“Islam prohibits backbiting (ghibah): 'And do not backbite one another.'
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) wanted to drive home the meaning of backbiting to his Companions through questions and answers. He asked them, 'Do you know what backbiting is?' They replied, 'Allah and His Messenger know best'. He said, 'It is saying something about your brother which he would dislike'. Someone asked, 'What if I say something about my brother which is true?' The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, 'If what you say of him is true, it is backbiting and if it is not true you have slandered him.' (Reported by Muslim, Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi, and An-Nasa’i)
When a person dislikes someone, he is likely to find faults in his appearance, behavior, lineage, and anything else which pertains to him. `A’ishah narrated that she said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), 'Do you see that Safiyyah (another wife of the Prophet) is such and such?', meaning that she was short. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, 'You have spoken a word such that, if it were mixed in the water of the ocean, it would darken it.' (Reported by Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi, and Al-Bayhaqi)
It is no wonder then, that the Qur'an paints such a repulsive picture of this vile habit as would make people shrink from it in horror: 'And do not backbite one anther; would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would abhor that.' (Al-Hujurat: 12)
Whenever an opportunity arose, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stressed this Qur’anic imagery in order to imprint it on peoples’ hearts and minds. Ibn Mas`ud narrated, 'We were sitting with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Then a man got up and left. Whereupon another person spoke ill of him. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) told him, 'Pick your teeth.' The man replied, 'Why? I haven't eaten any meat.' The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, 'You have eaten your brother's flesh.' (Reported by At-Tabarani)
Jabir narrated, 'While we were with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) the wind brought a foul odor in our direction, whereupon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, 'Do you know what this odor is? It is the odor of those who backbite the Believers.' (Reported by Ahmad)
Allah the Almighty says: 'Allah does not like the announcing of evil in public speech except by one who has been wronged; and Allah is Hearing, Knowing.' (An-Nisa': 148)
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, 'If anyone defends his brother who is slandered in his absence, it will be (his) due from Allah to set him free from the Fire.' (Reported by Ahmad)
And again, 'If anyone defends his brother’s honor in this world, Allah will shield his face from the Fire on the Day of Resurrection.' (Reported by At-Tirmidhi)
But to what extent is the defence of ones brothers pemissable? In the pursuit of defending anothers honour it is surely possible to over step the mark.
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inshAllah we all learn from it and use it.
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