Sincere Repentance from Backbiting

Question:
We return at the beginning of this episode to a message received by the program from one of our sisters in Allah. She says: Your sister in Allah, Mun Shin, our sister, we presented to her a collection of issues in the episode "The Plant." In this meeting, she asks your eminence, Shaykh Salih, and she says: I know that backbiting is a sin, and I have tried several times to repent, and I am remorseful for what I said about others. However, I find myself having backbitten again, even though I repent and resolve to repent sincerely, and I pray for the one I backbitted for forgiveness and good. I want to repent with sincere repentance; how is that done? And will Allah accept my repentance, especially since every time I repent sincerely, I return to that sin and then regret it greatly? May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions. As for what follows, it is obligatory for the Muslim to guard his tongue from forbidden speech, and among the most severe of forbidden speech is backbiting.
And it is, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) explained, mentioning your brother in a way he dislikes. They said: O Messenger of Allah, what do you say if there is in my brother what I am saying? He said: If there is in him what you are saying, then you have mentioned him; and if there is not in him what you are saying, then you have committed a major sin from the major sins.
Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, said: So it is upon you, it is upon you that the questioner should repent with sincere repentance and not return to this sin or any other.
And among the conditions for the validity of repentance is the resolve not to return to the sin from which one repented. But if one resolves not to return, yet returns to the sin, then it is obligatory for him to repent and repeat the repentance. It is obligatory for him to repeat the repentance, and to resolve with a firm determination not to return, and to stay away from the causes that lead him to fall into that sin. So if the cause of the backbiting is gathering with people who engage in backbiting, then you must avoid their gathering and not sit with them until they repent to Allah and leave backbiting, because whoever sits with them is not safe from their evil; either he backbites someone in their gathering, or he hears the wrong and does not forbid it.
So he sins thereby. The result is that backbiting is a major sin from the major sins, and it is eating the flesh of people, and it contains serious evil for the society, and it involves violating the sanctities of Muslims. For the honor of the Muslim is forbidden, just as his blood and his wealth are forbidden. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
The severity of backbiting increases when it concerns the honor of scholars or the honor of those in authority. Although this backbiting is a major sin and an act of consuming people's flesh, it also leads to greater corruption: it diminishes the scholars and strips them of their dignity in the eyes of the people, and it diminishes those in authority and strips them of the dignity and obedience that Allah the Exalted has commanded. Allah the Exalted said: Thus, it is a matter of dignity and a major sin among the greatest of sins.
And it also causes the disparagement of scholars and the disparagement of the rulers of the Muslims. And if one sees something of shortcomings in his brother, the solution is not to sit in a place and talk about the faults of those who are absent. Rather, the solution is to advise them between themselves. Either verbally, or in writing, or he instructs someone to convey the advice to them. This is what is obligatory for the Muslim. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And there is a difference between advice and exposing someone. Backbiting is exposing someone, and it is not advice. We ask Allah to guide everyone to what is good and correct. Yes.