Protect Your Fast: Control the Tongue

Brothers and sisters, alhamdulillah, Allah has granted us the opportunity to witness this Ramadan. Many individuals who were with us before this month started-people we saw in the masjid and prayed alongside—are no longer here with us today. Some of them even experienced the beginning of Ramadan, and now we find ourselves standing in janazah for them.

Allah is incredibly kind to us. He has chosen us to continue our journey and has allowed us to enter this blessed month. As we reach the middle of Ramadan, we ask Allah to grant us the tawfīq to complete it in the manner He desires from us and to accept our efforts.

It’s important to understand a key point.

One of the greatest risks of fasting is losing its reward. Many people believe that fasting simply means refraining from eating, drinking, and engaging in physical relations. While this is true in terms of the rules that validate a fast, it is not the primary goal.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

Whoever does not abandon false speech and acting upon it, Allah has no need of him abandoning his food and drink. 

This is serious.

Allah does not need our hunger or our thirst. The purpose of fasting is not simply to experience hunger; rather, it is to refrain from sin. The ultimate goal is to attain taqwa (consciousness of Allah).

All our acts of ‘ibadah (worship) have an inner dimension. Ṣalāh (prayer) involves more than just movements, and fasting encompasses more than just abstaining from food and drink. These practices serve as pathways to purification. They are designed to elevate us and help us abandon wrongful actions, drawing us closer to Allah.

One of the biggest issues we face today is the misuse of the tongue.

Lies and falsehoods spread very easily today. In the past, slander might stay between two people. Now, however, a single message can destroy someone’s reputation. One post on social media can harm an entire family, and one comment can reach hundreds or even thousands of people.

Many people take this lightly, saying things like, “I was just joking,” “I just forwarded it,” or “It’s only information.”

But the Prophet ﷺ warned Muʿadh (رضي الله عنه). He held his tongue and said: “Control this.”

Muʿadh asked, “O Messenger of Allah, will we be taken to account for what we say?”

The Prophet ﷺ replied that people will be thrown into the Hellfire on their faces because of what their tongues harvested.

A person may not steal. May not commit murder. But his tongue destroys him.

And the Prophet ﷺ told us something else. A person may say a good word, he does not think much about it, and Allah raises him to high ranks because of that word.

And another person may say a word that displeases Allah. He thinks it is small. Just a word. And that word takes him down to the lowest level of the Hellfire. 

Just words? 

And Allah says:

Not a word does he utter except that with him is an observer prepared to record.

Qur’an, 50:18

Every word is written. Every message. Every comment. Every insult. Every joke.

It is all recorded.

Let’s reflect on our fasting.

Some people fast all day long. They experience hunger, weakness, and fatigue, believing that they are earning rewards. However, in the midst of their fasting, they engage in backbiting, slander, or spreading careless rumors.

What are the consequences?

They end up destroying the very rewards they tried to earn. The Prophet ﷺ warned us that there are those who fast but gain nothing from their fasting except hunger and thirst.

Imagine that.

Fasting encompasses more than just abstaining from food and drink. Some scholars suggest that the most basic form of fasting is merely refraining from eating and drinking, which is the easiest part of the practice. We willingly give up halal (permissible) food for the sake of Allah, yet we often engage in haram (forbidden) speech, which remains sinful regardless of the time of year, including Ramadan.

Why is it that we can refrain from what is halal, but we continue to partake in what is clearly haram? This is a matter that we must reflect upon.

Ramadan is a form of training that teaches us discipline. If someone engages you in an argument, what did the Prophet ﷺ teach?

Say, “I am fasting.” Not to boast, but to remind yourself that you are protecting your fast. You will not argue, you will not fight, and you will not lose your reward.

Brothers and sisters, we have been fasting for many years. However, every Ramadan we must strive to improve.

Let this Ramadan be different.

Make a Firm Intention:

I will control my tongue.
I will not backbite.
I will not slander.
I will not forward everything I receive.
When I speak, I will say good things or remain silent.

If we protect our tongues, we protect our fasting.
If we protect our fasting, we gain taqwa.
And that is the real objective.

O Allah, purify our tongues from falsehood.
O Allah, protect us from backbiting and slander.
O Allah, may our fasting fulfil its true purpose and not just be about hunger and thirst.
O Allah, accept our efforts in this blessed month and make us among those whose fasting is accepted and rewarded.