There’s a beautiful verse of the Quran and as I mentioned in my book, “Inside the Soul of Islam”, after much in-depth research, I’ve concluded that this is the closest the Quran ever comes to informing us about real-life zombies.
“Dear believers… do not speak ill of people behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of your dead brother? You would hate it! Be conscious of Allah. Allah is always ready to accept repentance and is benevolent.”
[Quran 49:12]
Why do I share this “Walking Dead” level insight with you?
Because it’s Ramadan and it’s the best possible time to intentionally increase our level of consciousness by upgrading our fasting using the spiritual method of being especially mindful about our speech.
Fasting with the tongue is one of the 6 ways that Imam al-Ghazali mentions of how to go from ‘basic’ fasting to ‘advanced’ fasting.
Why does this work so well to increase our consciousness? Simple: we talk a lot more than we eat. If you only fast with your stomach, you’ll bring Allah to mind when you get hungry or thirsty. But when you fast with your tongue, you automatically bring Allah to mind every time you speak.
Fasting with your tongue means ask yourself a few questions before you speak:
- Is it necessary?
- Is it true?
- Is it loving?
Only if your words get a green light on all of the above, is it worth speaking instead of staying silent.
The interesting thing about ‘backbiting’ is that we can convince ourselves that it’s necessary (eg. To not let someone get away with wrong-doing). It may well also be true that the person did wrong. But loving and kind? No chance!
We’re meant to cover our brother’s sins, not expose them.
One last story to drill this point home.
Once there were two women who were really struggling with their fast. They were extremely hungry, thirsty and weak. Towards the end of the fasting day they could barely take it any more, so they sent a message to the Prophet Muhammad (peace & blessings upon him) asking to give them permission to break their fast.
He sent them a bowl and instructed them to vomit up what they had been eating.
To the shock and surprise of onlookers, the first woman vomited and filled up half the bowl with bloody flesh. Then the second woman filled up the rest of the bowl in the same way. The Prophet then explained:
“These two fasted on what Allah permitted for them and indulged in what Allah has forbidden for them. They sat together feasting on the flesh of people.”
Like I said: zombies.
You know what I love most about this Prophetic narration? It doesn’t mention the names of the women. Because, ya know… that would be backbiting!
If you’re trying to make your way in this world, avoiding all the zombies – and most importantly, not becoming one of them – then perhaps I can help. Book in a 1-to-1 “Sparring Session” and I’ll show you how you can defend yourself from them:
To apply for a “Session” with me, the first step is to sign up for the Switch Masterclass and watch it carefully:
