The Difference Between Backbiting and Speaking About the Dead
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Your Eminence! How do you reconcile the prohibition of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) against backbiting, and his prohibition against cursing the dead,And his saying: (and it is obligatory),And his statement: (you are the witnesses of Allah on earth)?
Reconciling them: That what the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) said when they spoke ill of one of the two funerals and well of the other is merely a report that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) verified, and the intention behind it was warning. Backbiting, which is mentioning a person with what he dislikes, is not forbidden in every case; in some cases it is forbidden, in some cases it is permissible, and in some cases it is required. Did not Fatimah bint Qays come to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to consult him regarding Abu Juhaym, Abu Sufyan, and Usamah ibn Zayd, all of whom had proposed to her? He said to her: (As for Abu Sufyan, he is a stingy man, and as for Abu Juhaym, he is a man who beats women; marry Usamah). It is well known that describing Abu Sufyan in his absence as a stingy man is backbiting, and likewise describing Abu Juhaym as a man who beats women, or as one who does not lay down his stick from his shoulder, is also backbiting. However, there is a benefit in it. So backbiting is sometimes required, and sometimes permissible. It may be intended merely for identification, such as al-A'raj and al-A'mash, and similar terms used by contemporary scholars that you often hear in the chains of narration. This is permissible because the intention is identification. If the intention is advice, it becomes obligatory. Thus, what the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) mentioned, they intended to report what happened in order to warn against it if it was evil, and to encourage it if it was good.
Reconciling them: That what the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) said when they spoke ill of one of the two funerals and well of the other is merely a report that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) verified, and the intention behind it was warning. Backbiting, which is mentioning a person with what he dislikes, is not forbidden in every case; in some cases it is forbidden, in some cases it is permissible, and in some cases it is required. Did not Fatimah bint Qays come to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to consult him regarding Abu Juhaym, Abu Sufyan, and Usamah ibn Zayd, all of whom had proposed to her? He said to her: (As for Abu Sufyan, he is a stingy man, and as for Abu Juhaym, he is a man who beats women; marry Usamah). It is well known that describing Abu Sufyan in his absence as a stingy man is backbiting, and likewise describing Abu Juhaym as a man who beats women, or as one who does not lay down his stick from his shoulder, is also backbiting. However, there is a benefit in it. So backbiting is sometimes required, and sometimes permissible. It may be intended merely for identification, such as al-A'raj and al-A'mash, and similar terms used by contemporary scholars that you often hear in the chains of narration. This is permissible because the intention is identification. If the intention is advice, it becomes obligatory. Thus, what the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) mentioned, they intended to report what happened in order to warn against it if it was evil, and to encourage it if it was good.