The Book of Prohibited Matters
Chapter: The Prohibition of Backbiting and the Duty to Guard the Tongue

[Commentary]
The author—may Allah have mercy on him—states in his Riyad al-Salihin, “Chapter on the Prohibition of Backbiting and the Obligation to Guard the Tongue,” and then cites several verses on the topic.

The Prophet ﷺ defined backbiting when he asked his Companions, “Do you know what backbiting is?” They replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “It is to mention about your brother that which he would dislike.” They asked, “Messenger of Allah, what if what I say about my brother is actually true?” He answered, “If what you say about him is true, you have backbitten him; and if it is not true, you have slandered him as well.”

Backbiting is therefore one of the major sins; prayer, charity, fasting, and other righteous deeds do not erase it. Rather, it remains to be weighed on the Scales on the Day of Judgment. Ibn ʿAbd al-Qawī, may Allah have mercy on him, said in his didactic poem al-Ādāb:

“It has been said that the lesser great sins are backbiting and tale-bearing,
Yet both, by Ahmad’s explicit ruling, are major sins.”

That is, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal—may Allah have mercy on him—explicitly counted backbiting and carrying tales among the major sins.

The Prophet’s ﷺ definition, “to mention about your brother that which he dislikes,” includes anything he would hate to hear—whether a physical defect, a moral flaw, or a religious fault. Whatever he dislikes: if you bring it up about him, you have committed backbiting.

A physical defect, for example, would be to say that he is lame, one-eyed, excessively tall, short, and the like—this is backbiting. A moral flaw would be to say that he is not chaste, that he pursues women, stares at them or at handsome youths, and so forth. A religious fault would be to say that he is an innovator, that he does not pray in congregation, that he does not