3. Keeping control of the tongue
It’s perhaps easier to keep control of our hunger and appetite than to keep control of what we say, especially on an empty stomach when naturally our moods are irritable.
Allah’s Messenger (sa) said, “Whoever can guarantee (the chastity of) what is between his two jaw-bones and what is between his two legs (i.e. his tongue and his private parts), I guarantee Paradise for him.” (Bukhari 6474)
At the end of a long hadith recorded by Tirmidhi, the Prophet (sa) concluded by taking hold of his tongue and saying: “Keep this in control.” The narrator asked: “O Messenger of Allah! Shall we really be accounted for what we talk about?” He replied, “May your mother lose you! People will be thrown on their faces into the Hell on account of their tongues.” (Riyad al-Salihin 1522)
Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-‘As reported:
“When we were around the Messenger of Allah (sa), he mentioned the period of commotion (fitnah) saying: When you see the people that their covenants have been impaired, (the fulfilling of) the guarantees becomes rare, and they become thus (interwining his fingers). I then got up and said: ‘What should I do at that time, may Allah make me ransom for you?’
