If you want to seek forgiveness from a person you backbited, are you required to tell them that you backbited them, or can you be general?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The second question. May Allah preserve you, O Shaykh. Regarding if one wants to seek forgiveness from a person, for example, if I backbited someone. Yes, if I backbited a person and I want to seek forgiveness from him, is it required that I tell him, if I want to seek his forgiveness, that I backbited you?
The Shaykh:
The backbiting, meaning it happened.
The questioner:
Do I say "I backbited you," or do I be general, Shaykh?
The Shaykh:
If you backbited him and harmed him, and if you fear harm from him, you supplicate for him and mention his good qualities in the other gatherings where you mentioned him with bad qualities. You mention his good qualities for me, instead of the bad ones. But if he is inclined to not object and it will not harm him, you tell him to seek your forgiveness.
The questioner:
But if you fear that he will object, O Shaykh, and you be general, you say: "Perhaps I made a mistake regarding you, and I ask you to forgive me," and you do not tell him that you backbited him. You say you made a mistake and you were general.
The Shaykh:
If he has died, then there is no objection to mentioning him with good qualities.
The questioner:
Yes, indeed. Very well.
The Shaykh:
In the places where he was mentioned, as a good person with good qualities, because this is with this.
The questioner:
Okay, O Shaykh, if I told him that I backbited him and he hit me, for example, is his right dropped?
The Shaykh:
It is not dropped, O Ibrahim.
The questioner:
If it happened, is his right dropped? Okay.
The Shaykh:
Allah knows best, Allah knows best. It is hoped, because the harm might be greater than its benefit. It is hoped, yes.
The questioner:
Yes, Allah.
The Shaykh:
In any case, the perfection of the matter is that you mention his good qualities if they are...
The questioner:
Allah.
The Shaykh:
Sit down to the recording.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you with good and preserve you, O Shaykh. Peace be upon you.
The second question. May Allah preserve you, O Shaykh. Regarding if one wants to seek forgiveness from a person, for example, if I backbited someone. Yes, if I backbited a person and I want to seek forgiveness from him, is it required that I tell him, if I want to seek his forgiveness, that I backbited you?
The Shaykh:
The backbiting, meaning it happened.
The questioner:
Do I say "I backbited you," or do I be general, Shaykh?
The Shaykh:
If you backbited him and harmed him, and if you fear harm from him, you supplicate for him and mention his good qualities in the other gatherings where you mentioned him with bad qualities. You mention his good qualities for me, instead of the bad ones. But if he is inclined to not object and it will not harm him, you tell him to seek your forgiveness.
The questioner:
But if you fear that he will object, O Shaykh, and you be general, you say: "Perhaps I made a mistake regarding you, and I ask you to forgive me," and you do not tell him that you backbited him. You say you made a mistake and you were general.
The Shaykh:
If he has died, then there is no objection to mentioning him with good qualities.
The questioner:
Yes, indeed. Very well.
The Shaykh:
In the places where he was mentioned, as a good person with good qualities, because this is with this.
The questioner:
Okay, O Shaykh, if I told him that I backbited him and he hit me, for example, is his right dropped?
The Shaykh:
It is not dropped, O Ibrahim.
The questioner:
If it happened, is his right dropped? Okay.
The Shaykh:
Allah knows best, Allah knows best. It is hoped, because the harm might be greater than its benefit. It is hoped, yes.
The questioner:
Yes, Allah.
The Shaykh:
In any case, the perfection of the matter is that you mention his good qualities if they are...
The questioner:
Allah.
The Shaykh:
Sit down to the recording.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you with good and preserve you, O Shaykh. Peace be upon you.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ ابن باز Alsheikh Binbaz»، [316-315 /400] إذا أردت أتحلل من شخص اغتبته هل يلزمني أن أذكر له أني اغتبته أو أعمم؟ II ابن باز — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.