Explaining the danger of backbiting, especially backbiting scholars and rulers.
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The Shaykh : O my brothers, most of us speak evil, backbiting our believing brother whose backbiting Allah has forbidden. He said: [Al-Hujurat 49:12] Backbiting is among the major sins. Imam Ahmad explicitly stated this, as Ibn 'Abd al-Qawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his famous poem:
"And it has been said that backbiting and talebearing are minor, but both are major according to Ahmad's text"
Most people do not make conversation in gatherings except by backbiting people. We ask Allah for safety from that. And more severe than that is backbiting scholars or backbiting rulers. By rulers, we mean rulers in the general sense or in the specific sense. I mean that a ruler may be a ruler over a village, or a ruler over a school, which is a director, or a general ruler, which is the king or the president. So the most sinful backbiting is backbiting scholars and backbiting rulers. Why? Answer.
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : Why? Because the harm of backbiting ordinary people does not extend beyond the person you backbited. But the harm of backbiting scholars extends to the Islamic Shari'ah, because the bearers of the Islamic Shari'ah—who are they?—are the scholars. If a person backbites them and their value drops in the hearts of people and their dignity is lost, then what they say from the Shari'ah becomes a place of doubt and a place of rejection. So the Shari'ah is rejected through the backbiting of scholars, and thus it becomes a waste of the Shari'ah of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) that came through the backbiting of scholars.
As for rulers, their backbiting is also more severe than the backbiting of ordinary people, because if you backbite the rulers, their value drops in the eyes of people. And when the value of the rulers drops in the eyes of people, their dignity decreases, their orders become rejected, and a person among the people does not see them as anything but his equal, so he does not obey them in what they order and does not comply with their command. And this matter has reversed the state of many people, when some people began to speak about the honor of scholars and speak about the honor of rulers, until the dignity of these and those disappeared, and many harms resulted from that. Until you see some people saying: "I do not obey the ruler in anything unless Allah has ordered it." If the ruler says, "Establish prayer," I say, "Yes, because Allah ordered that." But if he orders other matters of order that he sees as a benefit for creation and in which there is no contradiction with the Shari'ah, he says, "I do not obey him in that because he is a human being," or he says, "Because he does such and such of the sins." We say this is wrong. Even if he commits sins, it is obligatory for you to obey him in what he orders you, as long as he does not order you to do a sin. If he orders you to do a sin, then there is no hearing and no obedience. For example, if he says, "Shave your beard," then there is no hearing for him and no obedience, because shaving the beard is a forbidden sin. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered its growth. So if a person comes and says, "Shave it," it means his order is contrary to the order of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So here we do not hear and we do not obey. But if we are forced to do that, then coercion and compulsion have another ruling, because Allah the Exalted granted a dispensation for a person to utter the word of disbelief if he is forced to do so and his heart is secure in faith. So, backbiting scholars and backbiting rulers—what is it? It is more severe than the backbiting of ordinary people because of the harm that results from it.
or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it.
ولا يغتب بعضكم بعضاً أيحب أحدكم أن يأكل لحم أخيه ميتاً فكرهتموه"And it has been said that backbiting and talebearing are minor, but both are major according to Ahmad's text"
Most people do not make conversation in gatherings except by backbiting people. We ask Allah for safety from that. And more severe than that is backbiting scholars or backbiting rulers. By rulers, we mean rulers in the general sense or in the specific sense. I mean that a ruler may be a ruler over a village, or a ruler over a school, which is a director, or a general ruler, which is the king or the president. So the most sinful backbiting is backbiting scholars and backbiting rulers. Why? Answer.
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : Why? Because the harm of backbiting ordinary people does not extend beyond the person you backbited. But the harm of backbiting scholars extends to the Islamic Shari'ah, because the bearers of the Islamic Shari'ah—who are they?—are the scholars. If a person backbites them and their value drops in the hearts of people and their dignity is lost, then what they say from the Shari'ah becomes a place of doubt and a place of rejection. So the Shari'ah is rejected through the backbiting of scholars, and thus it becomes a waste of the Shari'ah of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) that came through the backbiting of scholars.
As for rulers, their backbiting is also more severe than the backbiting of ordinary people, because if you backbite the rulers, their value drops in the eyes of people. And when the value of the rulers drops in the eyes of people, their dignity decreases, their orders become rejected, and a person among the people does not see them as anything but his equal, so he does not obey them in what they order and does not comply with their command. And this matter has reversed the state of many people, when some people began to speak about the honor of scholars and speak about the honor of rulers, until the dignity of these and those disappeared, and many harms resulted from that. Until you see some people saying: "I do not obey the ruler in anything unless Allah has ordered it." If the ruler says, "Establish prayer," I say, "Yes, because Allah ordered that." But if he orders other matters of order that he sees as a benefit for creation and in which there is no contradiction with the Shari'ah, he says, "I do not obey him in that because he is a human being," or he says, "Because he does such and such of the sins." We say this is wrong. Even if he commits sins, it is obligatory for you to obey him in what he orders you, as long as he does not order you to do a sin. If he orders you to do a sin, then there is no hearing and no obedience. For example, if he says, "Shave your beard," then there is no hearing for him and no obedience, because shaving the beard is a forbidden sin. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered its growth. So if a person comes and says, "Shave it," it means his order is contrary to the order of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So here we do not hear and we do not obey. But if we are forced to do that, then coercion and compulsion have another ruling, because Allah the Exalted granted a dispensation for a person to utter the word of disbelief if he is forced to do so and his heart is secure in faith. So, backbiting scholars and backbiting rulers—what is it? It is more severe than the backbiting of ordinary people because of the harm that results from it.