What does Islam say about backbiting?
Qur'an & Tafsir
Summary
Al-Hujurat 49:12 forbids suspicion, spying (tajassus) and backbiting one another, likening it to eating the flesh of one's dead brother — something anyone would abhor. Ibn Kathir's tafsir on it cites hadith warning against suspicion, spying, hatred and shunning a fellow Muslim for more than three days. Q1T1
Al-Humazah 104:1 pronounces "woe" to every humazah lumazah — Ibn Kathir explains this as one who reviles and disgraces others, whether by speech (hammaz) or by action, mockery and belittling (lammaz), and who is destined for the Fire (al-hutamah). Q3T3
An-Nur 24:19 warns that those who love to see immorality spread among believers face painful punishment in this world and the next; Ibn Kathir's tafsir applies this to those who hear evil talk and pass it on, and cites a hadith that whoever seeks out a Muslim's hidden faults will have his own faults exposed by Allah. Q2T2
References
- Q1Al-Hujurat 49:12 · The Rooms
- Q2An-Nur 24:19 · The Light
- Q3Al-Humazah 104:1 · The Traducer
- T1Tafsir Ibn Kathir on 49:12
- T2Tafsir Ibn Kathir on 24:19
- T3Tafsir Ibn Kathir on 104:1
Hanafi Fiqh
Summary
The fatwas define ghiba (backbiting) as saying anything about an absent person that they would dislike, even if true — one cites Nawawi's broad definition covering remarks on a person's body, religion, family, dress or manner; if what is said is untrue, it is slander (buhtan), a separate sin F5F6F8. One fatwa cites a report calling backbiting "worse than fornication" F3. Speaking about an unnamed or general group is not ghiba unless a specific, identifiable person is meant F4F5.
Warning someone out of genuine need — e.g. about an untrustworthy prospective business partner — is exempted, limited strictly to what necessity requires F3. Listening to backbiting without objecting is also impermissible; one should redirect the talk or leave, and helping produce backbiting material (even translating it) is blameworthy too, though involuntary laughter is not itself sinful F1F2F4. Repentance requires resolving never to repeat it and seeking Allah's forgiveness; where telling the wronged person will not worsen things, their forgiveness should be sought too, otherwise one asks forgiveness on their behalf, speaks well of them before the same audience, or gives charity in their name F5F7F8.
References
- F1Is It Sinful To Laugh at My Parents When They Are Backbiting? - IslamQA · islamqa.org
- F2Backbiting in educational material - IslamQA · islamqa.org
- F3How to Talk about Other People without Falling into Backbiting? - IslamQA · islamqa.org
- F4Backbiting with a group of people - IslamQA · islamqa.org
- F5How to Repent from Backbiting in Islam - IslamQA · islamqa.org
- F6What Constitutes as Slander, Backbiting and How to Avoid It? - IslamQA · islamqa.org
- F7How Do I Repent from Gossiping About People? - IslamQA · islamqa.org
- F8Definition of backbiting - IslamQA · islamqa.org
Key points
Qur'an & Tafsir
- Concealing a fellow Muslim's faults is praised in the tafsir's cited hadith, which promises Allah will conceal the concealer's own faults in turn. T2
Final answer
Backbiting (ghiba) — saying anything about someone in their absence that they would dislike, even if true — is forbidden in Islam on the strength of Qur'an 49:12, reinforced by hadith on suspicion and spying, and is treated as a major sin. Saying something untrue about a person is a separate sin, slander (buhtan); disclosure is permitted only where genuine necessity requires it, and repentance calls for resolving never to repeat it, seeking forgiveness, and, where feasible, restoring the wronged person's good name.
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