Religion:Gheebah

Gheebah (Arabic: الغيبة) is defined as backbiting in Islam. It is generally regarded as a major sin in Islam and compared in the Qur'an to the abomination of eating the flesh of a dead brother.

Quran

There are two verses in the Quran about backbiting. Verse 12 of Surah Al-Hujurat says:

Believers, beware of many ideas. Surely some ideas are wrong. And don't look for secrets. Let none of you slander anyone behind his back. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of their dead brother? In fact, you hate it. Fear Allah. Surely Allah is Accepting repentance, Most Merciful. Surah Al-Hujurat (49): Verse: 12

Verse 148 of Surah Al-Nisa says:

Allah does not like the spread of evil, but it is different when someone is wronged (or when oppression in happened). And Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

— Surah Nisa (4): Verse: 148

Hadith

The hadith defines backbiting and generally advises muslims not to do it about other muslims and not to publicize and keep secrets (كتمان الاسرار, kitma'n al-asra'r) of others.

Yahya Ibn Ayyub, Qutaybah and Ibn Hujar (R.A.) ..... Abu Hurairah (R.A.) narrated that the Messenger of Allah, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: Do you know what backbiting is? They said, Allah and His Messenger know best. He said, (backbiting is) discussing something about your brother that he dislikes. The question is, what do you say if what I am saying is true in my brother? He said, "If what you say about him is true in him, then you have slandered him." And if it is not in him, then you slander him.

—Muslim 2589

Rasulullah (s.a.w.) said, 'You do not find the faults and mistakes of Muslims. Whoever finds and exposes the faults of other muslims, Allah himself exposes his faults. And Allah humiliates him in his own house who exposes other muslim's fault.

— (Abu Dawud: 4880, Tirmidhi, Hadith: 2032)

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Whoever keeps his Muslim brother's secret secret, Allah will keep his secret secret on the Day of Resurrection." And whoever reveals the secrets of his Muslim brother, Allah will reveal his secrets. Even because of this, he will humiliate him even in his house.

—(Ibn Majah: 2546)

Narrated by Abu Huraira (R.A.), Rasulullah (S.A.W.) said, 'The sins of all my Ummah will be forgiven; But the fault-finder will not be forgiven. He expresses the fault in the way that a person did something during the night, and then the morning came. Almighty Allah kept his work secret. He says (to people in the morning), O so-and-so! I did this last night. But he spent the night in such a state that Allah kept his deeds secret and he removed this veil of Allah in the morning.'

—(Sahih Bukhari, Hadith: 6069)

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Whoever conceals the faults of others, Allah will conceal his faults in this world and the hereafter."

—(Sahih Muslim: 2699)

Scope of Validity

Based on the mentioned second verse and some reliable hadiths Islamic jurists including Al-Nawawi in his book Gardens of the Righteous have declared slanderer or slander in 6 cases to be valid -

1. oppressed and seeking justice against a tyrant ruler or
2. seeking a solution to a problem from a judicial person or someone reliable,
3. exposing religious errors while propagating Islam,
4. abouta person engaged in persistent deadly sins which harm people,
5. warning someone of danger and harm in case of marriage, business and contract, and
6. defining one's characteristic with the popular negative traits without which he can not be recognised easily.

See also

• Nifaq
• Taqwa