1316 – Ibn ʿAbbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever eavesdrops on the conversation of a people while they dislike his listening, molten lead will be poured into his ears on the Day of Resurrection.” By “lead” he meant pure lead. Recorded by al-Bukhari (1).
Vocabulary of the hadith:
– “Whoever eavesdrops” (man tasammaʿa): a past-tense verb in the tafʿul form, which implies deliberate effort; that is, whoever strains to hear the speech of others.
– “Will be poured” (ṣubba): passive voice, from the verb pattern nasara, meaning “to be poured out.”
– “Al-ānak”: it is said, “ank a thing yaʾnuku ank(an): it became hard and dense.” Al-ānak—with a lengthened initial hamzah, a ḍammah on the nūn, ending with a kāf—refers to pure lead.
Points derived from the hadith:
- The hadith proves the prohibition of listening to the talk of people who do not wish it to be heard, whether this is stated explicitly or understood from the circumstances. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said, “It is not permissible for anyone to intrude upon two people while they are confiding in one another.”
- The threat mentioned in the hadith shows that eavesdropping on those who do not want their conversation heard is one of the major sins, for such a severe warning in the Hereafter is issued only for a major offense.
- Good etiquette in gatherings requires that a person not enter into the conversation of two people unless they invite him, unless the conversation is public or concerns matters of knowledge.
- Just as it is forbidden to listen in on two people who are confiding, it is even more severely forbidden for someone to peer