Rasulullah(Sallallaahu Álayhi Wasallam) said: 'The glance is like an arrow from 'Shaytaan' Whosoever, out of fear for Allah, prevents himself from looking at evil, Allah shall grant him such light of faith, the taste, and Ecstacy of which he will feel in the heart." The 'Sufis' interpret the above saying to mean that those sights which should be avoided include all such places and things that distract the mind from the remembrance of Allah.
Secondly, one should guard the tongue against lies, unnecessary conversation, backbiting, arguments, swearing, etc. In Bukhari, we read that fasting is a shield for the fasting person; for this reason, those who fast should avoid all useless talk, joking, argument, etc. Should anyone pick an argument, then say: "I am fasting." In other words, one should not start an argument and if someone else starts it, then too, one should avoid taking it up. When the person who starts an argument is not an understanding person, then at least one should remind oneself that: "I am fasting." During the time of our Nabi (Sallallaahu Álayhi Wasallam), two women were fasting and suffered the pangs of hunger to such an extent that the fast became unbearable and both were on the point of death. The "Sahaaba" brought this to the notice of our Nabi (Sallallaahu Álayhi Wasallam), who sent a bowl commanding them to vomit into it. When they both vomited in the bowl, pieces of meat and fresh blood were found in it. The "Sahaaba" were greatly surprised, upon which our Nabi (Sallallaahu Álayhi Wasallam) said: "They fasted with 'Halaal' food from Allah, but partook of 'Haraam' food by backbiting other people." From the above, it also becomes clear that by backbiting during fasting, the fast becomes so much harder; for this reason, both women were near death. Similar is the case with other sinful acts, and experience shows that for the faithful, Godfearing persons, fasting is no hardship, whereas the sinful find it too hard to bear. One should, therefore, stay away from sins and especially from major sins, like backbiting and slander, which are often indulged into while away the time. Allah says in the Qur’an that backbiting is tantamount to the (actual) eating of the flesh of one's dead brother. We find this also narrated in various Ahadith. Once the Prophet, (Sallallaahu Álayhi Wasallam), on seeing some people, asked them to pick their teeth. They said that they had not tasted any meat that day, on which the Prophet (Sallallaahu Álayhi Wasallam) said, "So and so's flesh is sticking to your teeth." It transpired that they had been backbiting. May Allah keep us safe from this evil, because we are very neglectful of this warning. All are guilty of this; not to speak of the common man, even the people of importance indulge in it, even the religious people in their gatherings do not avoid backbiting. Worst of all is the fact that we do not even realize what backbiting is; even when we suspect ourselves of this, we try to cover it up as narration of some event. One of the 'Sahaaba' inquired from Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Álayhi Wasallam) "What is backbiting?" Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Álayhi Wasallam) replied: "To mention something about your brother behind his back, which he would resent." The 'Sahaabi' then said: "And is it still backbiting if the thing mentioned about him is really true?" Our Nabi (Sallallaahu Álayhi Wasallam) said: 'In that case (if that which was mentioned is really true) it is precisely backbiting; but if what is mentioned is false, then you have in fact slandered him." Once our Nabi (Sallallaahu Álayhi Wasallam) passed by two graves. He said: "On both the inmates of these graves, punishment is being inflicted in the grave. One is being punished because of backbiting, the other because of not having taken precautions (to stay clean) when passing urine. Rasulullah ((Sallallaahu Álayhi Wasallam) also said: "There are more than seventy degrees of evil in (Usury) interest. The lowest form of it is comparable to committing incest with own mother, and taking one 'Dirham' of interest is a worse evil than having fornicated thirty-five times. The worst and most evil degree of taking interest is the slandering of a Muslim." In various Ahaadith we are strongly warned against backbiting and slandering a Muslim. I very much wanted to write down here a number of such Ahaadith, because all our gatherings and conversations are generally filled with these evils (backbiting and slander). However, I finally decided not to do so, because the topic under discussion here is something else - not actually backbiting. So I once again pray that Allah may keep us safe from this evil. And I beg of my friends and brothers to pray for me too; we are full of inner faults.
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