Clarification of what falls under backbiting and what does not
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
And other than that, does the manager’s squandering, or the negligence of some employees or teachers, or the injustice that occurs, fall under forbidden backbiting?
Answer:
No, this falls under the category of sincere advice and removing injustice. It does not fall under backbiting; anything that involves removing injustice and sincere advice does not fall under backbiting. Backbiting is only when it is for the sake of pleasure and amusement at the expense of people’s honor, and no predominant benefit results from it. That is backbiting. But if a predominant benefit results from it, and it involves forbidding what is wrong, this is not called backbiting. It is called advice, it is called forbidding what is wrong, it is called calling to Allah. There is boycotting in it. Yes.
And other than that, does the manager’s squandering, or the negligence of some employees or teachers, or the injustice that occurs, fall under forbidden backbiting?
Answer:
No, this falls under the category of sincere advice and removing injustice. It does not fall under backbiting; anything that involves removing injustice and sincere advice does not fall under backbiting. Backbiting is only when it is for the sake of pleasure and amusement at the expense of people’s honor, and no predominant benefit results from it. That is backbiting. But if a predominant benefit results from it, and it involves forbidding what is wrong, this is not called backbiting. It is called advice, it is called forbidding what is wrong, it is called calling to Allah. There is boycotting in it. Yes.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، بداية من باب الصلح — islamhouse.com (12:59)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.