BACKBITING

 Backbiting - giybet is to talk about someone in a way that he does not like and to gossiping about him when he is not there.

 In The Noble Quran this behavior regarded as wicked as “eating the flesh of one’s dead brother or sister”. We do not see such a harsh simile for other deeds in the Noble Quran. Allah (c.c) commands as “

 “Even so do We let it creep into the hearts of the sinners” (1)

 Just as Islam prohibited to the eye the immoral looks, to the person the lust, prohibited the tongue from backbiting. Nobody accepts talks that he will not like after him. Then one shouldn’t tolerate the things that he wouldn’t like when they are done against him also when they are done against others.

 In the verse which tells the end of the ones who backbite will not be good, it is said:

  “Woe to every (kind of) scandal-monger and backbiter”. (2)

 As it is mentioned in the verse above backbite is an evil habit. As the time passes it becomes a part of one’s character and degrades him by weakening his moral values and self-respect. To prevent this degradation and to raise man’s soul people should follow carefully the commands and prohibitions in the Verses of the Noble Quran and in Prophet’s sayings.

 Ibrahim Edhem, a well known dervish, went to a dinner party that he was invited. The people around made gossip about a person who was not there and said, “Such a dull person, he is unbearable”. Ibrahim said to himself “My inordinate appetite made me a bad thing. I came somewhere in which people make gossip” and he didn’t eat anything for three days.

 Avf said: “I went to Ibn-i Sirin - a follower of Prophet’s companions- and I started to blame the cruel governor, Haccac. Ibn-i Sirin said: Allah the Most High is just and is the absolute judge of all. As he will take the revenge of others from Haccac, he will also take the revenge of Haccac when necessary. In doomsday when you will face Allah, even the most small sin of your will become harder for you than the greatest sin of Haccac.”

 One of the philosophers said: “Two eyes and two ears but only one tongue are given to man so that he listen and see more than what he says.”
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(1) Chapter Hicr,15/12
(2) Chapter Hümeze, 104/2