The Sunday Guardian | February 22, 2026

According to a saying of the Prophet of Islam, one who fasts should never stoop to using abusive language; if someone abuses him, he should simply say ‘I am fasting.’ (Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith No. 2363)

Islamic fasting, as far as formal practice is concerned, is to abstain from food and drink. But the actual spirit of fasting is self-control that is to refrain from indulging in negative thinking and the use of negative language.

Self-control, far from being a negative or passive action, has great value in human behaviour. Self-control is integral to social ethics. If you live alone on an island, there is no need for any control, as the absence of others leaves you free to do whatever you want to do. However, when you are living in a society, you have to give leeway to others. This is what every person on the road does when he drives a car: he either keeps to the left (or to the right depending upon which country he is in) so that he gives way to other cars and can carry on in his journey without accidents.

By learning self-control through fasting, one adopts the principle of refraining from action in more than fifty percent of situations, and acting only in less than fifty percent.

This principle of self-discipline applies to every aspect of an individual’s life. It involves allowing others the space to live their own lives while one lives one’s own.

Source: Ramadan A Month of Purification