The Ruling on Backbiting a Scholar and the Sufficiency of Repentance
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
This questioner says: If someone spoke about a scholar and backbit him, is repentance alone sufficient if the scholar is still alive?
Answer:
Repentance alone is not sufficient; because this is a right of a human being. If you wrong someone in his honor, his wealth, or his body, you must seek his forgiveness. If he is dead, or if he is alive but you fear that if you tell him, his anger toward you will intensify, or if the harm in doing so is greater, then you repent to Allah and speak well of this scholar in the gatherings where you spoke ill of him, perhaps Allah will expiate your sins. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
This questioner says: If someone spoke about a scholar and backbit him, is repentance alone sufficient if the scholar is still alive?
Answer:
Repentance alone is not sufficient; because this is a right of a human being. If you wrong someone in his honor, his wealth, or his body, you must seek his forgiveness. If he is dead, or if he is alive but you fear that if you tell him, his anger toward you will intensify, or if the harm in doing so is greater, then you repent to Allah and speak well of this scholar in the gatherings where you spoke ill of him, perhaps Allah will expiate your sins. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، محاضرات في العقيدة والدعوة-19-العلماء ورثة الأنبياء|صالح الفوزان|العام|كبار العلماء — youtube.com (48:49)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.