How is repentance from backbiting?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question : Yes, if a person backbites one of the scholars.
Answer : Or other than the scholars, it is not sufficient for repentance that he repents between himself and Allah the Exalted. He must seek their forgiveness if they are alive and know about this backbiting; he must seek their forgiveness. As for if they are dead or did not know about the backbiting, then completing the repentance is to mention their good qualities in the places where he used to backbite them, for good deeds erase bad deeds. Yes.
Answer : Or other than the scholars, it is not sufficient for repentance that he repents between himself and Allah the Exalted. He must seek their forgiveness if they are alive and know about this backbiting; he must seek their forgiveness. As for if they are dead or did not know about the backbiting, then completing the repentance is to mention their good qualities in the places where he used to backbite them, for good deeds erase bad deeds. Yes.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 314 - 336 كيف تكون التوبة من الغيبة؟ - الشيخ ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.