Fasting in Ramadan is not only about abstaining from food and drink. Rather, it is meant to train a person to shun idle talk and abusive language. If a person is fasting but at the same time indulges in negative talk -- such as backbiting, wishing ill for others, using words intended to demean a person, abusing people -- then this kind of a person will not be regarded as truly fasting. For such a person this saying of the Prophet holds true: 'He ate lawful food before observing the fast, but broke his fast with food which God has made unlawful.'
