone is therefore a warning rather than encouragement: the offender will someday hear the same said about themselves.

Said mostly when someone has spoken ill of another person, for example by gossiping, backbiting, or making a false accusation. It warns that the same treatment will eventually come back to them. Less often, it can remark that a kind word will one day be repaid.