Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Moral Values of Qur'an, a Commentary on Surah Hujurat Part 23 ﴿وَلا تَجَسَّسُوا، وَلا يَغْتَبْ بَعْضُكُمْ بَعْضًا، أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَنْ يَأْكُلَ لَحْمَ أَخِيهِ مَيْتًا؟ فَكَرِهْتُمُوهُ، وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ، إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَوَّابٌ رَحِيمٌ﴾ “And do not spy nor let some of you backbite others. Does one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother?
But you abhor it; and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, surely Allah is Oft-returning (to mercy), Merciful. (49:12)” Four evidences which show that backbiting is prohibited There are four evidences, which prove that backbiting is prohibited: The Book, the Sunnah, consensus and reason. All the schools of thought and sects in Islam fully agree that backbiting is prohibited. Human wisdom, intelligence and logic also say so.
Everything, which becomes a cause of disintegration and disunity, is illegal. Yesterday we came across some verses of the Holy Qur’an showing that backbiting is unlawful. For example: ﴿أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَنْ يَأْكُلَ لَحْمَ أَخِيهِ مَيْتًا؟ فَكَرِهْتُمُوهُ، وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ، إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَوَّابٌ رَحِيمٌ﴾ “Does one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? But you abhor it; and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, surely Allah is Oft-returning (to mercy), Merciful.
(49:12)” ﴿إِنَّ السَّمْعَ وَالْبَصَرَ وَالْفُؤَادَ كُلُّ أُوْلَئِكَ كَانَ عَنْهُ مَسْئُولاً﴾ “Surely, the hearing and the sight and the heart, all of these, shall be questioned about that.” [^1] ﴿وَيْلٌ لِكُلِّ هُمَزَةٍ لُمَزَةٍ﴾ “Woe to every slanderer, defamer,” [^2] Fifty narrations regarding backbiting Some scholar scholars have collected fifty narrations from books. Here I tell you about two or three of them so the seriousness of this sin may be known.
Backbiting eats up religion like leprosy According to Usul al-Kafi, the Holy Prophet said: Backbiting is like ‘Kallah’[^3] (Majlisi says, most probably it means leprosy, a skin disease which grows beneath the skin and eats up the flesh so much that even bones show up.) In Persian, it is said that leprosy is a disease, which eats up flesh. Sometimes it eats up the nose and then nothing like a nose is seen any more. This is a very dangerous and contagious disease.
It is not detected in the beginning but after some months when it is detected, nothing remains of an affected organ. It is said that backbiting too is similar. It eats up the religion of a Muslim.