In the name of Allah
most Gracious most Merciful.
Thanks be to Allah Lord
of the worlds. May peace and prayers be upon the best of all messengers.
One
act of transgression which Allah had prohibited and considered it to be a
great sin, it had nested in our hearts, homes, gatherings and talks, it is the
sin of “Backbiting”. It is for a Muslim brother to backbite another Muslim
brother, or a Muslim sister to another sister. Many people had forgotten that
backbiting is one of the great sins for which Allah has promised great
punishment.
Allah
says in Ayah 12 of Surat Hojorat: “Do not backbite one another. Would one of
you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it, and fear
Allah”
The
messenger PPBU was asked once: “what is Backbiting?” He said “Talking about
your brother with something he/she hates” He was asked: “Even if what I say is
truly a character in him?” He replied: “Well, if what you say is truly a
character of his then you have backbit him, and if it is not a character of
his then you have falsely fabricated something against him”
Backbiting is more stressfully forbidden than many other sin be warned from
Satan and his temptations.
The
messenger PPBU on the day of Eid, in Mecca in his final Hajj talk said: “Your
bloods, moneys, dignity and honor are forbidden uppon you. As forbidden as
this day of yours, in this month of yours and in this town of yours. Those of
you who are here tell those who are not.”
The
Prophet was also reported saying “All of you who have become a Muslim by words
only while belief did not enter into his/her heart, Do not backbite other
Muslims, do not seek their faults and flaws. This who seeks their faults and
flaws Allah will seek out his faults. And this who Allah seeks his faults and
flaws will disgrace and shame him in his home”.
Remember brothers and sisters that Allah gives time but never neglects or
forgets. Punishment for backbiting in the next life starts in the grave. In
the night of Esra and Meraj the messenger saw people with nails of copper
scratching their faces and chests. He Asked: “Who are those Gabriel?” he said:
”Those are who backbite other people and go into their honors. This is their
punishment until the day of resurrection”.
There
are some that pretend to be caring and pretend to give an advice while
backbiting. One may come to you and say: “Do you see such a person, Allah has
brought upon him/her the sin of such and such”
Scholars have said that the source of backbiting is four points:
1)
Revenge. Some may do wrong to someone. Causing a lot of anger
and resorting to backbiting as a form of revenge. Not knowing that patience is
the virtue in such cases.
2)
The agreement of the listeners. Friends who hear of backbiting
should advice against. If they just knew that the one who listens is one of
the backbiters too. This who keeps others happy in the anger of Allah, and
Allah will be discontented with him and will make people discontented with him
too.
3)
Messing and playing in talking about others just for fun. In
fact that’s how some earn their living. For an hour of laughter can bring an
endless painful torture.
4)
Ignorance, specifically for two groups of people:
i.
The general public. Those who when they see some good person
doing a mistake, they go round talking, exaggerating, as if they never do a
mistake. No one is exempted from committing mistakes. But there are those that
do not see theirs, they only see other’s mistakes.
ii.
Those who were tricked by Satan to spend all his time seeking
out errors made by scholars and preachers. Those who promote good and advice
against bad. So if one says the wrong word, or makes a mistake they attack him
or her with no mercy. They ignore all the good deeds.
Dear
brother, It is time to wake up and give up this bad act. While it is easy to
talk about such sins but it is more difficult to find out ways to avoid them
and finding the right solution.
1)
Take refuge to Allah. Teach yourself the need to Allah and ask
Allah (or make duaa’). The unwise one of us who thins he has no bad traits in
his character.
2)
Make a sin look bigger. Some scholar said “A sin is as big with
Allah as it is small with you.” Also remember that sins take away good deeds.
One of the companions said “We used to see a sin like a big mountain floating
just over our heads about to fall upon us, and you see it as a fly you hush
off so easily.”
3)
Conserve on words. For a spoken word is yours until it coms out
of your mouth. Once a word comes out of your mouth then it is held against
you. The messenger said “Guarantee me what’s between your jaws and what’s
between your thighs and I guarantee you paradise.” In another haddeth Muad (ćŚĒŠ)
asked the messenger “Recommend me something will bring me into paradise”. The
messenger listed a number of things that would help one to go to paradise.
Then he said “and shall I tell you the master of all those things? Hold that”
pointing to his tongue.
4)
Pay attention to your self and do not pay attention to people.
The messenger said “Signs of being a good Muslim is leaving what doesn’t
concern him”. Let each of us worry about his/her own problems and fix them.
5)
Leave a group indulging into backbiting. Either change the
topic of the conversation or leave the group.
6)
Think better of your brother/sister as much as possible. Gibe
the benefit of the doubt to your brother or sister when you hear something bad
about them. Find reasons and excuses why your brother/sister seem to have made
such a mistake. If it becomes clear beyond doubt that he/she did sin, take
your brother/sister with the advice rather than backbiting. We all make
mistakes, we are all sinners remind him/her to fear Allah.
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