you
okay the question about gossip and how to deal with it and so on and is there example at the
time of mohammed salah salem one thing comes to my mind they might they may be more examples but the
one that comes to my mind is a slander more of a slander than a good then gossiping but it was
part and parcel of you know people messing their mouths by spreading this tale it was slander and
gossip at the same time but the difference i'd like to think is when it comes to a slander it's
definitely something wrong totally unacceptable in the sense that it's it's false it's like an
accusation that's now being spread it's a slander and this is why they say backbiting
is to speak the truth about someone in a way that if they were there they would have felt bad that
is called backbiting backbiting is not tool it's not connected to lies it's connected to the truth
it's like sometimes you say but sister you're backbiting they say but i'm telling the truth
well that exactly is backbiting that's what backbiting is so hon allah so what is what is
it if i'm lying it's called slander both dan i'm lying so i share of the alum and her the wife of
muhammad salla salaam was accused of adultery of having an affair with sephora blow-up doll ravi
Allah and she was accused by who the hypocrites the man known as Abdul I have no Bible no saloon
and the prophets are Salim initially he kept quiet because obviously for him to clear the wife's name
people would say oh that's just because it's his wife and he let it he let it you know he
let time pass by the instruction of Allah in his case it was because the categories of people and
the lesson to come later on had to be made clear that when slander comes people fall into certain
categories the first category those who don't want to hear they don't want to talk about it
they throw it straight out of the window that's the first category of people they not bothered it
doesn't bother you throw it out second category of people those whom they heard it in a closed circle
like a boy you belong sorry Ravi Allah and his wife told him did you hear what happened regarding
aisha so he says would you ever do that she says never well if you wouldn't do it she definitely
didn't do it so keep quiet don't talk about it it's good it's actually a lie so they threw it
away after comparing themselves to it that's the second category of it and the third were
those who spread it those who spread the tale and the fourth category the one who created the tale
so Allah says at the end of that every category will achieve a portion of their punishments may
Allah forgive us the prophets are Salaam later on cleared it he clarified it he read the verses he
went to the people he told them he spoke to them he said whatever he wanted to in fact he went to
Abdul I have no obey who was such a dirty man he was the head of the hypocrites and the reason why
we can say that is because Allah informed Muhammad SAW Salim through revelation and it was well known
among the Companions and he died in that condition of the live no obey Hebrew saloon he was known as
rock Suleiman a fake in the head of the hypocrites all the Companions knew this is a troublemaker
I'll give you one example he one day the prophecy Salim went to him to clarify something so he was
so arrogant he says move away move away the smell of your donkey has harmed me you know the process
Salim was riding a donkey he says the smell of this donkey is harmed me so the companions do you
think they would remain silent you know you've got powerful people down there they're not going to
be quiet so one of the companions is your smell is worse than the sweet scent of this donkey and then
a battle ensued which means some of the people who supported him wanted to attack this guy and some
of these people wanted to attack but the morale of it is this man was so you know dirty in the
way he spoke the Prophet sallallaahu Salam calmed everyone down he sorted the matter he said look
let's get back to the purpose that we are here for and let's try and sort it out let's not be
distracted by this sometimes we get distracted so this whole this whole story that I mentioning goes
to show that the Selam did clarify himself himself certain matters and it is definitely a duty of our
friends to clear our name on our behalf in our absence and that is a great act of worship I'll
give you an example someone says something bad about you and a friend of yours happens to hear
it for them to just not their heads say something you know which hasn't clarified anything sometimes
it makes it worse that's not a good friend they are supposed to buy right say listen this is wrong
it's false it's unacceptable it's not true don't say don't utter it like sometimes we are taught as
Muslim in Allah says it in the Quran when you hear people engage in that which displeases Allah get
up and walk away I've had brothers and sisters tell me that it's so difficult to get up and
walk away you know everyone's having a chat when you get together on a Saturday afternoon for tea
what are you talking about all the other sisters who are not at the tea write in such a way that
the day you're not at the tea you can imagine what they're talking about can't you so the difficulty
is for you in order to stop that you need to get up and tell the sisters listen it's an instruction
of my maker I love you guys all of you but the speech that's there right now I can't take it
because it's against what Allah says you hurting someone you're talking bad about that about them
behind their back I'm sorry I've got to go and you go you do it once or twice your gatherings
will be free of speaking about others my mother in my own home and I'm giving you this example my
father tells my mother when you go and visit your friends do not sit for longer than 15 minutes so
my mother says in why she says because the 16th minute he says the 16th minute you start talking
about maryam and fatima and Sophia and everybody else but for 15 minutes how are you everything
okay what's happening how's things going how's the children Oh Masha Allah your child's at school Oh
hamdulillah how you're coping how was the cooking what did you make today do you have a little bit
of it left let's taste it and so on masha'Allah that's good everything happens the 16th minute
you've got nothing more to say so what do you do you say you know that's us today you watch out
be careful she's dangerous she's poisonous you know she did this this that's backbiting forget
about it cut it however there is one exception the Quran says liar Ebola Angela Basu eminent
only in lemma volume Allah does not like a person to make manifest evil about someone unless they
themselves have been oppressed and they seeking justice I've had people who have been abused and
they are reaching out for guidance and they say I can't tell you what's happened because it's
backbiting you've been abused you sometimes you've been oppressed your wealth has been usurped you
need to report you need to seek help you need to tell people this is what happened so that
is not considered backbiting when it happened to you directly someone oppressed me I can warn
the brothers to say listen my experience with this guy was X Y & Z I have two intentions one
is to seek justice and the other is to warn the brothers and sisters to say listen be wound I've
already been bitten don't be bitten again so that is the exception you are allowed to do that it's
not considered backbiting but the intention needs to be one of the two either I'm seeking justice or
I am respectfully warning others they shouldn't be bitten from the same hole may Allah Subhanahu
wa ta ala grant us goodness and understanding definitely this Islam is actually quite complete
it is fully complete we sometimes don't know much so we keep on learning don't think for a
moment that allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala has not instructed us to clarify our name you know to
to to all to clarify the names of our friends it's wrong for us to sit back and relax when we
know that a friend of ours is being spoken about in a dirty and a bad way we're sitting there we
haven't said anything it's your duty get up and say something Allah I hope that helped