Prohibition of Backbiting

The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘On the night that I was taken on my Night-Journey [to the heavens], I passed by a group of people scratching their own faces with their nails, so I asked, ‘O Gabriel, who are these people? so he replied, ‘These are people who backbit about other people and disparaged their reputations.

The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘Backbiting is worse than adultery, at which he was asked, ‘How so? He replied, ‘A man commits adultery, then repents, and Allah pardons him for it, whereas the backbiter is not forgiven until his victim forgives him.

Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Backbiting is the attempt of one who is incapable [of doing better himself].

Imam al-Husayn (AS) said to a man who was backbiting about a man in his presence, ‘Stop backbiting, for verily it is the food of the dogs of Hell.

Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘Do not backbite lest you become a victim of backbiting, and do not dig a hole for your brother lest you fall in it yourself, for you will be paid back whatever you put in.

Imam al-Sadiq (AS) narrated, ‘A man once came and told Ali b. al-Husayn (AS) [i.e. Imam Zayn al-Abidin], ‘Verily x has said that you are astray and that you are an innovator! So Ali b. al-Husayn (AS) said to him, ‘Neither have you observed the right of the man you sat with by transmitting to us what he spoke about, nor have you observed my right by informing me of something about my brother which I would not have known! … Beware of backbiting for verily it is the food of the dogs of Hell, and know that whoever frequently talks about peoples faults, the frequency of his backbiting is a witness [to the fact] that he only finds faults in others according to the extent present in himself.