Ghiybat means to backbite a
Believer or a (non-Muslim citizen termed) zimmî by mentioning (one of) their
faults in order to vilify them. Ghiybat is harâm. It is not ghiybat if the
listener does not know the person backbitten. If the person who has been
backbitten would be sad if he heard it, then it is backbiting. When a person is talked about in his absence, if the remarks made
about his body, his family genealogy, his moral behaviour, his work, his
speech, his faith, his worldly life, his clothes, or his animals, are in such a
nature as to hurt him if he heard them, they are ghiybat. Covert backbiting, as
well as that which is done through signs, gestures or writing, is as sinful as
overt verbal backbiting. The most sordid type of ghiybat is, for instance, a
religious or pious person’s saying, “Al-hamd-u-lillâh (praise and gratitude be
to Allah), we are not like him,” when a Muslim’s sins or faults are mentioned
behind his back. [A hâfiz is a person who has committed the entire Qur’ân al-kerîm to his memory.] Another
utterly loathsome type of libelling is to say, for instance, “Al-hamd-u-lillâh,
Allah did not make us shameless like him,” amidst a conversation which somehow
concerns a certain person. So is the case with ambivalent backbiting like, for
instance, to say about a person, “He is a very good person,
unless... .” The twelfth âyat of Sűra Hujurât purports: “... Nor speak ill of
each other behind their backs. ...” Ghiybat
means backbiting, which in turn has been compared to eating a dead person’s
flesh. It is stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “On the day of Judgement, a person’s reward-book will be opened. He
will say, Oh my Lord! As I was in the world I performed such and such acts of
worship but they are not recorded in the page. He will be answered as follows:
They have been erased from your book and transferred to the books of people you
spoke ill of.” Another hadîth-i-sherîf reads: “On the day of
Judgement, the book containing a person’s good deeds ‘hasanât’ will be opened.
He will see there the worships he never performed. They will tell him that
these are the rewards ‘thawâbs’ of those who spoke ill of him.”
Abű Hurayra ‘radiy-Allâhu
ta’âlâ ’anh’ related the following event: We were sitting with Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’alaihi wa sal-lam’. One of us got up and left. Someone among us made a
commenting remark on why he had left. Thereupon Rasűlullah
‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sal-lam’
said, “You
have backbitten your friend. You have eaten his flesh.”
Âisha ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhâ’ related the following event: One day, in the
presence of Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa
sal-lam’ I talked about a certain woman, saying that she was tall. The blessed
Messenger of Allah expostulated: “Spit out whatever is in your mouth!”
I spat out. A piece of meat came out of my mouth. Allâhu
ta’âlâ has power to manifest attributes and specificities as material objects.
Ghiybat means to mention a Muslim brother’s or a non-Muslim citizen’s (zimmî’s)
fault in their absence and in a manner which would cause them to feel sadness
if they heard it. Allâhu ta’âlâ sent the
following revelation to Műsâ (Moses) ‘alaihis-salâm’ “The gossipper who
(repents and) makes tawba thereafter will be the last person to enter Paradise,
whereas the gossipper who does not (repent and) make tawba for it will be the
earliest resident of Hell.” Ibrâhîm Adham ‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ’, (a beloved
slave of Allâhu ta’âlâ,) was invited to a
dinner. During the meal an absentee, who must have been late for the reception,
was criticized behind his back for his slowness. Thereupon Ibrâhîm Adham
‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ’ said, “Ghiybat has been committed at this place,” and
left outright. It is stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf:
“If the
person criticized (behind his back)
possesses the fault
ascribed to him, then ghiybat has been committed. Otherwise it is a case of
buhtân (slander).” It is ghiybat to criticize a person
(in his absence) for his religious faults such as negligence of (the obligatory
five daily prayers called) namâz, consumption of wine, theft, talebearing; as
well as for worldly defects such as deafness and squint-eyedness. Criticism for
religious faults is ghiybat if it is intended for vilification, and not if it
is intended for the betterment of the person concerned. According to a
narration, it is not ghiybat, either, if the criticism emanates from (the
critizer’s) personal mercy. Nor would it be ghiybat to say, for instance,
“There is a thief, (or a person who neglects his daily prayers, or a communist)
in this village.” For, in this case, the accusation would not have been
directed to a certain person.
Supposing a person performs his daily
prayers, fasts but also harms other people physically. For example, he
specializes in battery, extortion or theft; or perpetrates verbal malefactions
such as abusive oratory, calumny, backbiting, talebearing. Outright exposure of
openly committed sins, harâms and bid’ats is not ghiybat. Nor is it sinful to
report such offenders to the authorities for the purpose of helping them to
prevent malefaction. When a person commits a harâm secretly from his father, a
person who is wise to the act should report it to the father orally or by
writing if he knows that the father would prevent his son if he knew about it.
It would not be permissible to inform his father if one does not know for sure
that he will stop him. Informing him in that case would cause animosity between
them. If someone is harming others with his actions, informing others about him
will not be backbiting because the intention is to protect others from his
harm. Also, it would not be backbiting if one tells his harm to others because
one pities and feels sorry for him. Exposing his harmful behavior for the
purpose of making him look evil would be backbiting. In six instances telling
shortcomings and faults of a person to others in his absence would not be
backbiting. One tells it because one pities him and feels sorry for him. One
tells others so that they may stop him. Telling in order to get a legal
decision (fatwâ). Telling in order to protect others from his harm (sharr).
If a shortcoming became a nickname of that person, one is forced to call him by
his nick name in order to describe him. Telling his oppression, sin, “fisq” or
bid’a which is commonly
known.
Telling others for a vindictive or derogatory motive would be ghiybat. To
caution someone about a flaw in something they plan to buy does not mean to
speak ill of the seller. And it is not ghiybat, either, to inform a man about
the faults or defects of the girl he is planning to marry; it is a piece of
advice. It is wâjib to inform a person about something he does not know. If a
person commits acts of bid’at or perpetrates cruelty, it is ghiybat to inform
others about his other faults if they are not overt. It is stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “It is not ghiybat to inform
(others) about (the iniquities of) a person who has doffed
the jilbâb of shame.” ‘Jilbâb’ is a wide headgear which women
wear to cover their head. In this context, to ‘doff the jilbâb of shame’ means
to ‘commit sins overtly.’ The hadîth-i-sherîf
points out the fact that such people do not possess a sense of shame. According
to Imâm Ghazâlî and some other Islamic scholars ‘rahima-humullâhu ta’âlâ’,
“That it is ghiybat to expose an overt sinner’s or someone else’s fault, is not
susceptible of the condition that there should be derogatory motives.” Hence,
ghiybat is a downright atrocity that must definitely be kept at bay.
There are many reasons which
tempt a person to commit ghiybat. We will explain eleven of them at this point:
Animosity toward the person concerned; propensity to join a common sentiment;
the appealing nature of blaming a popularly disliked person; temptation to
exclude oneself from a certain sin; to make a show of superiority; jealousy;
feelings of jocularity; witticism; and mockery; to express personal surprise,
regret, sorrow, or loathing at the sinning of a person not expected to do so.
Backbiting causes decrease in
one’s rewards (thawâbs) and causes others’ sins to be
added to the backbiter’s sins. Thinking about these all the time protects one
from committing backbiting.
Backbiting is of three types: In the first
instance the backbiter denies to have committed ghiybat and claims that he has
merely stated a fact about a certain person. This denial causes kufr
(unbelief), for it means to say ‘halâl’ about something Islam has forbidden
(harâm). In the second case the intention is to let the person who has been
backbitten hear about his being criticized, which in turn is harâm and a grave
sin. This kind of backbiting will not be forgiven only through
tawba.
It is necessary also to get the forgiveness of the person whom one has
backbitten. In the third case, the person who has been backbitten would not be
aware of this. This kind of backbiting is forgiven by tawba and by pronouncing
a blessing on the person backbitten.
A person who realizes that someone
is backbiting in his presence should prohibit it immediately. It is stated in hadîth-i-sherîfs: “Allâhu ta’âlâ will help a person in
this world and inthe next world ‘Âkhirat’ if he helps a Muslim brother of his
in his absence” and “When a person’s Muslim
brother is backbitten in his presence, if he does not support his brother
though he could if he wanted, this sin of his will be enough for him in both
this world and the next.” and “If a person protects
the honour of his Muslim brother in the world, Allâhu ta’âlâ will send him an angel
and thereby protect him against torment of Hell.” and “If a person protects the honor of his Muslim brother, Allâhu ta’âlâ will save him from
hell-fire.” While backbiting is committed,
a person who is present there should stop it with words if he is not afraid of
the backbiter. If he is afraid of him then he should reject it through his
heart; otherwise he will be sharing the sin of backbiting. If it is possible to
stop the backbiter or to leave, he should do one or the other. Using sign
language, e.g., his head or hand or eyes is not enough. It is necessary to tell
him that he should stop backbiting.
The atonement (kaffârat) for backbiting is the feeling of sadness, making tawba, and apologizing to the person backbitten. An apology without feeling sorry is no more than hypocrisy, which is another sin. [It is written in Ibn-i Âbidîn’s book Radd-ul-Muhtâr, 5th volume, page 263 that it is forbidden to backbite a dead person as well as a non-Muslim citizen (zimmî).]