Wasting the Fasting - Mufti Menk
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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