ISLAM GENERATION

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Defamation in Islaam encompasses Nameemah, Buhtan and Gheebah.

Nameemah or malicious gossip means telling one person what another said in order to cause trouble between them.

Buhtan or slander means saying things about a Muslim that is not true, or in other words, telling lies about him.

Gheebah or backbiting means speaking about a Muslim in his absence and saying things that he would not like to have spread around or mentioned.

In a Hadith collected by Abu Dawud that Abu Hurayrah said, “It was asked, ‘O Allaah’s Messenger (ﷺ)! 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,

“If he was as you mentioned, you will have committed backbiting. But if he was not as you say about him, you will have slandered him” (At-Tirmidhi, Hasan Sahih.’)

The statements of Allaah the Exalted,

وَلَا تَلْمِزُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَكُمْ
.. Nor defame yourselves,.. (al-Hujurat 49:11)

This forbids Muslims from defaming each other.

وَلَا يَغْتَب بَّعْضُكُم بَعْضًا ۚ
.. Neither backbite one another (al-Hujurat 49:12)

This prohibits backbiting. Backbiting was sternly warned against, which is why Allah the Exalted and Most Blessed compared it to eating the flesh of a dead human being.

أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَن يَأْكُلَ لَحْمَ أَخِيهِ مَيْتًا فَكَرِهْتُمُوهُ ۚ
Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay, You would hate it. (al-Hujurat 49:12).

Just as you hate eating the flesh of a dead person, on account of your nature; so hate backbiting, on account of your religion. This Ayah seeks to discourage people from backbiting and warns against it.

Prophet Mohammad (ﷺ) narrated that during the Night of Ascension (Mi’raj), he saw a group of people who were scratching their chests and faces with their copper nails. He said, that when he asked, ‘Who are these people, O Jibril?’ Jibril replied: ‘These are the people who ate the flesh of others (by backbiting) and trampled people’s honour.’ (Riyadh us Saliheen).

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: A man will come on the Day of Resurrection with good deeds like mountains, but he had wronged this one, taken the wealth of that one and slandered the honor of another. So each of them will take from his good deeds. And if there is nothing left of his good deeds, it will be taken from their evil and placed on him.

He among men who is a slanderer, and a backbiter, is cursed and condemned as Allah (ﷻ) states :
وَيْلٌ لِّكُلِّ هُمَزَةٍ لُّمَزَةٍ
Woe to every Humazah, Lumazah (al-Humazah 104:1)

Hamz is defamation by action, while Lamz is by words.

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REPENTANCE FROM DEFAMATION.
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The majority of scholars have stated that repentance for committing the sin of defamation is that one refrains from defamation intending not to repeat it again. Some scholars stated, that it is not necessary for one to ask those whom he has backbitten to forgive him because if they knew what was said about them, they could be hurt more than if they were not told about it. It is better, they said, that one should praise those whom he has backbitten in audiences in which he has committed the act. It is also better if one defends the injured party against any further backbiting, as much as one can, as recompense for his earlier backbiting.

And Allaah (ﷻ) knows best.

May Allaah keep us steadfast upon His Deen. آمين

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🕋 ISLAM GENERATION DAWAH GROUP

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