[frosama]

I've always heard about the dangers of backbiting and the punishment with evidence from hadith/quran. However, I know there are exceptions but I have never received any evidence for these based off the quran/sunnah. Exceptions such as talking about oppression, talking about someone's bad qualities to a person about to get married to this person, and etc.

So I was wondering what the scriptural basis for these exceptions are. If anyone could help me out with this it would be much appreciated.

[Spice]

Good question!

To my limited knowledge, there is a fine line between backbiting and speaking of oppression. It really depends on the severity of the 'oppression'. For example, if a haqq is being denied to a wife, she should seek to work it out with her husband without a third involved. If it goes beyond a basic need to something serious-she can involve a third, preferably someone known to be just- an imam?
But if its something like her fearing for her safety or whatever then she can speak out and seek aid. Though, Id hope in a marital relationship one would use hikma before anything else to deal with whatever issue.

Here is the verse that adresses the issue:
"Allah loveth not that evil should be noised abroad in public speech, except where injustice hath been done; for Allah is He who heareth and knoweth all things." (Surah An-Nisa 148)

One should make sure whatever the issue is is serious, results in oppression, and a cause for concern, otherwise if the accusation is heavier in contrast to the 'opression' then you do run the risk of 'evil being noised in public speech'. On the other hand, injustice is something which isnt tolerated in Islam at all. So its a call of hikmah, really.

Here's a verse we should always keep, or try to keep in mind:
"O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin: And spy not on each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay, ye would abhor it...But fear Allah. For Allah is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful." (Surah Hujurat, 12)

(incorherent, I'm trying to do a bunch of things at once )

[Timbit]

Cases in which ghibah is permissible

Injustice. One who has suffered injustice is entitled to mention the one who has committed injustice to someone who is capable of restoring his rights to him, such as a legitimate Muslim ruler or judge.

Seeking help to change an evil, or to reform the wrongdoer. If the intention in telling the ghibah is not to change the wrong, then it is forbidden to relate it.

Asking for a fatwa. A person may say, 'My father/brother/wife has done such-and-such to me. What can I do about it?
On the authority of `A'ishah : Hind, the wife of Abu Sufyan, said to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), "Abu Sufyan is a miserly man, and he is not giving me what would suffice me and my child, unless I take from him without his knowing." He said, "Take what suffices you and your child according to common usage." [Bukhari, Muslim]

However, it is more precautionary to avoid mention of names, for example by asking instead, "What is the verdict regarding a person who has done such-and-such?"

Warning, such as warning a prospective buyer that the merchant is a swindler, or warning a student that his prospective teacher is an innovator or a deviant. Also, revealing the faults of weak narrators and forgers of hadith, and giving someone a candid appraisal of a person whom the former is thinking of marrying.
On the authority of Fatimah bint Qays : she said, "I came to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and told him, "Abu Jahm and Mu`awiyah have [both] proposed to me." He said, "As for Mu`awiyah, he is a poor man with no money, and as for Abu Jahm, his stick never leaves his shoulder." [Bukhari, Muslim, Malik]

If someone is commonly known by a nickname, although if there is some alternative way to refer to him, it is preferable.

Someone who sins openly, and has no qualms about his sins being mentioned.
However, it is not permissible to mention any of his secret sins.
"There can be no backbiting of one who casts off the mantle of modesty." [Suyuti, Al-Jami` As-Saghir, 2/519, from Bayhaqi.]

The Rules of Backbiting

[Spice]

Basically, two things need to be considered before speaking of anyone in their ansence.
1) The need: Is it very important? does it serve a purpose? would it result in any kind of hasanah? Can the point be made using another method? Would it somehow taint the person's character? so on and forth.
2) The intention: Just like for every other action, the intention is what really counts. And you are the best judge of your own intentions.

[Spice]

Originally Posted by Timbit

Cases in which ghibah is permissible

Injustice. One who has suffered injustice is entitled to mention the one who has committed injustice to someone who is capable of restoring his rights to him, such as a legitimate Muslim ruler or judge.

Seeking help to change an evil, or to reform the wrongdoer. If the intention in telling the ghibah is not to change the wrong, then it is forbidden to relate it.

Asking for a fatwa. A person may say, 'My father/brother/wife has done such-and-such to me. What can I do about it?
On the authority of `A'ishah : Hind, the wife of Abu Sufyan, said to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), "Abu Sufyan is a miserly man, and he is not giving me what would suffice me and my child, unless I take from him without his knowing." He said, "Take what suffices you and your child according to common usage." [Bukhari, Muslim]

However, it is more precautionary to avoid mention of names, for example by asking instead, "What is the verdict regarding a person who has done such-and-such?"

Warning, such as warning a prospective buyer that the merchant is a swindler, or warning a student that his prospective teacher is an innovator or a deviant. Also, revealing the faults of weak narrators and forgers of hadith, and giving someone a candid appraisal of a person whom the former is thinking of marrying.
On the authority of Fatimah bint Qays : she said, "I came to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and told him, "Abu Jahm and Mu`awiyah have [both] proposed to me." He said, "As for Mu`awiyah, he is a poor man with no money, and as for Abu Jahm, his stick never leaves his shoulder." [Bukhari, Muslim, Malik]

If someone is commonly known by a nickname, although if there is some alternative way to refer to him, it is preferable.

Someone who sins openly, and has no qualms about his sins being mentioned.
However, it is not permissible to mention any of his secret sins.
"There can be no backbiting of one who casts off the mantle of modesty." [Suyuti, Al-Jami` As-Saghir, 2/519, from Bayhaqi.]

The Rules of Backbiting

You couldve linked to it before I posted. I kind of ran my mind for nothing

[Timbit]

Originally Posted by Spice

You couldve linked to it before I posted. I kind of ran my mind for nothing

You could've been on MSN. Or you could've linked to it first.
I <3 SunniPath. Minimal thinking required.

[Spice]

Originally Posted by Timbit

You could've been on MSN. Or you could've linked to it first.
I <3 SunniPath. Minimal thinking required.

I am on msn, you're not.

[Timbit]

Originally Posted by Spice

I am on msn, you're not.

I'm on MSN. You're probably appearing offline.

Anyway... somebody post that hadith about how to vouch for somebody's character when asked.

[Abu_Hind]

Exceptions to Backbiting:

Praise be to Allaah.

The scholars have stated that gheebah is permitted in certain situations:

1-

Complaining. It is permissible for the one who has been wronged to complain to the ruler or judge and others who have the authority or ability to settle the score with the one who wronged him.

2-
Seeking help to change evil and bring the sinner back to the right path, so he may say to the one who he hopes is able to do something: “So and so is doing such and such; tell him not to do it.”

3-
Seeking advice or a fatwa, by saying to the mufti, “So and so/my father/my brother has wronged me by doing such and such, does he have the right to do that? How can I solve this problem and ward off his harm from me?”

4-

Warning the Muslims of someone’s evil, such as highlighting the weakness of some reporters or witnesses or authors. That also includes seeing someone buying faulty goods, or someone keeping company with one who is a thief or adulterer, or giving a female relative of his to such a man in marriage, and the like. You should tell them about that by way of sincere advice, not with the aim of causing harm and spreading mischief.

5-

If a person openly commits evil or follows bid’ah, such as drinking alcohol and seizing people’s wealth unlawfully, it is permissible to speak of what he is doing openly, but it is not permissible to speak against him any other way, unless it is for another reason.

6-

For identification, if someone is known by a nickname such as the dim-sighted one, or the blind man or the one-eyed or the lame one, it is permissible to identify him as such, but it is haraam to mention that by way of belittling him, and if it is possible to identify him in some other way, that is better.

It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah li’l-Ifta (26/20):

Speaking about a person in his absence is permissible in certain situations as indicated by shar’i evidence, if there is a need for that, such as if someone consults you about arranging a marriage to him, or entering into a business partnership with him, or if someone complains to the authorities to put a stop to his wrongdoing. In that case there is nothing wrong with saying things about him that he may not like to be said, because there is an interest to be served by that. One of the scholars summed up in two lines of poetry the situations in which it is permissible to talk about a person in his absence, and said:

Criticizing is not gheebah in six (cases) – complaining, identifying, warning,

When the person is committing evil openly, when advice is sought, and when one is asking for help in removing an evil.

End quote.

And Allaah knows best.


Islam Question and Answer - Situations in which gheebah (“backbiting�) is permitted

[Maniac_Muslim]

I think this is the exception: