O You Who Believe

73)

"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."

[Al-Hujarat 49:12]

In this verse, Allah the Exalted forbids His faithful servants from being much suspicious, which includes having doubts and suspicions about the conduct of one's family, relatives and other people in general. Therefore, Muslims are to avoid suspicion without foundation. The Leader of the faithful 'Umar bin Al-Khattab said, "Never think ill of the word that comes out of your believing brother's mouth, as long as you can find a good excuse for it.''

Believers are commanded to shun much suspicion. Indeed some suspicions are sins, that is to say, it causes one to fall into sin. This [suspicion] may have many forms, such as thinking ill of the good folk from among the believers — and such [good folk] are many — in contrast to the immoral individuals among them in whose case there is no sin, so long as it [the suspicion] is in accordance with their outward behaviour

Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasallam) said:

"Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the worst of false tales; do not spy on one another; do not look for other's faults; do not be jealous of one another; do not envy one another; do not hate one another; and do not desert (shun) one another. And O Allah's servants! Be brothers!"

Another version of this hadith recorded in At-Tirmidhi is as follows.

"Do not shun each other; do not ignore one another; do not hate one another, and do not envy one another, and be brothers, O servants of Allah. No Muslim is allowed to shun his brother for more than three days."

The words used in this hadith are tajassus, tahassus and tadabur. Prophet of Allah refrained from doing all three of them. Al-Awza'i said, "Tajassus means, to search for something (spying) while Tahassus means, listening to people when they are talking without their permission, or eavesdropping at their doors. Tadabur refers to shunning each other. ''

By forbiding spying, it is implied to not pursue the imperfections and faults of Muslims by searching them out.

This verse highlights about conjecture (a conclusion based on incomplete knowledge). Conjecture by itself is not anything forbidden; rather in some cases and situations it is commendable, in some situations inevitable, in some permissible up to a certain extent and un-permissible beyond it, and in some cases absolutely unlawful. That is why it has not been enjoined that one should refrain from conjecture or suspicion altogether but what is enjoined is that one should refrain from much suspicion. Then, to make the intention of the command explicit, it has been said that some conjectures are sinful.

From this warning it follows automatically that whenever a person is forming an opinion on the basis of conjecture, or is about to take an action, he should examine the case and see 1) whether the conjecture he is entertaining is not a sin, 2) whether the conjecture is really necessary, 3) whether there are sound reasons for the conjecture, and 4) whether the conduct one is adopting on the basis of the conjecture is permissible.

Everyone who fears God will certainly take these precautions. To make his conjecture free and independent of every such care and consideration is the character of only those people who are fearless of God and thoughtless of the accountability of the Hereafter.

After spying, Allah prohibited backbiting. Abu Hurayrah (R.A) said, "It was asked, 'O Allah's Messenger! What is backbiting' He said:

"Mentioning about your brother in a manner that he dislikes." He was asked, 'What if my brother was as I mentioned?' He said: