Wasting the Fasting - Mufti Menk

Islamic education

9/9/2024

Transcript

00:00How To Change Your Tongue?

00:13In the month of Ramadan, we reach out to people

00:16in a way that our character and conduct should show

00:19that we are changed.

00:21That's why the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him says,

00:24whoever is not going to ensure the correct use of their tongues,

00:28and whoever is going to engage in abusive language,

00:32and that which is false in terms of false accusation,

00:35false witness, etc.,

00:36while they're abstaining from food and drink,

00:39have actually wasted their time staying away from food and drink.

00:42Because Allah says,

00:44I don't need that they have stayed away from their food and drink.

00:47I don't need it.

00:49In the same way in Ramadan,

00:50we're conscious about what should be going in,

00:53and not be going in to our mouths.

00:56We should be conscious about what comes out of the same mouth.

01:00Many of us forget this.

01:01For us, if you say, what's Ramadan all about?

01:03You say, it's about not eating, right?

01:06Yesterday I was speaking in Glasgow,

01:09and I said, it's strange how Ramadan is a month of not eating.

01:16And if you go to our kitchens right now,

01:18we're piling up, stockpiling for the month of Ramadan

01:21with all the savories and the food

01:23that we're going to be munching away.

01:26During the month of not eating, subhanallah.

01:29It's like the minute the sun sets and that's it.

01:32We like get to this, you know,

01:34a table laid with food and we're about to do qada.

01:37You know, qada means to recompense yourself

01:39for something you've missed.

01:41That's not what Ramadan is all about.

01:43But anyway, just as we make sure

01:47we are conscious about what goes into our mouths

01:50in terms of food,

01:51we need to be conscious about what comes out of our mouths

01:53in terms of language.

01:56مَنْ لَمْ يَدْعَ قَوْلَ الزُّورِ وَالْعَمَلَ بِهِ وَالْجَهْلَ

01:59فَلَيْسَ لِلَّهِ حَاجَةٌ فِي أَنْ يَدْعَ طَعَامَهُ وَشَرَابَهُ

02:03Whoever's not going to be conscious

02:05about what comes out of his mouth

02:07because he blurts out words

02:09that are abusive and false in their nature.

02:12Allah doesn't need the fact

02:14that he stayed away from food and drink.

02:16For what?

02:17It's a wholesome act of worship.

02:21It's discipline.

02:22If you were to fast,

02:24you didn't say bad words,

02:26part of your fast.

02:27You didn't eat or drink,

02:29part of your fast.

02:30You didn't engage in permissible sexual activity,

02:33part of your fast.

02:34When I say permissible,

02:35meaning that which is otherwise permissible.

02:38But you didn't pray through the day.

02:41What did you do?

02:42Blemish in the fast such

02:43that its reward is almost nullified,

02:46if anything.

02:47So you have people because the fast is long,

02:49they say, well, I'm going to be sleeping.

02:51So you sleep through dhuhr,

02:52you sleep through asr,

02:53and you sometimes even sleep through maghrib,

02:56and then you get up,

02:56hey, is the time done?

02:57Yeah, it's done.

02:58Quickly give me the date, for example.

03:00Hang on, hang on.

03:01But you didn't even fulfill your salah.

03:04What happened?

03:05My brothers and sisters,

03:06if you want to benefit from the month,

03:08you need to do it in a proper way.

03:11It's a package.

03:13You cannot just do what you feel

03:16and call it a fast.

03:17And that's the reason why

03:19those who are abused during Ramadan,

03:25the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him,

03:27talks about it.

03:28If someone swears you,

03:30he says if you're abused verbally

03:32while fasting,

03:34make it clear,

03:35I'm not going to abuse you back.

03:36You know what?

03:37I'm fasting.

03:38فَلْيَقُلْ إِنِّي صَائِمٌ

03:42If someone is abused,

03:44he or she should say,

03:45I'm fasting.

03:46Which means, relax.

03:48I'm on cool mode.

03:49Here, subhanallah.

03:52And that should train us

03:53to react and retaliate

03:55to any form of abuse and hate

03:57throughout the year.

03:59Today we have a difficulty

04:00and we witness it online

04:01more than anywhere else

04:02because now the globe has become a little village.

04:05What is it?

04:06Someone attacks you,

04:08you attack them back.

04:09I said a few days ago in another country

04:11that if someone calls you the name of one animal,

04:14you call them the names of all the animals in the zoo.

04:17It didn't help.

04:19How did it make you a better person?

04:21But if they called you an animal

04:24and you happen to look back at them

04:25and just say,

04:26crazy.

04:27It would be better than to swear them back.

04:30If you swore them back, you become the same.

04:49You

Wasting the Fasting - Mufti Menk

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