Wasting the Fasting - Mufti Menk
In the month of Ramadan,
we reach out to people,
in a way that our character and conduct should show
that we are changed.
That's why,
the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him says,
"Whoever is not going to ensure
the correct use of their tongues,
and whoever is going to engage in abusive language,
and that which is false."
In terms of false accusation,
false witness, etc.
"While they're abstaining from food and drink.
Have actually wasted their time
staying away from food and drink."
Because Allah says, "I don't need
that they have stayed away
from their food and drink,
I don't need it."
In the same way in Ramadan,
we're conscious about what should be going in
and not be going into our mouths,
we should be conscious
about what comes out of the same mouth.
Many of us forget this.
For us, if you say, what's Ramadan all about?
You say, it's about not eating, right?
Yesterday, I was speaking in Glasgow,
and I said, "It's strange
how Ramadan is a month of not eating,
and if you go to our kitchens right now,
we're piling up, stockpiling
for the month of Ramadan
with all the savories and the food
that we're going to be munching away
during the month of not eating."
Subhanallah.
It's like the minute the sun sets and that's it.
We like, get to this table laid with food
and we're about to do qadha.
Qadha means to recompense yourself
for something you've missed.
That's not what Ramadan is all about.
But anyway,
Just as we make sure
we're conscious about what goes into our mouths
in terms of food.
We need to be conscious
about what comes out of our mouths
in terms of language.
(مَنْ لَمْ يَدَعْ قَوْلَ الزُّورِ وَالعَمَلَ بِهِ)
(فَلَيْسَ لِلَّهِ حَاجَةٌ فِي أَنْ يَدَعَ طَعَامَهُ وَشَرَابَهُ)
"Whoever is not going to be conscious
about what comes out of his mouth
because he blurts out words that are abusive
and false in their nature.
Allah doesn't need the fact
that he stayed away from food and drink."
For what?
It's a wholesome act of worship.
It's discipline.
If you were to fast,
you didn't say bad words,
part of your fast.
You didn't eat or drink,
part of your fast.
You didn't engage in permissible sexual activity,
part of your fast.
When I say permissible,
meaning that which is otherwise permissible.
But you didn't pray through the day.
What did you do?
Blemish in the fast such
that it's reward is almost nullified
if anything.
So you have people because the fast is long,
they say, "Well I'm going to be sleeping."
So you sleep through Dhuhr,
you asleep through Asr,
and you sometimes even sleep through Maghrib.
And then you get up, "Hey, is the time done?"
"Yeah it's done."
"Quickly, give me the date," for example.
Hang on, hang on!
But you didn't even fulfil your Salah.
What happened?
My brothers and sisters,
if you want to benefit from the month,
you need to do it in a proper way.
It's a package.
You cannot just do what you feel
and call it fast.
And that's the reason
why those who are abused during Ramadan
The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him
talks about it.
If someone swears you,
he says, "If you are abused verbally while fasting,
make it clear,
'I'm not going to abuse you back, I'm fasting!'"
(فليقل اني صائم)
"If someone is abused,
he or she should say, 'I'm fasting!'"
Which means relax, "I'm on cool mode here!"
Subhanallah.
And that should train us to react and retaliate
to any form of abuse and hate throughout the year.
Today we have a difficulty and we witness it online
more than anywhere else
because now the globe has become a little village.
What is it?
Someone attacks you, you attack them back.
I said a few days ago in another country
that if someone calls you the name of one animal.
You call them the names of all the animals in the zoo?
It didn't help.
How did it make you a better person?
But if they called you an animal,
and you happened to look back at them,
and just say, "Crazy!"
It would be better than to swear them back.
If you swear them back you become the same.
