Part 6

How many fasting people spoilt their fasts when they debased their tongues, misused their reasoning and confused their words? The purpose of fasting is not hunger and thirst. It is, instead, to discipline and uplift. There are, in fact, more than ten misdeeds that may emanate from the tongue if it is not properly controlled. Among them: lying, backbiting, slander, obscenity, cursing, shamelessness, false evidence, invective, derision, scorn and others. Perhaps a

word uttered by someone without any control or restraint may land them on his face in the fire.

The tongue is a means to good or evil. What a delight it would be for those who remember Allah, seek His forgiveness, praise Him, glorify Him, give thanks to Him, and repent with their tongues. And, what a disappointment it would be for those who use it to violate honour and sanctity and besmirch values. O fasting people, moisten your tongue with the remembrance of Allah, discipline it with God-consciousness and cleanse it from disobedience. O Allah we ask of You truthful tongues, pure hearts and upright characters.

How does the eye fast?

And there is also the fasting of the eye. What kind of fast? The fast of the eye is to prevent it from seeing forbidden things and to cover it from indecencies. ‘Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and to be mindful of their chastity; this will be most conducive to their purity — [and,] verily, God is aware of all that they do. And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and to be mindful of their chastity, and not to display their charms [in public] beyond what may [decently] be apparent thereof; hence, let them draw their head-covering over their bosoms’ (24:30-31).

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The eye is an opening to the heart and a door to the spirit. Ali ibn Abi Talib once asked the Prophet about the gaze. He # replied: ‘Lower your gaze.’ Hence whoever does not lower his gaze will be afflicted by four calamities:

1. The disposing of the heart in every direction, and its tearing apart in every field. As a consequence, it has no stability and enjoys no inner peace. Neither is it able to mobilize all its power. It is wounded and weakened and quite rightly complains of the misdeeds of the eyes, its gazes and glances.

2. Punishment of the soul and training it with the loss of what it saw and did not get. The soul, because of the act of the eye, is in constant distress, anxiety and turmoil.

3. With the release of forbidden glances, the sweetness of worship and obedience is lost. Thus, say goodbye to the light of faith if the eye is not disciplined and made to fast from the unlawful sights. The souls will neither taste faith nor find conviction except through the control of the eyes.

4. Because of the great sin incurred by its violation of honour and privacy, the eyes would be rewarded with great sin. No one ever fell into filth and perversion except after his eyes had gone astray. Surely there is no movement and no power except with Allah the most High, the most Magnificent.

One of our righteous forebears said: ‘I once looked at something that was forbidden and I forgot the Quran.’ After

forty years, Allah rewarded him for lowering his gaze by endowing him with faith the sweetness of which he tasted in his heart. Thus it is often said that the eye is the pathfinder. If it is sent out, it hunts. If it is bridled, it follows. And, if it is let loose, it lands the heart in vice. Likewise, others have commented about the eye: ‘If its rein gets out of control, it dashes you and if you release its lead, it hurts

Still in addition, Shah al Karmani observed: ‘Whoever lowered his gaze from forbidden things and nourished his stomach with the fear of God and displayed it by following the Sunnah of the Prophet, his intuition will never mislead him.’ Al Karmani completed this comment with the Quranic verse: ‘Verily, in all this there are messages indeed for those who can read the signs’ (15:75).

There are five benefits and honours to be gained from lowering the gaze:

1. Obedience to Allah Almighty’s command to lower the gaze. This, by itself is enough as a blessing and honour in this world and the next.

2. Peace of the heart, its nourishment as well as its realization of its full potential, comfort, happiness and ease.

3. Avoidance of calamities and safety from trials and misdeeds.

4, Allah opens for His servant the doors of knowledge, understanding, success and uprightness; a fitting reward

5. Allah will instil a sense of discernment in the heart

of the learned and His perfect light in the souls of the truthful; again a reward for those who lowered their gazes.

Accordingly, when Ramadan comes, the eyes are expected to fast in obedience to the Ever Living, the SelfSubsisting. The benefits of hunger are all too many, simply because of the eye. Know, therefore, that hunger curtails the excesses of the eye and restrains its misdeeds and limits their scope. Similarly, hunger weakens the desire to gaze and it stifles the heat of the sight.

When the licentious release their gazes and fill their eyes they fall into the filth of disobedience and the snares of indecency. They are some people whose stomachs fast from food and drink but their eyes graze in the shrubbery of forbidden sights. Such people do not know the real essence of fasting. O servant of Allah, let our eyes fast from the unlawful things in the same way that we abstain from food and drink. Let our hearts be healthy and our spirits relax. ‘And so, God will preserve them from the woes of that Day, and will bestow on them brightness and joy, and will reward them for all their patience in adversity with a garden [of bliss] and with [garments of] silk’

May the peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon the one whose eyes fast for the pleasure of his Lord.

How does the ear fast?

Allah says: ‘Verily [thy] hearing and sight and heart — all of them — will be called to account for it [on Judgement

The ear is responsible before Allah for what it hears. The righteous people are those who listen carefully to what is said and follow it. And what regret there will be for the one who turned his hearing away from the guidance and closed his eyes from the voice of truth.

The ear fasts from listening to obscenities, music and all forms of lewd material. To the righteous there is an illustrious fast from hearing things that will anger Allah Almighty both in and out of Ramadan. Many people hampered the limbs that Allah bestowed upon them. Allah confirms this in His Quran: ‘And most certainly We have destined for hell many of the invisible beings and men who have hearts with which they fail to grasp the truth, and

eyes with which they fail to see, and ears with which they fail to hear. They are like cattle - nay, they are even less conscious of the right way: it is they, they who are the [truly] heedless! (7:179).

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Yes they have ears but they do not listen, ponder over or understand advice. The hearing of many people is completely like the hearing of the cattle, no remembrance or reflection, no benefit or advantage. Allah says of them: ‘Or dost thou think that most of them listen [to thy message] and use their reason? Nay, they are but like cattle — nay, they are even less conscious of the right way!” (25:44).

Among the people are those who fill their hearing with forbidden sounds and sinful words. They forbid their ears to listen to the Noble Quran, that lawful, distinctive and divine audition. Listening to the Quran bears the fruit of faith, guidance, light and prosperity. It fills the heart with wisdom, tranquillity, intimacy and contentment. It is a source of protection from the dangerous, deviant and sinful thoughts. Thus, the power of the ears lies in remembrance, beneficial knowledge, good advice, profound manners, remarkable knowledge and good speech.

Abi Hatim reported that he once passed by an old woman in Madinah and heard her reading the Quran from behind her door. She was crying and repeating the verse:

‘Has there come unto thee the tidings of the Overshadowing event?’ Abi Hatim began to listen and repeat: ‘Yes it came to me, yes it came to me.’ Allah praises those who perfect the listening to the Quran by pointing out: ‘For, when they come to understand what has been bestowed from on high upon this Apostle, thou canst see their eyes overflow with tears, because they recognize something of the truth’ (5:83).

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They certainly have had the greatest benefit and listened in the best manner. Thus the ears of those who fast are tuned to hear what is beautiful while the ears of the foolish are trained to hear falsehood. If the ears of a Muslim allow sinful words to enter, it would wreck the house of the heart, destroy the palace of volition and corrupt the garden of knowledge.

This is how Allah describes these two groups: ‘Yet whenever a surah [of this divine writ] is bestowed from on high, some of the deniers of the truth are prone to ask, “Which of you has this [message] strengthened in his faith?” Now as for those who have attained to faith, it does strengthen them in their faith, and they rejoice in the glad tidings [which God has given them]. But as for those in whose hearts is disease, each new message but adds another [element of] disbelief to the disbelief which they already harbour, and they die while [still] refusing to acknowledge

Listening to the truth increases the heart in steadfastness on the path of truth. And, on the contrary, listening to falsehood leaves traces of falsehood in the heart. It is, therefore, the duty of every Muslim to praise Allah for the blessing of hearing and also to use it to gain the pleasure of his Lord. Toward this end, the Muslim must engage more in the reading of the Quran, studying, and attendance of useful lectures and advanced wisdom.

The Muslim must save his ear from listening to sin, indecency and all that impedes one on the path of Allah. Allah Almighty says concerning his righteous servants that they ‘turn away from all that is frivolous’ (23:3).