What is the ruling on backbiting, and does it diminish the good deeds of a Muslim?

Question : We have another call. This is a woman calling in to ask. She says: Yes, Honorable Shaykh, she says: What is the ruling on backbiting? Does it diminish the good deeds of a Muslim?

Answer : Yes, backbiting is among the major sins. It is among the great prohibitions. It is when a person mentions his Muslim brother with what he dislikes.
And Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) likened that to the ugliest image, saying: , and the sin of backbiting is multiplied according to the fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) it leads to. The backbiting of scholars is greater than the backbiting of the common people. And the backbiting of those in authority, the rulers, and the judges is greater than the backbiting of others. Because the backbiting of scholars leads to rejecting the rulings of Allah the Mighty and Sublime and the rulings of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that they convey, and the backbiting of rulers and judges leads to belittling them, despising them, and not obeying their orders, and in this there is chaos and corruption that none knows except the Lord of the servants.
And it diminishes the rank of the person, because this one who backbites his brother, if it is the Day of Resurrection, then he is taken from his good deeds, from the good deeds of the man who transgressed against his brother and backbited him. And it came in the hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he asked his companions and said: Who do you consider the bankrupt among you? They said: The one who has no dirham and no goods, or they said: and no dinar. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The bankrupt with good deeds like mountains. He comes having struck this one, taken the wealth of this one, and wronged this one. So this one takes from his good deeds, and this one from his good deeds, and this one from his good deeds. If anything remains of his good deeds, otherwise they take from their sins and throw them upon him, then he is thrown into the Fire.
So it is obligatory for the Muslim to restrain his tongue from backbiting, talebearing, and every forbidden word.
And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Mu'adh ibn Jabal: Shall I inform you of the key to all of that? He said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took his own tongue and said: Restrain this. He said: O Messenger of Allah, are we indeed held accountable for what we speak? He said: May your mother mourn you, O Mu'adh, and what causes people to fall into the Fire on their faces, or he said: on their snouts, except the harvest of their tongues?