And prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.

The reader: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
He (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "The chapter on the prohibition of listening to backbiting. Allah the Exalted said:

And when they hear ill speech, they turn away from it

وإذا سمعوا اللغو أعرضوا عنه

[Al-Qasas 28:55]

And He the Exalted said:

And they who turn away from ill speech

والذين هم عن اللغو معرضون

[Al-Mu'minun 23:3]

And He the Exalted said:

Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart - about all those [one] will be questioned.

إن السمع والبصر والفؤاد كل أولئك كان عنه مسؤولًا

[Al-Isra 17:36]

And He the Exalted said:

And when you see those who engage in [offensive] discourse concerning Our verses, then turn away from them until they enter into another conversation. And if Satan should cause you to forget, then do not remain after the reminder with the wrongdoing people.

وإذا رأيت الذين يخوضون في آياتنا فأعرض عنهم حتى يخوضوا في حديث غيره وإما ينسينك الشيطان فلا تقعد بعد الذكرى مع القومم الظ!المين

[Al-An'am 6:68]

From Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said:

Whoever protects his brother's honor, Allah protects his face from the Fire on the Day of Resurrection.

من رد عن عرض أخيه رد الله عن وجهه النار يوم القيامة

Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1931Hasan (Darussalam)

Al-Tirmidhi narrated it and said: It is a good hadith. And from 'Utbah ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) in his long, well-known hadith that was mentioned earlier in the chapter on hope, he said:

When the Prophet (ﷺ) stood up to offer As-Salat (the prayer) he asked, "Where is Malik bin Ad-Dukhshum?" A man replied: "He is a hypocrite. He does not love Allah and His Messenger." The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Do not say that. Do you not know that he said: La ilaha illallah (there is no true god except Allah),' seeking His Pleasure. Allah has made the fire of Hell unlawful for him who affirms that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah."

قام النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم يصلي فقال: أين مالك بن الدخشم؟ فقال رجل: ذلك منافق لا يحب الله ولا رسوله، فقال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم: لا تقل ذلك ألا تراه قد قال لا إله إلا الله يريد بذلك وجه الله وإن الله قد حرم على النار من قال لا إله إلا الله يبتغي بذلك وجه الله

Riyad as-Salihin 1529

Agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim."

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*: "The chapter on the prohibition of listening to backbiting". When he (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned the texts regarding the prohibition of backbiting and the explanation of its harms, corruptions, and sins, he followed that with this chapter, which is the prohibition of listening to backbiting. This means that if a person hears someone backbiting another, it is forbidden for him to listen to it. Rather, he should forbid him from doing so and try to divert him to another topic. In doing so, he earns a great reward, as in the hadith of Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him). If the one who backbites people insists on continuing his backbiting, it is obligatory for him to leave the place, because Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, says: This indicates that if a person listens to what is forbidden, he is a partner with the one who commits this forbidden act. In fact, it is obligatory for him to stand up. Then he mentioned several verses explaining turning away from idle talk. Idle talk is any speech that has no benefit, and it is considered idle talk. As for the servants of the Merciful, Allah the Exalted described them as: Meaning: they are safe from it, and nothing of it touches them, because they do not listen to it and do not approve of it. Then he mentioned the hadith of 'Utbah ibn Malik regarding the issue of Malik ibn al-Dakhsham, where a man spoke about his honor in the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade him from doing so and said: This indicates that if a person is not in that state, then there is no backbiting regarding him. For example, a disbeliever is not respected in terms of backbiting; you may backbite him, except if he has Muslim relatives who would be hurt by it, in which case you should not hurt them. Otherwise, there is no backbiting regarding him. As for the open sinner, it has been mentioned previously that he is respected, except if the public interest requires explaining his open sinfulness, in which case there is no harm in mentioning his open sinfulness, because this falls under the category of advice. And success is from Allah.