In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah in whose hand my soul lies in, the One who created
the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them.
Oh slaves of Allah, take heed of what your tongue says, for that may
determine your fate between Jahannam and Jannah. One of the grave
problems which is taken very lightly by the Ummahat this present time,
are the words that we utter. Never do we think twice before we talk.
We indulge ourselves into dirty, flithy and forbidden acts. Among
these forbidden things which people take often lightly are gheebah
(backbiting), buhtaan (slander) and nameemah (malicious gossip).
Worst of all, we backbite about our very own brothers and sisters in
Islam. And I swear by Allahthis is such a dirty and deadly sin that we
are falling into without even realizing it.
For Allaah subhana wa t'ala says (interpretation of the meaning):
"neither backbite one another. Would one of youlike to eat the flesh
of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting). And fear
Allaah. Verily, Allaah is the One Who forgives and accepts repentance,
Most Merciful"[al-Hujuraat 49:12]
Gheebah or backbiting means speaking about a Muslim in his absence and
saying things that he would not like to have spread around or
mentioned. Buhtaan or slander means saying things about a Muslim
thatare not true, or in other words telling lies about him. Nameemah
or malicious gossip means telling one person what another said in
order to cause trouble between them.
I do not understand how we even dare to talk about the sins of other
people, and indulge ourselves in the discussionof the lives of people,
when our life itself is so crooked. People hardly pray, or even if
they do, then they pray Fajr at the time of Dhuhr, Dhuhr at the time
of 'Asr, and so forth, and one of their excuse for missing or delaying
their Salah is, "I cannot find the time to pray", but yet we find a
lotof time for chit chatting about people.
It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him)
that theMessenger of Allaah SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: "Do you know what gheebah (backbiting) is?" They said,
"Allaah and His Messenger know best." He said, "Saying something about
your brother that he dislikes." It was said, "What if what I say about
my brother is true?" He said, "If what you say is true then you have
backbitten about him, andif it is not true, then you have slandered
him." Narrated by Muslim, 2589
It was narrated that Ibn 'Abbaas said: The Messenger of Allaah
(peaceand blessings of Allaah be upon him) passed by two graves and
said, "They are being punished, but they are not being punished
foranything that was difficultto avoid. One of them used to walk about
spreading malicious gossip(nameemah), and the other used not to take
precautions to avoid getting urine on himself when he urinated." Then
he called for a green branch, which he split in two and planted a
piece on each grave, and said, "May their torment be reduced so long
as these do not dry out." Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 213; Muslim, 292
Know Oh muslims that ourtongue will be a witness against us on the day
of Judgement. It's the day where is there no refuge, but except in
Allah Subhana wa T'ala. And if Allah Subhana wa T'ala does not look at
you, then there is nothing that can save you. And it is a day where if
Allah gives your records in your left hand, then everything that will
come after that will be bad. Do you want to lose your hard earned good
deeds within a few seconds? Do you really want to exchange your salah,
saum (fasting) and charity for a big pile of bad deeds? If you do
wantto, then go ahead and insult people, go ahead and slander against
people, for on the Day of Judgement all the people who suffered by
your tongue will be rewarded with your good deeds.
Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him)reported:
Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa salam) said, "Do you knowwho
is the bankrupt?'' They said:"The bankrupt among us is the one who has
neither money with him nor any property".
He said, "The real bankrupt of my Ummah would be he who would come on
the Day of Resurrection with Salat, Saum and Sadaqah (charity), (but
he will find himself bankrupt on that day as he will have exhausted
the good deeds) because he insultedothers, slandered against others,
unlawfully devoured the wealth of others, shed the blood of others and
beat others; so his good deeds would be credited to the account of
those (who suffered at his hand). If his good deeds fall short to
clear the account, their sins would be entered in his account and he
would be thrown in the (Hell) Fire".
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