Gheebat And Tohmat

Knowingly or unknowingly, intentionally or unintentionally, the fact remains that most of us occupy ourselves by doing gheebat or/and Tohmat. Forgetting about ourselves, we sit pinpointing at others, backbiting about them, judging or blaming them for things they haven't done and etc.
We want to know what she did and what he is going to do, rather than correcting ourselves we find fault in others and expose it in public, we try our best to insult them, embarrass and humiliate them and try our best to to conceal our own faults. I strongly believe that before even thinking bad about others we should first correct ourselves. Every individual should ask one question to himself and that is - What am I?

Gheebat means to talk behind someones back, and Tohmat is when what is spoken about that person is false or bad. And all of us are guilty of this sin. Most people don't know that gheebat is so much disliked by Allah and he takes away his blessings from those who do it and also it is mentioned in the Holy Quran that gheebat is equivalent of eating the flesh of ones dead brother.

"O you who believe, you shall avoid any suspicion, for even a little bit of suspicion is sinful. You shall not spy on one another, nor shall you backbite one another; this is as abominable as eating the flesh of your dead brother. You certainly abhor this. You shall observe GOD. GOD is Redeemer, Most Merciful." [49:12]

As a matter of fact none of us really want to stop talking about others. We want the world to know what is happening in his life, her life, everyones life. If a person commits a mistake and the other knows about it, he/she is supposed to keep that as a secret and not go about telling it to everyone. It is very indecent to do so. We as Muslims must try our best to talk good about others, to appreciate their good deeds and try to correct their flaws not in public but privately and explain them in a very polite manner.

However there are few types of gheeba's which are permitted and they are:-

1) complaint - such as to a ruler or a judge

2) seeking advice from a maulvi

3) Seeking help to change a wrong deed (Munkar), or to prevent some disaster befalling a Muslim.

4) Consultation in the matters of marriage, business partnerships or asking about a particular neighborhood (i.e. with a view to moving there), etc.

5) Mentioning the sin of one who commits his sin openly, or the Bid'ah of the innovator

6) Description of someone who is known by a certain physical characteristic, such as al-A'raj (the one who walks with a limp), al-Asamm (deaf), al-A’ma (blind), etc.

But again this also depends on a persons intentions and Allah is all knowing.

If anyone is upset and worried about having done backbiting or sworn or made fun of anyone and have realized that you have done wrong, remember Allah is all forgiving, this ayat gives hope:

"O my servants who have wronged themselves. never despair of the mercy of Allah for truly he forgives all sins. He is the Forgiving, the Merciful." (39:53)

There is more to life than talking behind each others backs. Make life more productive; indulge in doing things that are right and practice amr bil ma'ruf and nahy anil munkar.let us quit on backbiting and start a fresh life with all the positivity.Surely Allah will forgive our sins (Ameen) only if we promise to not repeat them again.

Samreen Fathima Mirza, 17
(sammirza14@gmail.com)