he dislikes,” he echoes the words of Allah Most High:

“And do not backbite one another. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would detest it.”

Thus, the basis for the prohibition is brotherhood in faith. Accordingly, the gravity of backbiting varies with the believer’s standing: the greater his faith, the graver it is to backbite him. Reviling and fault-finding are akin to backbiting, since both involve criticizing people and attacking them, as backbiting does. Reviling, however, involves harsh and vehement attacks, whereas fault-finding may lack such harshness and vehemence. Allah Most High says:

“Among them are those who find fault with you concerning the alms.”

That is, they criticize and attack you. Allah Most High also says:

“Do not find fault with yourselves.”

That is, do not find fault with one another. He also says:

“A habitual reviler, going about spreading malicious gossip.”

And He says:

“Woe to every reviler and fault-finder.”

With this established, we say: mentioning people in ways they dislike takes two basic forms: first, mentioning a category of people; and second, mentioning a particular individual, living or dead.

As for the first, every category condemned by Allah and His Messenger must be condemned; this is not backbiting. Likewise, every category praised by Allah and His Messenger must be praised. Those cursed by Allah and His Messenger are to be cursed, just as blessings are to be invoked upon those whom Allah and His angels bless. Thus, Allah Most High has condemned the unbeliever, the wicked, the defiantly disobedient, the wrongdoer, the wayward, the misguided,