1304 – Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) relates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Do you know what backbiting is?” They replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “It is your mentioning your brother with something he dislikes.” Someone asked, “What if my brother really possesses what I say about him?” He answered, “If what you say about him is true, you have backbitten him; but if it is not in him, then you have slandered him.” Reported by Muslim (1).

Vocabulary of the hadith:
• “Do you know” (atadrūn): The interrogative hamza is, in origin, for asking a question, yet here it functions as a rhetorical device for confirmation, coming from one who knows while addressing those who are being taught.
• “Backbiting” (al-ghība, with the ghayn either opened or broken): speaking of an absent person with something he would detest.
• “Your mentioning” (dhikruk): verbal remembrance expressed by the tongue; here, it means to say about him what he dislikes.
• “Have you considered” (afaraʾayta): the hamza is truly interrogative, the final tāʾ is open for the addressee, and it is used to request mental conception—meaning, “Inform me.”
• “You have slandered him” (bahatta-hu): to attribute to him what he has not done. The verbal noun is buhtān; the active participle is bāhit; the plural is buht.

Points derived from the hadith:
1 – Backbiting: The Prophet ﷺ defined it as mentioning your Muslim brother with something he dislikes, whether it concerns his physical appearance or his character. Any word you utter about him that he would hate to hear is backbiting—great or small. The sin, however, varies in proportion to what is said about the person, until