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All Praise is due to Allah: We Praise Him: We beg assistance of Him:

We ask Him for forgiveness. We have faith in Him: We have reliance
.on Him

We fly for refuge unto Him (to deliver us) from the mischief of our
minds and from the evil consequences of our actions.

Whomever Allah directs shall not go astray: and whomever He allows

to go astray, no one can guide.

We profess that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah, and

we further profess that Muhammad is His Servant and His Messenger.

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Brothers and Sisters in Islam we want to Insha’-Allah, continue our

subject of Ghee bah or Backbiting from last time. Today we want to
talk about importance of seeking touba for the sin of gheebah.

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SUMMARY OF GHEEBAH:

First, a quick summary of what we have talked about so far:

Definition of Gheebah:

1. Point # 1 gheebah in English Backbiting is defined as mentioning

something in absence of your brother and sister that that person
would hate or dislike. In English it is gheebah.

Gheebah is a Major or Kabir Sin which Requires Touba:

2. Point# 2 the scholars are unanimous in categorizing gheebah is a

kabir sin based on the Quran and Sunnah. Committing this sin require
touba. The steps of making touba we will talk about today Insha’-
Allah.

Gheebah is taken too lightly:

3. Point#3 us Muslims now-a-days take this sin too lightly, we fast,

pray, give sadaqah, perform hajj yet commit this sin, with little or no
second thought. Some major reasons for us taking this sin so lightly, is
lack of iman, and/or lack of ignorance, and/or the negative affect of
living a world where most people do not consider this to be a big deal,
let alone a sin.

The Muslims of the past considered gheebah deadly:

4. Point#4 Rasullah, and Sahab, and past generations took this sin as
very serious and did not engage in it.

Both the active listener and the person speaking Gheebah are in equal
sin:

5. Both the person the active listener and the one performing the
gheebah are equal in sin. So gheebah cannot be done alone. A person
a-ouzh-bil-lah drinking alcohol commits that sin sin alone. But
backbiting cannot be done alone. Therefore every listener of gheebah
is an equal, willing, conscious partner in that sin.

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Not being an active listener also means that we should avoid “laqwa”
or vain, idle, useless talk and that we should protect the honor, and
good name of our fellow Muslims

The evidence comes from the Quran where Allah Ta’la says:

Successful indeed are the believers (1) Who are humble in their
prayers, (2) And who shun idle, vain, useless talk (3)

And the evidence that we need to protect each others honor is in Surat
At Touba, ayah 71:

And further Our Beloved Rasool (SAW) said:

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"Whoever is present while a Muslim is humiliated before him, and is

able to assist him [and yet does not], Allah will humiliate him before
[all of] creation." [Ahmad in al-Musnad, 3/487; Suyuti in Al-Jami` As-
Saghir, 2/510, #8375]

In another Hadith Rasullah says "Whoever averts [an attack] from the
honor of his brother, Allah will avert the fire from his face on the Day
of Arising." [Tirmidhi (hasan)]

So we cannot be like people who when hearing gheebah we say, “Oh

really, asthfillullah, really” or we say “Aouzoubillah I can’t believe he
did that, and what else did he do”.

See, my brothers and sister in Islam this is hypocrisy. Because when

we start acting like this we get into aouzoubill min zaalik may Allah
protect us, we get into like a spiritual arrogance, and our words
actually encourage the person to continue making gheebah.

Gheebah is Easy to Do:

Now one the major characteristic of gheebah is that it is so easy to do.

You see if want to commit other sins it take some effort, it takes some
plotting, some planning. For example if someone wants to drink
alcohol it takes so much effort to do that. They have plan, when they
are going to buy it, how they are going to get, where are they going to
drink it, then how are they going to conceal the after effects (drunk
state, bad breath, vomiting, etc). Someone na-ouzh-bil-lah who wants
to commit adultery has plan that also, and then try to conceal it. But
again gheebah is so easy to do, all we have to do is put our brains
aside, and open our mouths and speak about someone in a negative
way. And again it does not have to be some big thing, just by saying
someone is too short, too tall, too white, too black, cricket teeth, has a
stutter, any kind of disability said in a negative way in their absence
that they would dislike or hate, turns into gheebah or consumption of
their dead flesh.

IMPORTANCE OF SEEKING TOUBAH:

Now some may think well, it is so hard to stop, and it is so easy to

backbite, and I cannot stop, and we end up doing it all the time, so
what is the point of making touba. But if we think like this then we fail
to realize on Allah Tala’ Mercy, and forgiveness. Allah Tala tells in
73:20:

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Allah says: "And seek forgiveness of Allah. Indeed, Allah is

Forgiving and Merciful." [al-Muzammil (73):20]

And also remember the saying of our

Beloved(SAW) related Al-Bukhaari (7507) and Muslim (2758) narrated

from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said that his Lord said: “My slave commits sin, then he
says, ‘O Allaah, forgive me my sin.’ Then Allaah says, ‘My slave has
committed a sin, but he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sin
and takes away sin. So I forgive My slave.’ Then he commits sin again,
and says, ‘O Allaah, forgive me my sin.’ Then Allaah says, ‘My slave
has committed a sin, but he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sin
and takes away sin. So I forgive My slave.’ Then he commits sin again,
and says, ‘O Allaah, forgive me my sin.’ Then Allaah says, ‘My slave
has committed a sin, but he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sin
and takes away sin. So I forgive my slave.’ …”

Ibn Abi Dunya narrated with his isnaad that ‘Ali said: “The best of you
is every tempted one who repents (i.e., every time he is tempted by
this world, he repents).” It was said, “What if he sins again?” He said,
“He should ask Allaah for forgiveness and repent.” It was said, “What
if he sins again?” He said, “He should ask Allaah for forgiveness and
repent.” It was said, “What if he sins again?” He said, “He should ask
Allaah for forgiveness and repent.” It was said, “For how long?” He
said, “Until the Shaytaan is defeated.”

So look at the great vastness of Allah’s mercy and forgiveness. So we

should not despair in our sins, and lose hope in Allah, but should
quickly seek Allah’s forgiveness.

Now one very import point the scholars mention is that we should not
be using the forgiveness of Allah as an excuse to commit sin, but
rather we should come to the realization of Allah Tala’ forgiveness not
to despair in Allah’s Mercy and forgiveness, and be sincere in our
toubah.

Expiation for Gheebah:

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So now the question is what is the Expiation, what is the

atonement, what is means to cleanse ourselves for committing the
sin of Gheebah

Well Brothers and Sister in Islam the backbiter has committed two
infringements;
-one upon the limits, hudud of Allah, and this must be expiated by
repentance or touba with regret or naadim.
-the second is on the rights of his brothers/sisters. The
brothers/sisters izhaa or honor has been violated.

So with regards to making toubah to Allah we must perform the

following steps:

1. Stop committing the sin.

2. Have naadim or remorse, feel sorry, feel sad, about doing the sin.
3. Make sincere dua’ for help from Allah Ta’la and pledge to not do it
again.

With regards to violating the rights of our brothers and sisters then. If
news of the backbiting has reached the person, the backbiter must
apologize to him/her, and express regret at having said it.
Rasullah (SAW) said, "Whoever has wronged his brother, in the way of
property or honor, let him go to him and repair it, before it is taken
[from him on a day] when he has no dirhams or dinars, such that if he
has any good deeds, some of the good deeds will be taken and given
to [the wronged one], otherwise [if he has no good deeds], some of
the other's evil deeds will be taken and cast upon him." [Bukhari, Al-
Mazalim, 5/121, #2449. Ahmad, Al-Musnad, 2/435]

So here we must approach the person and say I have committed

gheebah and I ask for your forgiveness.

If the person has not learned that he has been backbited then the
backbiter need not tell him, but he should ask Allah to forgive him.
"The expiation with regard to one who has been backbited is that
forgiveness be asked for him." [Suyuti, Al-Jami` As-Saghir, 2/390,
#6259]

Mujahid said : the expiation for eating the flesh of your brother is that
you praise him and pray for good for him, and similar is the case if he
has died.

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Some scholar say with regards to case where the person has found out
about your gheebah that if you do not have the courage and bravery
to own up to your gheebah then you must at least make duaa’ for that
person, and spread good about the person.

Now one question that might arise is how long do I make duaa and ask
Allah to forgive the person and ask Allah to give the person good. The
scholars say for as long as you feel that it is sufficient compensation
for doing gheebah on that person.

None of this forced forgiveness. I mean sometimes we go up to a

person and tell him you what I have done gheebah to you forgive me
man Ok. And if the person is say what did you say, we respond back
and say well I cannot tell that can I, I mean just forgive me Ok, what
is wrong with you can’t you just forgive. So we try to force the person
to forgive us.

Before I sit down I will mention the hadith on bankruptcy

The Prophet once asked his Companions, "Do you know who is the
bankrupt?" The Companions said, "A bankrupt is the one who has
neither dirham (money) nor wealth." The Prophet said,

The bankrupt of my Ummah is he who would come on the Day of

Judgment with prayers, fasting, and zakah; but who had offended one
person, slandered another, devoured others' wealth, shed the blood of
this person, and beat that person.

Each one of these people would be given some of the wrongdoer's

good deeds. If his good deeds fall short of settling the account, then
their sins will be taken from their accounts and thrown into his
account, and he the violator would be thrown in the Hellfire. (Muslim)

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May Allah grace you and us with the blessings of the grand Qurr’an,
and may it benefit us and you with the verses and with wise
commemoration, for He the Almighty is Generous, Noble, Sovereign,
Benign, Compassionate, and Merciful.

So brothers and sisters in Islam

- gheebah is a major sin,
- gheebah is eating the dead flesh ones brother,
- gheebah is so easy to do all we need to do is put our brains
aside and speak,
- Islam has set the bar high on the sin of gheebah in order to
protect the honor of our fellow Muslims,
- gheebah is simply mentioning, gesturing, imitating something
negative about someone who is absent and we fall into this sin.
- With gheebah we give away our good deeds to others, and
will be forced to devour their dead corpse on the day of
judgment.
- Therefore, we need to stop bidiniallah, we need to cease
bididnillah, we turn away from bidinallah from this great sin.
- We need to make toubah for the people we have done
gheebah, we need to feel sorry for committing this sin, we need
to make a pledge to to Allah to struggle hard to stop committing
this sin,
- We need to make duaa’ for those whom we have done
gheebah for as long as we sincerely feel it is sufficient
compensation for committing the crime of gheebah to them.

Now one might ask the question what about times when gheebah is
permissible, or are there times where gheebah is permissible.

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And the answer to this is “Yes”, but there are very very few times and
the conditions upon them are rigid. Inshallah next time we will talk
about the very few times where gheebah is allowed.

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