Is it not backbiting to speak about an innovator or an open sinner who publicly displays his open sinfulness? Is this correct?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you with good and do you good. You are asking if this statement is correct: that speaking about an innovator or an open sinner who publicly displays his open sinfulness is not backbiting.
Answer:
Mentioning an open sinner or an innovator in their absence, if the intention is to warn against their evil and to avoid being deceived by them, is a required matter. It is not backbiting, because the intention and the benefit in it are predominant. The benefit in it is predominant, and it is warning against their evil, and the evil of their innovations and open sinfulness. However, if it is merely for the sake of delight, this is not permissible, because it does not go beyond backbiting. If no benefit results from it, it does not go beyond backbiting.
May Allah reward you with good and do you good. You are asking if this statement is correct: that speaking about an innovator or an open sinner who publicly displays his open sinfulness is not backbiting.
Answer:
Mentioning an open sinner or an innovator in their absence, if the intention is to warn against their evil and to avoid being deceived by them, is a required matter. It is not backbiting, because the intention and the benefit in it are predominant. The benefit in it is predominant, and it is warning against their evil, and the evil of their innovations and open sinfulness. However, if it is merely for the sake of delight, this is not permissible, because it does not go beyond backbiting. If no benefit results from it, it does not go beyond backbiting.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ليس بصاحب بدعة ولا بفاسقٍ يُعلن بفسقهُ غيبة، هل هذا صحيح؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.