Backbiting regarding the person of religious innovation and the limits of speaking about him
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, he says: Is it true that the person of religious innovation (bid'ah) is not subject to backbiting? And what are the limits of speaking about him?
Answer:
No, he is subject to backbiting. Why would he not be? However, if you advise him and clarify what he is upon so that he may desist, that is advice, not backbiting. But if you speak about him while he is absent and cannot hear you, there is no benefit in that; it is backbiting with no benefit, but rather it contains harm. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, he says: Is it true that the person of religious innovation (bid'ah) is not subject to backbiting? And what are the limits of speaking about him?
Answer:
No, he is subject to backbiting. Why would he not be? However, if you advise him and clarify what he is upon so that he may desist, that is advice, not backbiting. But if you speak about him while he is absent and cannot hear you, there is no benefit in that; it is backbiting with no benefit, but rather it contains harm. Yes.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، الفصل الأول في النية في الطهارة والصلاة — islamhouse.com (54:36)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.