BACKBITING : A MAJOR SIN

Allah has blessed us with lot of blessings. We can’t enumerate them. And one of the rudimentary blessing which Allah bestows upon us,is the creation of our tongue. Besides other functions it’s main. Function is to make speech possible. It is only because of tongue, we can express what we wants. It is indeed small in size but it plays an important role in our life and has strong capability to obey or disobey.

Tongue plays an important role in the teachings of Islam. Because no other part of a body do more sin  than a tongue. Controlling tongue is the basic teachings of prophet. It is such weapon which constructs as well as destructs ,which makes us dweller of hell or heaven. It depends on how we use it. Through tongue,we are putting in a great and hard test.

Prophet said,when man wakes up in the morning each day ,all parts of the body warn the tongue saying,fear Allah as regards us for we are at your mercy,if you are upright, we will be upright and if you are crooked ,we become crooked.

And prophet said,a man might speak a word without thinking about its implications,but because of it,he will plunge into the hell fire farther than the distance between the east and west. Sahih Bukhari

Imagine,how much cautious we should be in the use of tongue. It’s one mistake ,makes us the dweller of hell. All parts of body begs before it for mercy.

Imam al SHAFI said,if a person wants to say something,he should think about it. If it seems to him that it will not do any harm,then he should speak,but if he thinks that it will do some harm or he thinks that this is most likely,then he should refrain from speaking.

Prophet said,blessed is the man who speaks good and is triumphant,or keeps silent in the face of evil and is secure.

If a man is not able to say something useful,he should keep silent from bad words and his silence will keep him far from allahs wrath and from the harm which might befall him as a result of saying bad words. Bad use of tongue is a major sin and major sins are indeed the cause for all misery,evil and torment in this world and the hereafter. And majority of the sins committed by the son of Adam is due to the tongue only.

No one can control his tongue except the most wisest. Only wise person knows that keeping tongue under control means to take control over all bad things. Such a person will refrain from all evil deeds prohibited in islam.      Back biting,slandering,vaintalks,excessive talks,calumnies,falsehood,lying,foul language,cursing,taunting,abusing,indecency,reviling,anger,and many more.

I will discuss few of them in brief.

Back biting,not only women,men are also involved in this major sin. There is not any home,exceptions may be there,where back biting is not the major issue. Where ever we get together,whether it may be parties,or marriage ceremonies,death anniversaries,back biting is the major issue of discussion. We know it’s prohibition  but still we are involved in it and never thought about it’s bad consequences. It is such a sin which destroys our relationships and vanquishes peace in our lives as well as families. It creates enemity with each other and disturbed us in such a way that it lost our total peace.

Shaikh al Islam ibn taymiyyah said ,it is strange that a person may find it easy to protect himself from eating haram,,oppression and injustice,adultery,theft,drinking Khamar and from unlawful looking,but it is hard for him to restrain the movement of his tongue. How often do we see people who are very cautious about falling into shameful deeds or injustice,but their tongue lashes against the living and the dead and they don’t mind it. He further said,some people have the disease of criticizing all the time. They forget the good about others and only mention their faults. They are like flies that avoid the good and pure places and land on the bad places and on wounds. This is because of the evil within the self and the spoiled nature.

In one Hadith ,allahs messenger took of his tongue and then said,keep this under control. When the Sahaba asked,will we be called to account for what we say,he replied,won’t the people be thrown face down into hell on account of the produce of their tongues. Tirmidhi

Allah says ,o you who have believed ,do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead. You would detest it. And fear Allah,indeed,Allah is accepting of repentance and merciful surah al hujurat verse 12

Abu Hurayrah narrated the prophet said,do you know what backbiting is,they said,Allah and his messenger know best. He then said ,it is to say something about your brother that he would dislike. Someone asked him,but what if what I say is true, he replied,if what you say about him is true,you are backbiting him,but if it is not true then you have slandered him.

Prophet said,who protects his tongue from unlawful utterances and his private parts from illegal sexual inter course,I shall guarantee him entrance into paradise.

Anas may Allah be pleased with him narrates that the messenger of Allah said,when I was taken to the heavens I passed by some people who had nails made of copper with which they were scratching their faces and chest. I enquired who are these people Jibril,he replied these are people who used to eat the flesh of others back bite others and defame them. Abu Dawood

Allah says ,woe to every slanderer and back biter. Surah al humazah

Prophet said ,backbiting is a worse sin than adultery. Allah may forgive a person if he she repents after committing adultery. However Allah will not forgive the one who backbites ,till his her victim forgives him her

Why backbiting is considered a greatest sin in Islam,because it brakes the unity of a family,it expiates peace from every member ,it develops hatred amongst each other. All these things are haraam in Islam and vanquishes peace in our lives. It destroys the human relationships,so much extent that parents go against their children ,brothers and sisters go against each other ,and at last family lost its total charm. Prophet said ,one who brakes

 relationship will never enter Jannah.

The tongue is but a small soft flesh.yet it is capable of breaking the strongest bonds and destroying the most powerful of relationships Hasan al basri said whoever does not hold  his tongue can’t understand his Deen.

Once a woman got up to leave,hadrat A’isha r.a made a sign with her hand indicating to the prophet that the woman was short of stature.the prophet immediately chastised her,saying,you have back bitten.tirmidhi

Almost every family is facing the bad consequences of this major sin.loss of peace,enemity,hatred,anger is because of this evil deed.to make home peaceful we must refrain from this completely.

Second thing which I want to discuss. Is vain talks.it is such a sin in which all people are involved and never heed on its prohibition.It is such type of talk that is of no benefit to a person and indeed it may cause him a great deal of harm in his spiritual and worldly affairs.

Allah says ,not a word does he or she utter but there is a watcher by him ready to record it  surah 50 verse 18

And said ,believers abstain from vain talks.surah 23 verse 3

Hadrat uqbah ibn Aamir r.a said,I said ,o prophet how can I obtain salvation .the prophet replied ,control your tongue from idle talks.

Useless conversation is so common now a days. We pas all time in useless things and talks.we pick up the phone to talk without any specific purpose. We spent lot of time in front of t.v,on Facebook,on Internet .we meet people all the time to gossip,we use to read indecent magazines,novels ,we sleep too much as some people wake up at noon time.all these are vain things and is prohibited in Islam.

Allah says,and when they pass by vain non beneficial meetings they pass honourably.surah furkaan.

And says ,when they hear unprofitable and shameful talk,they withdraw from it.surah Qasas.

Prophet said,the excellence and good observance of Islam by a man is to leave aside that which does not concern him.tirmidhi

 He also said ,people who leave vain argumentation even when they are right will be rewarded in paradise.abu Dawud