The Meaning of Talebearing, Its Ruling, The Warning Regarding It, and The Difference Between It and Backbiting
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah reward you. In a third question, you say: I hope you, may Allah reward you with good, will clarify the meaning of talebearing, its ruling, and the warning regarding it, because it is widespread among us. What is the difference between it and backbiting?
The Shaykh:
Talebearing is forbidden and is a major sin among the major sins. Its meaning is conveying speech between people in a way that causes corruption between them and sows hatred between them. One goes to a person and says, "So-and-so is saying such and such about you," to incite his anger against him. Then he goes to the second person and says the same to him. This is a vile deed.
The presenter:
Yes.
The Shaykh:
And Allah has warned against talebearers in His saying:[Al-Qalam 68:10-11]. And in the hadith, talebearing is Mishkat al-Masabih 338
Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 5:1225 urination, and in the authentic hadith, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) Sahih Muslim 105a This is because the talebearer corrupts relations between people, fills hearts with resentment, and sows enmity among the Muslims. He is one of those who cause corruption on earth. As for backbiting, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained its meaning.
It is mentioning your brother in a way he would dislike, such as mentioning something about an absent person that he would dislike having mentioned, like his defects, his bad deeds, and so on. This is backbiting. It was said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)Sunan Abi Dawud 4874Sahih (Al-Albani), meaning you lied about him. Allah has warned against backbiting in His Noble Book. He the Exalted and Majestic is He said: [Al-Hujurat 49:12] and fear Allah so that you may be shown mercy. [Al-Hujurat 49:12] Yes.
May Allah reward you. In a third question, you say: I hope you, may Allah reward you with good, will clarify the meaning of talebearing, its ruling, and the warning regarding it, because it is widespread among us. What is the difference between it and backbiting?
The Shaykh:
Talebearing is forbidden and is a major sin among the major sins. Its meaning is conveying speech between people in a way that causes corruption between them and sows hatred between them. One goes to a person and says, "So-and-so is saying such and such about you," to incite his anger against him. Then he goes to the second person and says the same to him. This is a vile deed.
The presenter:
Yes.
The Shaykh:
And Allah has warned against talebearers in His saying:
(10) And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer (11) [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip -
وَلَا تُطِعْ كُلَّ حَلَّافٍ مَّهِينٍ هَمَّازٍ مَّشَّاءٍ بِنَمِيمٍthe Prophet came upon two graves and said, "Their occupants are being punished, but not for a great sin.
من أسباب عذاب القبر، فقد مر النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم بقبرين، فقال إنهما ليعذبان، وما يعذبان في كبير، أما إنه كبير.One of them used to walk with talebearing, and the other used not to ensure cleanliness from
اما احدهما فكان يمشي بالنميمه واما الاخر فكان لا يستبرئ منThe tale-bearer shall not enter Paradise.
قال لا يدخل الجنه نمامIt is mentioning your brother in a way he would dislike, such as mentioning something about an absent person that he would dislike having mentioned, like his defects, his bad deeds, and so on. This is backbiting. It was said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)
Tell me how the matter stands if what I say about my brother is true? He replied: If what you say of him is true, you have slandered him, and if what you say of him is not true, you have reviled him.
أرأيت إن كان في أخي ما أقول؟ قال إن كان فيه ما تقول فقد اغتبته، وإن لم يكن فيه ما تقول فقد بهتهor backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it.
وَلَا يَغْتَب بَّعْضُكُم بَعْضًا أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَن يَأْكُلَ لَحْمَ أَخِيهِ مَيْتًا فَكَرِهْتُمُوهُAnd fear Allah; indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance and Merciful.
وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَوَّابٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 5159- معنى النميمة، حكمها، الوعيد الوارد فيها، الفرق بينها وبين الغيبة - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.