If the wrong was committed by speech—that is, by verbal injury, such as insulting him in front of people, scolding him, or mocking him—you must go to him and obtain his pardon on whatever terms the two of you agree. Even if he says, “I will not forgive you unless you give me such-and-such an amount of dirhams,” then give it to him.

Fourth: the right in question may be backbiting (ghībah), meaning that you spoke against him in his absence and belittled him before others while he was not present.

On this the scholars differ. Some maintain that you must go to him and say, “So-and-so, I spoke about you in front of people; I beg you to excuse me and release me from liability.”

Others say you should not go to him, but rather distinguish between cases: if he has already learned of the backbiting, you must go to him and seek his pardon; if he is unaware of it, do not approach him. Instead, pray for his forgiveness and mention his good qualities in the very gatherings where you backbit him, for good deeds erase bad ones. This view is sounder. Thus, when the person you backbit does not know of it, it is enough to praise him in the assemblies where you maligned him and to ask Allah to forgive him, saying, “O Allah, forgive him,” as is reported in the ḥadith: “The expiation for one whom you have backbitten is that you ask Allah to forgive him.”

In every case, repentance requires that rights be restored to their owners.

As for the fourth condition of repentance, it is the firm resolve never to return to the sin in the future—that you will not