By Sadiqa Balolia

Gheebath ia an Arabic word which can literally be translated to mean "slandering, backbiting, spreading rumours or scandals or gossiping". Gheebath means to talk bad about a person behind his back in such a way that if he were to hear it, he wouldn't like it.

Most of us indulge in this practice umpteen times a day , sometimes not even relaising we're a part of it. It may be extremely enteratining & fun to do so, but it has no benefits per se.It just tarnishess reputations and harms the lives of its innocent victims.  It is the cause of many heartaches and sleepless nights, it maims friendships, damages relationships, ruins careers, and wrecks marriages.

Rasoolullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam*) described it similar to eating one's own brother's flesh.  We might be aware of these facts & the utter uselesness of  Gheebath, but what most of us do not know is that when we indulge in Gheebath about someone, Allah Ta'ala takes our good deeds and hands over the rewards of those deeds to the person we gossipped about. It will be better understood with the help of these 2 examples.

1. There once lived a Sheikh who was very Godly and religious.He would indulge in lots of nafl ibaadah (voluntary acts of worship) , prayers, fasts, recitation of Qur'an, zikr (remembrance of God), etc. Every night after his Ishaa (night) prayers, he would come home and continue with his ibaadah. But one night, he came home and went straight to bed. His wife found this very unusual and asked him " Are you not going to do any ibaadah today?" The Sheikh smiled and said " Today lots of Gheebath was done about me, so I got the good deeds of all those gossipers. Alhamdulillah (All praise is due to God), I already received my share of blessings from Allah Ta'ala . So, I do not need to do any more nafl ibaadah today."

2.Another incident is that of a man X who heard a certain person Y had done lots of Gheebath about him behind his back. X went to Y's house and gifted him a box of sweets. People were very surrised at his action and told X , "Y did gheebath about you and you've gifted him sweets?". X smiled and told them "Yes. When Y did gheebath about me, he gave me the reward of all his good deeds. Since I can't give him my good deeds, the least I can do to thank him is give him a box of sweets". Subhan Allah (Glory to Allah)!

 The next time any of us feel like maligning someone's name or sharing a juicy tid-bit, we should remind ourselves that by doing so, we would be handing over our good deeds to the victim of our gossips. The Noble Prophet Sallalahu alyhi wa salaam has said, "If you wish to do gheebath about someone, do so of your mother..because she is the most deserving of your good deeds."

And we all know that  no sane person would ever backbite about his/her own mother.

 If we do not like some aspects of a certain person, why should we hand our hard-earned good deeds to them for free? Instead of indulging in this malicious practice, wouldn't it be beneficial to glorify Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala or talk about something which would benefit everyone equally?
 
May Allah Ta'ala save each one of us from the evils of Gheebath and the fitnahs (seditions) laid for us by Satan.

Last update : 11-10-2008 08:41

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