Reminder for myself first & foremost!
“Not a word does he [or she] utter except that there is a watcher [angel] by him ready [to record it]” (Qur’an, 50:18)…
When you utter someone’s name (in speech or online) in a manner that the person would dislike, how do you justify it? Are you from the “friend code” backbiters, the proud backbiters, or the religious backbiters?
The “friend code” backbiters view commitment to a friend as the dividing line between what is right or wrong to say about someone behind their back. In other words, if you’re my friend, I say nice things about you when you’re not around. If you’re not, then you have no rights over me whatsoever regarding your reputation and honor.
The proud backbiters take pride in “telling it like it is.” They actually view it as a virtue to eat the flesh of others because they’re willing to insult people both behind their backs and in their faces. Their common line of defense is, “And if she were sitting right here, I’d say it to her face!” …as if adding the vice of cruelty lessens the sinfulness of backbiting.
The religious backbiters indulge in this heinous sin under the guise of wanting everyone to obey Allah and live a righteous life. So when they talk badly about someone, it’s because they’ve witnessed some sin or wrongdoing that disturbed their religious sensitivities so much that they felt compelled to indulge in sin themselves…by discussing the faults of their brother or sister with their equally “religiously sensitive” acquaintances….
But when the angels record our deeds, they won’t document an extensive rationalization for our sins. They merely note what they witnessed—the evil itself.’
—from the journal of Umm Zakiyyah
Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu’alayhi wa sallam, said to the Companions: “Do you know what gheebah (backbiting) is?” They said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “Saying about your brother [or sister] something that he [or she] dislikes.” He was asked, “What if what I say about my brother [or sister] is true?” He said, “If what you say is true, then you have backbitten him, and if it is not true, then you have slandered him” (Muslim).
So scary, may Allah subhan wa ta’alla forgive us and protect us from this disease ameen…