Backbiting a Muslim is
prohibited according to the Noble Qur’aan. Allaah the exalted said: O
you who believe! Avoid much suspicions, indeed some suspicions are sins. And
spy not, neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh
of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting). And fear Allâh.
Verily, Allâh is the One Who accepts repentance, Most Merciful” [Soorah
al-Hujuraat: 12]
However, it is allowed to
backbite the innovators and the deviants. Below are some of the sayings of the
Salaf in regard to this:
A’mash reports from Ibraaheem
(an-Nakha’ee) that he said: “There is no backbiting in the case of a person of
innovation.” [Al-Laalikaa’ee 1/140]
Al-Hasan al-Basri said:
“There is no backbiting in the case of a person of innovation or a person who
openly commits sin.” [Al-Laalikaa’ee,
1/140]
Sufyaan bin Uyaynah said, “Shu’bah
used to say, ‘Let us come together so that we can backbite for the sake of
Allah, the Mighty and Majestic.” [Al-Laalikaa’ee 1/ 140]
Abu Zaid al-Ansari an-Nahawi
said, “Shu’bah came to us on a rainy day and said, “Today is not a day for
hadeeth; today is a day of backbiting. Let us come together and backbite the
liars.” [Al-Kifaayah of Al-Baghdaadee,
no. 91]
Abu Zur’ah ad-Dimashqee said,
“I heard Abu Mushir being asked about a man who would make mistakes and turn
the words around (in narrating hadeeth, forgetfully). So he said, ‘Make his
condition known.’ So I said to Abu Zur’ah, ‘Do you not consider that to be
backbiting?’ He said, ‘No.” [Sharh Ilal
at-Tirmidhi 1/249 and al-Kifaayah of
al-Baghdaadee no. 91, 92, with a slightly different wording]
Abdullaah bin al-Imaam Ahmad
said, “Abu Turaab an-Nakhshabee came to my father who began to say, ‘So and so
is da’eef (weak) and so is thiqah (reliable)’. So Abu Turaab said, ‘O Shaikh,
do not backbite the ‘Ulamaa’. So my
father turned to him and said, ‘Woe be to you, this is naseehah (advice), this is not backbiting.’ [Al-Kifaayah, 92 and Sharh
Ilal at-Tirmidhi 1/350]
Muhammad bin Bandaar as-Sabbaak
al-Jurjaani said, “I said to Ahmad bin Hanbal, ‘I find it very difficult to
force myself to say, ‘So and so is da’eef’ and ‘So and so is a liar (kadhdhaab).” So Ahmad said, ‘When you
remain silent and I remain silent, who will inform the ignorant on about that
which is authentic (saheeh) from that which is problematic (saqeem).’ [Majmoo’ al-Fataawaa 28/231
and al-Kifaayah, 92]
Source: A Reply to the Doubts
of the Qutubiyyah Concerning Ascription to Sunnah and Salafiyyah, p. 51-52
