Back-biting means to speak someone’s
defects behind him. If the defect we are speaking about is not present in that
person, then it is allegation, which amounts to double sins. Truly, it is a
taste-less sin.
When back-biting ingresses in to our
conduct, it leaves adverse effects on the soul. One of which is enmity and
hatred towards the victim, which gradually increases. At the time of death,
when the veils of angelic realms are lifted, the back-biter may be brought to
witness the station of his victims before Almighty Allah, and the honor and
blessings bestowed upon them by the Almighty.
QUR’ANIC PRONOUNCEMENTS:
- “…nor let some of you back-bite others” (49:12)
- “Does one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother. But you abhor it” (49:12)
- “Surely (as for) those who love scandal should circulate respecting those who believe, they shall have a grievous chastisement in this world and hereafter.” (24:19)
- “Surely,
the hearing and the sight and the heart, all of these shall be questioned
about that.” (
- “Wael (woe) to every slanderer, the defamer.” (104:1)
- “Allah does not love public accusations unless one is truly wronged. Allah is All-Hearing and All-Knowing.” (4:148)
The Holy Prophet
(s.a.w.s.) said: “O Ali, if some one hears the back-biting of his Muslim
brother committed in his presence, yet he does not rally to his assistance,
despite being capable of doing so, Allah shall humiliate him in this world and
hereafter.”
On inquiry from Abu Zar (r.a.) as to what is Gheebah, he said,
“It is to mention about your brother that which he detests.”
“The listener is one
of the two back-biters”
“Back-biting is worst than adultery. One indulges in
adultery. Thereafter, if he really feels ashamed of it and makes true
repentance, and sincerely seeks forgiveness, Allah forgives him. But if a
person back-bites someone after this even if he repents, it is of no use until
that person forgives him. That’s why back-biting is worse than adultery as it
is bilateral, where as adultery concerns only Allah. Back-biting involves both
Allah and the poor person who was back-bitten. Unless that person forgives,
Allah will not forgive him”
“No fire is faster in consuming dry wood than gheebah in
consuming a devotee’s virtues”
Hazrat A’isha narrates, “Once a woman came to visit us and
when she turned to go away, I made a gesture by my hand to indicate that she
was short in height. There upon The Prophet, may Allah’s blessings be on him
and his progeny, said, “You have committed her gheebah.”
Once, the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) stoned a man for
commission of adultery. One of the persons present remarked to his friend,
“This one was finished where he stood, like a dog.” Thereafter, the Prophet
(s.a.w.s.) accompanied by the two men passed by a carcass and he said to them,
“Now take a bite of it, you two” They said, “O Messenger of Allah, should we
take a bite of a carcass?” The Prophet (s.a.w.s.) replied, “That which you have
taken of your brother was more rotten than this.”
“One who walks on the path of gheebah of his brother and
divulging the defects, the first step that he takes will be into Hell and Allah
shall divulge his defects in front of all creatures.”
“Whoever back-bites a Muslim spoils his fasts and breaks his
wuzu and shall come on the Day of Resurrection with his mouth stanching more
rotten than a carcass.”
“On the night of Mairaaj, I passed by a people who were
scratching their faces with their finger nails. I said: O Gibraeel! Who are
these people? He replied, “These are those who perpetrated the people’s gheebah
and slandered their reputation.”
Commander of the
Faithful Imam Ali (a.s.) addressed to his companion, Nawf al-Bakali:
“Abstain from gheebah, for it is the food of the dogs of Hell fire. O Nawf,
untrue is the one who claims to be of legitimate birth and yet devours the
flesh of people through back-biting.”
Nahjul Balagha, sermon 140 is titled as: About back-biting
and speaking ill of others.
Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq
(a.s.) said, “One who spreads and talks about what he saw or heard about a
believer is one of those who, as mentioned by Allah in Holy Qur’an, will taste
a painful chastisement as he likes to expose evil deeds.” “Allah drives such
person out of His shelter even if this man had fasted in Ramazaan.”
“The havoc wrought on the believer’s face by back-biting is
swifter than the one wrought by ‘akalah’ (a disease that consumes the flesh) in
the side of his body”
“Whoever does a favor to his
brother by refuting his back-biting upon hearing it in a gathering, Allah shall
save him from a thousand kinds of evils in this world and hereafter. And if he does not do so despite
his ability to refute it, on him shall be the burden of one who commits his
back-biting seventy times.”
“O You who have embraced Islam
with your tongues but in whose hearts Islam has not entered, do not disparage
Muslims and do not seek their defects. Verily, Allah will seek out the person
who is after their defects; and one who has Allah after his defects will be
humiliated even in his own abode.”
“Gheebah is equal to infidelity,
and listening to and being pleased with it, is polytheism.”
Imam Musa al_Kazim (a.s.) said, “If one speaks about a person in
his absence about those of his traits which are actually present in him and
people are also aware of it then it is not gheebah. But if he mentions some
thing which is present in the person but people are unaware of it, it would be
gheebah. Moreover, what he says is not present in the man, it is allegation.”
Back-biting Permissible in the following situations:
To protect Muslims from the
evils of another person including the situation when one is required to vouch
for the integrity of a marriage prospects.
When the person being talked
about does not conceal his violations of the Divine Commands.
To describe the fault of a
patient before a physician for purposes of treatment.
To criticize a narrator of a
Tradition for authenticity.
Cure for the spiritual disease:
The back-biter should purge this
bad habit and nourish the roots of unity, sincerity and solidarity in his or
her heart and follow these steps:
- Reflect about the effects of back-biting in this world and life hereafter. Ponder over the golden words of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) and his Progeny and the consequent chastisement.
- Even if one has enmity with a person he should not resort to back-biting. It is mentioned in traditions that the good deeds of the back-biter are transferred to the book of deeds of the victim and his bad deeds are transferred to the back-biter.
- If possible, repent and seek the victim’s forgiveness. Otherwise seek mercy of Allah for him.
- Make determination to get rid of this habit and control one’s tongue.
- The back-biter should search if he has any traces of inferiority complex.
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