As for excessive speech, it opens doors of evil for a person, all of them entryways for Satan. Restraining such speech closes all those doors against him. How many a war has been sparked by a single word!
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said to Muʿādh, “Is it anything but the harvest of their tongues that casts people nose-first into the Fire?”
Al-Tirmidhī relates: “A man of the Ansār died, and one of the Companions said, ‘Blessed is he!’ The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said, ‘How can you know? Perhaps he spoke about what did not concern him, or withheld what he could have given without loss.’”
Most sins arise from excessive speech and looking. These are Satan’s broadest entryways, for the organs responsible for them neither tire nor grow weary, unlike the appetite of the stomach: once it is full, it no longer desires food.
The eye and tongue, however, if left unchecked, would never cease looking and speaking. Their harm is therefore far-reaching, takes many forms, and brings grave afflictions.
The early Muslims used to warn against excessive looking just as they warned against excessive speech. They would say, “Nothing needs prolonged imprisonment more than the tongue.”
As for excessive eating, it invites many kinds of evil: it stirs the limbs to disobedience and makes them sluggish in acts of obedience. These two evils alone are enough. How many sins have satiety and excessive eating brought about, and how many acts of obedience have they prevented!
Whoever is protected from the evil of his stomach has been protected from a tremendous evil.
Satan’s control over a person is greatest when he fills his stomach with food.
Hence the saying found in some reports: “Constrict Satan’s passageways through fasting.” The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said, “No human being has ever filled a vessel worse than his stomach.”
Even if filling oneself with food did no more than lead to heedlessness of the remembrance of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, that alone would suffice. When the heart neglects His remembrance for even a single hour, Satan settles upon it, makes promises to it, fills it with vain hopes, arouses its desires, and leads it wandering through every valley. For when the soul is sated, it stirs