Islamic Motivation

Backbiting. ✨

As salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, akhawat ❤️ I hope you're all in the best state of health and imaan, inshaaAllah. :)

I received a request today to write about backbiting (Gheebah), so that's what I'll be writing about, inshaaAllah.

Astaghfirullah. It's a topic that we're so quick to shun, but in reality we all are, or have been, guilty of it, and if not, then we've always witnessed it or been in the presence of people who are guilty of this, many of whom are not even aware of the greatness of the sin that they are engaged in. May Allah forgive us. As Muslims, we are required to always  guard our tongue and avoid things that are forbidden.

What is backbiting/gheebah?

Gheebah means speaking about a Muslim in his/her absence and saying things that he/she would not like to have spread around or mentioned. Even saying about someone, 'He/She backbites about people' is no doubt backbiting in itself as well as an act of hypocrisy.

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Do you know what gheebah (backbiting) is?" They said, "Allah and His Messenger know best." He said, "Saying something about your brother that he dislikes." It was said, "What if what I say about my brother is true?" He said, "If what you say is true then you have backbitten about him, and if it is not true, then you have slandered him."
[Riyad as-Salihin, Sahih Muslim, Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Bulugh al-Maram, Muwatta Malik]

SubhanAllah. How often we hear people defend theirselves by saying 'I'm only speaking the truth' yet look at the words of our Prophet ﷺ.

Let's begin with a couple of verses from surah al-Hujurat;

10. The believers are but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers. And fear Allah that you may receive mercy.
11. O you who have believed, let not a people ridicule [another] people; perhaps they may be better than them; nor let women ridicule [other] women; perhaps they may be better than them. And do not insult one another and do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames. Wretched is the name of disobedience after [one's] faith. And whoever does not repent - then it is those who are the wrongdoers.
12. O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy 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.

^ Read over those three verses once again and pay special attention to the bold sections.

•The believers are but one brotherhood/sisterhood.
•Fear Allah
•Do not ridicule one another
•Do not insult each other
•Avoid negative assumption
•Do not backbite
These are warnings that have been given to us from Allah in the Qur'an, yet still we go on and engage in something that angers Allah (swt)

The verses say; 'perhaps they may be better than them.'
So often, the main reason for Muslim's backbiting one another is because of judgement or negative assumption which is also spoken of in the above verses. People look at someone, without knowing anything about them, and assume that they are not as religious or pious. Perhaps a sister doesn't wear hijab yet, and so many people take this and use it to speak ill of another sister behind her back, but perhaps that sister reads Qur'an every single day, yet you open the Qur'an from Ramadan to Ramadan. As the verse tells us, we shouldn't judge anyone or backbite anyone because they may well and truly be better than us.
This isn't to say someone who doesn't wear hijab has an excuse. No. Hijab is fardh. Obligatory. Even though judging and backbiting is a major sin, it is also required that Muslims should hide their sins and not commit them openly in public.