Part 25

In waging a war the goal of which is to divide Muslims, Shaitaan E and his army use many weapons, two of them being backbiting

and slandering. We should realize that backbiting and slandering entail evil consequences in this world and in the Hereafter: in this world, relationships among family, friends, and acquaintances suffer; and in the Hereafter, a severe punishment awaits the # backbiter and the slanderer.

Here, we will relate only a few of the many revealed texts that warn us about the grave consequences of the aforementioned sins. Allah 4% said:

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“And spy not, neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate

backbiting). And fear Allah. Verily, Allah is the One Who accepts repentance, Most Merciful’ (Qur‘an 49:12)

Abu Burzah Al-Aslamee 4 related that the Messenger of Allah #8 said,

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“O group of people who have believed with their tongues, though Eemaan has not entered their hearts, do not backbite Muslims and do not follow up on their faults, for whosoever follows up on their faults, Allah follows up on his faults. And when Allah 3% follows up on his faults, He 38 will expose him even in his own home,”")

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“A slanderer will not enter Paradise,’”!

Related Issue: It is permissible to backbite on six occasions only (the definition of backbiting is to say about one’s brother ~ in his absence, of course - that which he dislikes):

1) To complain about transgression and oppression. If someone wrongs you, you may complain to the judge, police, or anyone who has authority and is able to bring justice to the person who wronged you.

2) To seek help in order to remove some evil. If you see an evil and know someone who has the authority to remove it, you may go to him and say, for instance, ‘So and so is perpetrating such and such evil; please go and stop

" Related by Abu Daawood (4880), and the wording, mentioned above is from his narration, about which Al-Albaanee said, “Hasan sahih.” Imam Ahmad related it as well (19277).

The Book Of Manners

him.” Your purpose and intention should be to eradicate the evil; otherwise (if your intention is, for instance, to put down a person you don’t like), you are perpetrating a Haram (forbidden) deed.

To seek an Islamic legal ruling from a scholar. When necessary, you may go to a scholar and speak about how someone from your family - such as your brother or wife ~ wronged you, in order to learn from him what course of action you should take in dealing with your situation. You can, however, show more caution - which is better yet still fulfill your purpose by saying something to the effect of, “What is your view, Shaikh, about a man who is in such and such situation,” without saying that you are in that situation. That way, you avoid mentioning names and backbiting. Nonetheless, to specifically name to the Muftee (scholar who issues legal rulings) the person involved in your situation is permissible.

To warn and advise Muslims about evil. An instance of this occurred when scholars of hadith would mention narrators whose narrations were not acceptable because they were known for lying or for some other fault that had a negative impact on their trustworthiness. Another example from this category is when a witness is brought before a judge: people can testify against the witness if he is known to have an untrustworthy character. And yet another example from this category is to speak to the guardian of a girl about her suitor, to inform the guardian that the suitor has some defect in character, which makes him unworthy of the girl. If you are put in such a situation, wherein you have to warn someone not to marry another person because of a defect in his character, your intention must be sincere, for many - people go astray in this regard, speaking out against a prospective husband or wife not out of a sincere desire to save someone from making a bad decision, but from jealousy or bitterness or hatred. The Shaitaan succeeds

often in such situations, being able to convince a person that he is speaking sincerely, free from malevolent intentions, when that is not the case.

5) To warn people about someone who openly flaunts his evil, regardless of whether that evil is an innovation or a wicked deed. If someone openly drinks alcohol or if he cheats people of their rights openly and with impunity, you may warn people about him, but only about those of his evils that he performs overtly and publicly; you may not, then, mention those of his evils that he perpetrates when alone, unless any of the other five categories discussed here applies to him.

6) To identify a person. We said that the definition of backbiting is to say something about your brother - when he is not present - that he does not like. Sometimes, when you are describing a person, you may mention something about him that he doesn’t like, but that you need to mention in order to make his identity clear to the person with whom you are talking, and this happens when the person you are describing is known for a physical handicap. Hence, you may say about someone, “The blind one,” ‘’The deaf one,” “The cross-eyed one,” or, ‘The mute,” if your intention is to clarify the identity of the person you are talking about. Otherwise, if your intention is to belittle him, it is Haram to use a derogatory term such as those mentioned above. Similarly, if you can make clear his identity without using those terms or descriptions, it is better to avoid using them.

Scholars such as An-Nawawee have mentioned these six reasons as being justifiable reasons for backbiting; there is consensus about most of them, and they are based on authentic, wellknown Ahadeeth.

Another Related Issue: When a slanderer brings you news about your brother, six things are required of you: 1) You must not believe him; a slanderer is an evildoer,

which makes him an untrustworthy source of news.

2) You should reproach him for his slander and try to show him the reprehensibility and vileness of his deed.

3) You should hate him for the sake of Allah 3€. Allah 3€ hates him for being a slanderer, and you should hate him too, for a Muslim must hate he whom Allah #€ hates.

4) You must not have evil thoughts about your brother who is being slandered.

5) After hearing what the slanderer said, you must not go out and spy on the person he spoke about, so as to ascertain whether what he said is true.

6) Having reproached the slanderer for the vileness of his deed, you should not commit the same vile deed yourself, even if your intention is not malevolent. Therefore you must neither pass on what he said nor say to another, ‘So and so said so and so,’ in which case you will become like him. Everything we mentioned here about slandering is valid when there is no overweighing Islamic benefit that requires one to speak ill about another person, for when there is such an overweighing Islamic benefit, there is no harm in saying what is necessary.!"]

6) The Prohibition Of Relating All That One Hears

The sum of all that you hear from people is made up of truths and lies; this is obvious, for the world is inhabited by both people who are truthful and people who are liars. Therefore, if a man relates all that he hears, he will inevitably end up speaking untruths, and because of his lack of care, he will be considered to be lying. Abu Hurairah related that the Messenger of Allah said,

“Tt is sufficient sin for a person to relate all that he hears,”

')_An-Nawawee expressed this ruling in Sharh sahih Muslim: Vol. 1 (2/

and in another narration, “A person is sufficiently considered to by lying when he relates all that he hears.”!"] 7) A Warning Of The Dangers Of Lying A lie is to give information that does not correspond to the truth. Allah 3€ forbade lying both in His Book and on the tongue of His Messenger #8. Allah 3€ said:

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“O you who believe! Be afraid of Allah, and be with those who are true (in words and deeds)” (Quran 9:119) The implied meaning of the verse is, don’t be with those who are liars. Ibn Mas’o0d 4 reported that the Prophet 2 said, are “Ale ot ere 15 bbe dal “ie

“Verily, truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise. And a person continues to tell the truth until he is written with Allah 3€ as a truthful one. Verily, lying leads to wickedness, and wickedness leads to the Hellfire. And a person continues to lie until, with Allah % (i.e, according to His Complete Knowledge), he is written as a liar,"!

Abu Hurairah related that the Messenger of Allah #8 said,

'] Related by Muslim (5) in the Mugaddimah (Introduction) of his compilation, and the wording mentioned here is from his narration. Abu Daawood (4992) related it as well.

“The signs of a hypocrite are three: when he speaks, he lies; when he promises, he breaks his promise; when he is trusted, he betrays his trust."

A person who lies, therefore, possesses one of the characteristics of the hypocrite. In a narration related by Samarah Ibn Jundub, the Prophet #% described a dream he had:

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“..1 saw in the night two men come to me; they took me by my hand and escorted me to the sanctified land; there before us was a man sitting down and another man standing, with hooks of iron in his hand - and some of our companions said from Moosa ~and he inserts those hooks in the side of his mouth (the mouth of the person sitting down) until they reach the back of his neck; then he does the same with the other side of his mouth. Meanwhile, the other side of his mouth heals and returns [to its normal healthy state], so that he returns to it and does the same (repeating the process over and over again). I asked [the two men that accompanied me], ‘What is this?’ They said, ‘Proceed...’””