It’s one of the greatest sins and yet it’s something we do day after day. Rather it has become part of our lifestyle. Sometimes we don’t even realize it. We’re just chatting away with your friends and we begin to talk about somebody else.
The Prophet (saw) was sitting with his companions one day and one of them was speaking badly about someone who wasn’t there. As the man got up to leave the Prophet (saw) said to him: “Pick Your Teeth!” “But I haven’t eaten anything,” the man protested. “No,” the Prophet (saw) said “You have eaten the flesh of your dead brother”.
As Allah tells us in the Qur'an:
**"Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? No, you would hate it."** [surah al-Hujurat; 49:12]
But What If It’s True?!
The Prophet peace be upon Him told us:
**
“Backbiting is to say something about someone they wouldn’t like said about them…If what bad you said about them is true, then you have backbited and if it is false then you have slandered them.”** [Muslim]
The Prophet (saw) Him described the punishment Allah has in store for the backbiters.:
"On the night of mirage I passed by some people who had metal hooks in their hands and were clawing at their faces and their necks with them. I asked Gabriel ‘Who were these people?’ He said ‘These are the people who eat the flesh of human beings and disgrace them’
[Abu Dawud].
This is how big a sin backbiting is looked upon and yet we continue to backbite without a second thought. Next time we talk about somebody, we should remember Allah (subhanahu wa Ta’ala) and the Prophet (saw) and put them in front of us before we speak.
for bringing up this topic.I was thinking about this the other day & decided that from now on i will not talk about anybody.