Hazrat Ya'la (may Allah be pleased with him) bin Ubaid narrates that once Muhammad bin Sawqah came to us and said, "I will tell you something which, I hope, will benefit you, because it has benefited me." He said that Ata bin Rabah told us, "O my nephew, the people before you used to avoid useless talk, except that you recite the Book of Allah, the Holy Qur'an, or command a good deed, or forbid an evil, and that you speak about your necessary livelihood as much as needed. Can you deny the Qur'anic verses { عَلَیْکُمْ حَافِظِینَ کِرَامًا کَاتِبِینَ } and { عَنِ الْیَمِینِ وَعَنِ الشِّمَالِ قَعِیدٌ مَا یَلْفِظُ مِنْ قَوْلٍ إِلاَّ لَدَیْہِ رَقِیبٌ عَتِیدٌ}? Do you not feel ashamed that if the record of your deeds for the whole day is opened, most of the things in it are such that have no relation to religion nor to the world?"