When is backbiting permissible?

The questioner : ... You do not pray Fajr except... He says that the Qur'an is doubtful, meaning he doubts the prophethood of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)?

The Shaykh : Fine; give it to them, or will they not be satisfied? Why do we care about it?

The questioner : Meaning, it is my mistake; so does that mean in the end we inform people of his condition, or do we remain silent?

The Shaykh : The answer:
"Censure is not backbiting in six cases: the one who complains of injustice, the one who informs, and the one who warns,
and the one who openly commits open sinfulness, the one who seeks a ruling, and the one who seeks assistance in removing a wrong."
"Censure is not backbiting in six cases: the one who complains of injustice, the one who informs, and the one who warns; here you have two descriptions: 'the one who informs' and 'the one who warns.' Evidence for these six characteristics has come in the Sunnah, and what concerns us now is the hadith of Hind, who came to complain about her husband to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to say: My husband is a stingy man. Pay attention to her saying 'stingy,' for it is backbiting, because she is mentioning what her husband dislikes. However, it was permitted for her to mention it in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he, in turn, remained silent regarding it, because she did not intend by this backbiting a personal matter, but rather a legal ruling. She said: He is a stingy man; should I not take from his wealth what suffices me and my children? He said to her (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him): , in a good manner. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) approved her of this description, which is backbiting, and its original ruling is prohibition. But because the intention behind this backbiting was to reach a legal ruling, the Messenger (peace be upon him) remained silent regarding it. From here, the exception of 'the one who informs' came in the two previous verses.
Of this nature is also the case of another woman who came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah, Abu Jahm (with a mīm, not a lām); Abu Jahm and Mu'awiyah have proposed to me. As if she was saying to him: So what do you advise me to do, O Messenger of Allah? He did not say to her: Take this one or that one, nor did he say to her: Do not marry this one or that one. Rather, he informed her of the defect of each of them; he said: .
The scholars differed in interpreting this phrase with two opinions. One is that he is one who travels a lot, because it is the custom of the Arabs to place a stick on the shoulder and hang provisions and drink on it; so it is an allusion that he travels a lot. This is undoubtedly a matter not desirable for women, where the man is absent from his home and his family often; so he mentioned this defect to her: . This is the first opinion in which this phrase was interpreted.
The other opinion—and it is the relied-upon one—is that it is an allusion that he is a beater of women; one who beats a lot. So for the most trivial reasons, he stands up to the wife and beats her. It has come in some hadiths: ; meaning: those who beat women for the most trivial reasons are the worst of people. The point is, whether the meaning is this second one, which is the stronger in my view, or the first one; his saying (peace be upon him): falls within the meaning of backbiting, because this is what the suitor dislikes. And in our land of the Levant, they say: Do not say, O so-and-so, his description is such and such, and you cut off his livelihood; that is what they say. But this is ignorance! Then he said (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him): , and both of these descriptions are things women do not desire. So when he (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) was asked by this woman about these two men, and he mentioned the defect of each of them to her, this—although it is backbiting—is from the category of . From here, it is cold scrupulousness for a person to say: No, I do not mention so-and-so with his defect, because this is backbiting, and perhaps we cut off his livelihood—as they say there! No, the Shari'ah says: . They said: For whom, O Messenger of Allah? He said: . So from the advice to the general Muslims, if a person comes and asks you about a person who wants to partner with so-and-so, what is your opinion of him? And you know everything about him; it is not permissible for you to withhold it under the claim that this is backbiting. Rather, you must clarify so that you advise.
And so, in light of the above explanation, this is the answer to that question.

The questioner : May Allah help him to repel them.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : Does no one seek a ruling? Does no one ask him?

The Shaykh : Yes, but you know that so-and-so means to propose; is that not so? You must mention it. The issue is not whether he asked or did not ask. The issue is backbiting: is it absolutely forbidden?
You know: "Censure is not backbiting in six cases: the one who complains of injustice." Is the one who complains of injustice known? There is no question; he starts on his own, saying: So-and-so wronged me, and he has the right to do so until he obtains his right. And he said (peace be upon him): , and he said in another hadith: . So likewise, we should not focus on whether he asked or did not ask. The important thing is to consider advice from one side, and to consider the necessity that compelled the person to censure some people to repel injustice.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : "Censure is not backbiting." Pay attention now to the six descriptions.
"Censure is not backbiting in six cases: the one who complains of injustice," there is no question from anyone, and "the one who informs," there is no question, and "the one who warns," there is no question. But the examples we mentioned contain a question, and "the one who warns, the one who openly commits open sinfulness, and the one who seeks a ruling," here is the question, "and the one who seeks assistance in removing a wrong." If there is, for example, a clean, noble neighborhood, and a person wants to open a shop there dealing in some things; like selling cigarettes, for example, at the very least. And he has authority, he has status, he has prestige, and an ordinary person cannot do anything. So he comes to so-and-so, to so-and-so, and says: O so-and-so, the man so-and-so is now trying to open a shop such and such; let us cooperate to prevent the opening of such a place in this neighborhood. So this is from the category of what? Cooperation in removing a wrong.
Yes.

The questioner : So, for example, if a person comes to propose or wants to partner... and he did not ask me; do I cooperate with him?

The Shaykh : That was the previous answer: you address it and advise. Meaning, suppose I want to partner with so-and-so, and you know that I am not suitable for partnership; either because I—may Allah forbid it—am a traitor or lazy, or whatever other defects there are. So you must go to the one I want to partner with and say to him: I have been informed that so-and-so is consulting with you about establishing a partnership between you two. So I tell you: I know about him such and such. This is permissible, rather, this is obligatory; because it falls within the generality of his saying (peace be upon him): .
Yes.

Another questioner : ... .

The questioner : In the case of not—O Shaykh—not mentioning that to him; am I sinful?

The Shaykh : You are sinful.

The questioner : The narration of Abu Jahm; it came in the narration of Abu Jahm... that he is a beater of women...?

The Shaykh : The narration?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : I do not remember the narration, but I remember a statement of the scholars in interpreting this phrase. As for the narration, I do not remember it.
Yes.