Remembrance 1 from Chapter 315

Know that just as backbiting is ḥarām for the slanderer to express, it is also ḥarām for the listener to listen to and endorse. It is imperative for anyone who hears somebody starting ḥarām backbiting to stop them, as long as he does not fear any obvious harm. If he fears harm, he should disapprove of it in his heart and withdraw from that gathering if he is able to. If he is able to condemn it with his tongue, or to interrupt the backbiting with some other conversation, it is compulsory for him to do so. If he does not do so, he will be disobedient. If he says with his tongue ‘Keep quiet’ but in his heart he desires it to continue, then as Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī said: “That is hypocrisy, which does not absolve him of the sin. It is imperative that one hate it with his heart.” If one is forced to remain in a gathering in which there is backbiting and he is unable to condemn it, or he condemns it and it is not accepted from him and he is unable to withdraw, it is ḥarām for him to listen or pay attention to the backbiting. His way out is to remember Allah with his tongue and heart, or with his heart only, or to think about something else to prevent him from listening to it. It will not harm him, after that, if he hears it without listening and paying attention in the circumstances just described. If after that he is able to withdraw while they persist in backbiting and suchlike, it is compulsory for him to withdraw. Allah says: “When you see men engaged in vain discourse about Our Signs, turn away from them until they turn to a different subject. If Shayṭān ever makes you forget, then after remembering sit not in the company of those who do wrong.” ^[1].

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