Chapter: The Prohibition of namīmah (carrying tales from one party to another in order to sow discord)

Allah the Exalted says, “A fault-finder who goes about with malicious gossip” (Q 68:11). He also says, “No word does a person utter but that with him is a watcher, ready” (Q 50:18).

1536 – Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “A tale-bearer will not enter Paradise.” Agreed upon.

1537 – Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed by two graves and said, “They are being punished, and they are not being punished for something difficult to avoid—indeed, it is serious. One of them used to walk about spreading namīmah, while the other did not protect himself from his urine.” Agreed upon, and this is the wording of one of al-Bukhārī’s narrations.

The scholars explained that his words, “they are not being punished for something difficult,” mean: something that, in their own view, was not great; or, according to another interpretation, something whose avoidance was not burdensome, though in reality its gravity is immense.

[Commentary]
It was previously mentioned that the author, al-Nawawī (may Allah have mercy on him), in his work Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn, devoted a useful chapter to