How Does the Ear Fast?
الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين
The topic of tonight’s reflection is about fasting of the ear. How does the ear fast? The fasting of the ear is to prevent it from listening to obscenities, vulgar music and all forms of lewd talk.
إِنَّ السَّمْعَ وَالْبَصَرَ وَالْفُؤَادَ كُلُّ أُولَٰئِكَ كَانَ عَنْهُ مَسْئُولًا
“Indeed the ear, the eye, the heart, each will be questioned (on the Day of Judgment)” (al-Isra’, 17:36).
Imam al-Ghazali says that one should guard one’s entire body, especially seven parts of it—the eyes, the ears, the tongue, the stomach, the private parts, the hands and the feet.” These body parts are in fact Allah’s gift to man, and a trust committed to him. They are created to be used for good purposes; but by making wrong use of them man commits sins. The parts of our body are our subjects. So we should pay attention to how we govern them.
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 will be there for the one who turned the hearing away from the guidance and from the voice of truth. Allah says in the Qur’an:
وَلَقَدْ ذَرَأْنَا لِجَهَنَّمَ كَثِيرًا مِّنَ الْجِنِّ وَالْإِنسِ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ لَّا يَفْقَهُونَ بِهَا وَلَهُمْ أَعْيُنٌ لَّا يُبْصِرُونَ بِهَا وَلَهُمْ آذَانٌ لَّا يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَا أُولَٰئِكَ كَالْأَنْعَامِ بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْغَافِلُون
“We created many of the jinn and mankind for hell. They have hearts they do not understand with; they have eyes they do not see with; and they have ears they do not hear with. Such people are like cattle, no, they are even more misguided. Such are the heedless.” (al-A’raf, 7:179)
Yes, they have ears but they do not listen, reflect upon, or understand advice. The hearing of many people is like the hearing of the cattle, no remembrance, no reflection. Allah says of them:
أَمْ تَحْسَبُ أَنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ يَسْمَعُونَ أَوْ يَعْقِلُونَ إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا كَالْأَنْعَامِ بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ سَبِيلًا
“Do you think most of them can hear or understand? They are like cattle. Indeed, they are even more astray.” (al-Furqan, 25:44)
Rather than using their ears to listen to the divine words of the Qur’an and the words of Prophetic wisdom, there are those who fill their hearing with forbidden sounds and sinful words. The power of the ears lies in remembrance, and listening to beneficial knowledge and sincere advice and good speech. Allah praises those people who perfect the listening to the Qur’an:
وَإِذَا سَمِعُوا مَا أُنزِلَ إِلَى الرَّسُولِ تَرَىٰ أَعْيُنَهُمْ تَفِيضُ مِنَ الدَّمْعِ مِمَّا عَرَفُوا مِنَ الْحَقِّ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا آمَنَّا فَاكْتُبْنَا مَعَ الشَّاهِدِين
“When they listen to what has been revealed to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears for recognizing the truth. They say, “Our Lord! We believe, so count us among the witnesses.” (al-Ma’idah, 5:83)
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.
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 (SWT) for the blessing of hearing and also to use it to gain His pleasure. Muslims should engage in the reading and listening of the Qur’an, studying, and attending useful lectures, both in Ramadan and outside Ramadan. They should save their ears from listening to sin, indecency and all that obstructs one on the path of Allah. Allah (SWT) says concerning His righteous servants:
وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنِ اللَّغْوِ مُعْرِضُون
“And those who turn away from all that is frivolous.” (al-Mu’minun, 23:3).
This means that they turn away from idle and meaningless talk and all that is laghw. The Arabic word laghw refers to any dirty, false, evil & forbidden speech or action or thing that is not beneficial.
To the righteous, there is a fast from hearing things that will incur Allah’s anger both in and out of Ramadan. We have to protect our ears from listening to heretical doctrine, gossiping, bad-mouthing, backbiting, lewd music, or vain conversation.
The ears were created for us only to listen to the words of Allah; to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (SAW); and to the wisdom of the friends of Allah, so that by them we may gain access to beneficial knowledge. So, if we use our ears to listen to something disliked, then what was in our favor will be against us, and what was meant to be a reason for our success will become a reason for our destruction, and this leads to ultimate loss. May Allah guide us to the straight path, ameen.
أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ المُسْلِمينَ وَالمُسْلِمَاتْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهْ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
وَصَلَّ اللهُ عَلَى خيرِ خَلقِهِ مُحمَّدٍ وعَلَى آلِه وأصْحَابِه أجْمَعِين- بِرَحْمَتِكَ يا أرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِين
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Some passages have been excerpted and paraphrased from the book “Thirty Lessons for Those Who Fast” by Aa’id Abdullah al-Qarni.
