If a person backbites some people and speaks ill of them, and then performs charity on their behalf to atone for the bad things he said about them, is this sufficient, and does this satisfy their rights?

The questioner : The questioner, who has indicated his name with the initials K, F, M, and 'A from Kuwait, asks: If a person backbites some people and speaks ill of them, and then performs charity on their behalf to atone for the bad things he said about them, is this sufficient, and does this satisfy their rights?

The Shaykh : The rights that a person owes to others are of two types: financial rights and rights of honor.
As for financial rights, it is obligatory to return them to their owners no matter what. If a person denies a right owed to another, and the claimant has no proof, and then he repents to Allah, it is obligatory for him to return the right to its owner in any case.
As for rights of honor, such as insult, disparagement, and the like, it is also obligatory to seek the forgiveness of the person whose honor was violated, if he knows that this came from him. Because if he does not do so, something will remain in the other person's heart. So he must seek his forgiveness and take an intermediary between them if he fears that if he goes to him to seek his forgiveness, he will not do so. The intermediary should be a person of good. And if he did not know who his honor was violated by, meaning he did not know that he backbited him or that he disparaged him in something, then he does not need to inform him. But he should praise him in the gatherings where he backbited him and seek forgiveness from Allah for him. And this is sufficient, if Allah wills.

The questioner : May Allah reward you.