Let Us Backbite For an Hour For The Sake Of Allaah

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