The Ruling on Backbiting Someone Not Specifically Named and Retaliation for the One Who Backbites

Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, we know that the one who backbites will be requited for it on the Day of Resurrection. So, if a person backbites the people of a town or a type of people who may number in the millions, will the retribution be for all of them or not?

Answer:
Backbiting applies to a specific person. As for the unknown or the vague, there is no backbiting. Backbiting is for a specific individual. If a person backbites a specific individual, such as so-and-so, the son of so-and-so, that is backbiting. As for the unknown, there is no backbiting. It is obligatory for the believer to beware of backbiting, for its evil is great. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: . So backbiting is a major sin among the major sins. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about backbiting, he said: "Mentioning your brother in a way he would dislike." I said: "O Messenger of Allah, what if there is in my brother what I am saying?" He said: . It is one of the causes of hatred and enmity. Backbiting is the spreading of evil and one of the causes of hatred and enmity. So it is obligatory to beware of it. And more severe than it is talebearing, conveying bad speech from Zayd to 'Amr, and from one group to another. This is talebearing. In the authentic hadith: . So it is obligatory to beware of both backbiting and talebearing. It must be specific, so-and-so, the son of so-and-so. As for mentioning unknown people, or a town, or a village, or a tribe, there is nothing in that; it is not called backbiting, as far as I know. The scholars mentioned that backbiting is for a specific person, for the specific individual. As for if it is said that such-and-such a town has such-and-such, or such-and-such a tribe has such-and-such, it is not called backbiting.