Allah and His Messenger do not love requires giving precedence to what Allah and His Messenger love, as Allah Most High says:

“Allah and His Messenger are more deserving that they should please Him.”

It may then be said that this falls outside both the wording and the meaning of the hadith concerning backbiting. Alternatively, it may be said that those specifically exempted from it were included within its scope, just as generality in wording and generality in meaning may be qualified. Whether the ruling ceases to apply because its cause is absent or because an impediment is present, the result is the same. The disagreement over this ultimately comes down to terminology, since “cause” may mean either a complete cause or merely a factor conducive to the ruling. Allah knows best and is most wise. May Allah bless our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions, and grant them peace.

He also said—may Allah Most High have mercy on him:

Some people engage in backbiting to go along with those in their company, their friends, and their clansmen, even though they know that the person being discussed is innocent of what they say, or that only some of it is true of him. Yet such a person thinks that, if he objects, he will disrupt the gathering and those present will find him tiresome and turn away from him. He therefore regards going along with them as good manners and pleasant companionship. They may become angry, and he grows angry because they are angry, joining them in their talk.