Chapter on the Prohibition of Backbiting and the Command to Guard the Tongue.

The reader: Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
He (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Chapter on the Prohibition of Backbiting and the Command to Guard the Tongue. Allah the Exalted said:

or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance and Merciful.

ولا يغتب بعضكم بعضًا أيحب أحدكم أن يأكل لحم أخيه ميتًا فكرهتموه واتقوا الله إن الله تواب رحيم

[Al-Hujurat 49:12]

And He the Exalted said:

And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart - about all those [one] will be questioned.

ولا تقف ما ليس لك به علم إن السمع والبصر والفؤاد كل أولئك كان عنه مسؤولًا

[Al-Isra 17:36]

And He the Exalted said:

Man does not utter any word except that with him is an observer prepared [to record].

ما يلفظ من قول إلا لديه رقيب عتيد

[Qaf 50:18]

".

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The author al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his book *Riyad al-Salihin*: "Chapter on the Prohibition of Backbiting and the Obligation to Guard the Tongue" Then he mentioned several verses in this meaning. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) defined backbiting when he said to his Companions: This means along with backbiting. So backbiting is among the major sins that prayer, charity, fasting, or any other righteous deeds do not expiate; rather, it remains on the scale. Ibn 'Abd al-Qawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his poem *Al-Adab*:
"And it has been said: A minor backbiting and talebearing *** Both are major sins according to the explicit statement of Ahmad"
Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him) means that he explicitly stated that backbiting and talebearing are among the major sins. The saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in defining it: includes whatever he dislikes, whether it is a physical defect, a character defect, or a religious defect; anything he dislikes. If you mention him with it, it is backbiting. A physical defect, for example, if you backbite him by saying he is one-eyed, lame, tall, short, or the like. This is backbiting. Or a character defect, for example, if you backbite him by saying he is not chaste, meaning he pursues women, looks at women, looks at young boys, or the like. Or a religious defect, by saying he is an innovator, that he does not pray in congregation, that he does not do such and such, criticizing him in his absence. For this reason, it is called backbiting (*ghibah*) because it is in the absence of the person. But if that is done in his face, it is called cursing and insulting, and is not called backbiting. The saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): means he slandered him along with backbiting, so the second part was omitted because it is known. The parallel in speech is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said one day: meaning they believe in him while they do not see him. So his saying: does not mean by that the negation of brotherhood, but the Companions are his brothers and his associates, and those after him are his brothers and not his associates. This is also meaning it does not negate that it is backbiting, but it is backbiting and slander.