The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "Do you know what is backbiting?" The Companions said: "Allah and His Messenger know better." Thereupon he said, "Backbiting is talking about your (Muslim) brother in a manner which he dislikes." It was said to him: "What if my (Muslim) brother is as I say." He said, "If he is actually as you say, then that is backbiting; but if that is not in him, that is slandering."

[Muslim].

Do you know what is backbiting? They (the Companions) said: Allah and His Messenger know best. Thereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said: Backbiting implies your talking about your brother in a manner which he does not like. It was said to him: What is your opinion about this that if I actually find (that failing) in my brother which I made a mention of? He said: If (that failing) is actually found (in him) what you assert, you in fact backbited him, and if that is not in him it is a slander.

It is reported by Qasim bin Abdur Rahman as-Shami that he heard Ibn Unm Abd say, "If a believer is backbitten before someone and he helps the believer (by refuting backbiting) then Allah will reward him well in this world and the next. And, if a believer is backbitten before someone and he does not help him (by not refuting the backbiting) then Allah will give him a bad return for that in this world and the next. Further, if anyone does not take a morsel more than backbiting in his mouth and says that which he knows about him then he has backbitten him but if he says what he does not know about him then he has slandered him.

‘We were near Ismā’īl bin Ulayyah, and a man narrated on authority of another man, so I said: ‘Indeed this is not reliable (Thabt)’. So the man said: ‘Are you backbiting him?’ Ismā’īl said: ‘He is not backbiting him; rather he is judging him unreliable’.

Hudhaifah (RAA) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H.) said, “A backbiter will not enter Paradise.” Agreed upon.

Jabir (ra) said that (once) a bad smelling wind blew in the times of the prophet Ig. The Messenger of Allah (saws) said," The hypocrites are backbiting the Muslims. That is why this wind blows"

Anas (RAA) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H.) said, “The atonement of backbiting a man is to ask Allah to forgive him.” Related by Al-Harith bin Abu Usamah with a weak chain of narrators.

Jabir bin Abdullah (ra) said that they were with the Prophet (saws)when a very stinking gush of wind blew over there. The Prophet (saws) they asked his companions (ra) if they knew what that was. He added, "It is the (stinking) air of those people who backbite the believers."

"The Messenger of Allah passed by two graves, and he said: 'They are being punished but they are not being punished for anything major. One of them is being punished because of urine, and the other is being punished because of backbiting.'"

" O Messenger of Allah! What is backbiting?" He said : " Mentioning your brother with that which he does not like." He said " What if what I said about him is so?" He said: "If what you said about him is so, then you have backbitten him, and if it is not as you said, then you have slandered him."

The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "During the Mi'raj (the Night of Ascension), I saw a group of people who were scratching their chests and faces with their copper nails. I asked, 'Who are these people, O Jibril?' Jibril replied: 'These are the people who ate flesh of others (by backbiting) and trampled people's honour."'

[Abu Dawud].

It is reported by Qays that Amr bin al-Aas (ra) was going somewhere with his friends. They saw a dead mule whose belly had swollen up. Amr (ra)said," By Allah, it is better for one to eat to his full from this (dead mule) than to eat the flesh of a Muslim" (He meant to say that to backbite anyone is worse than eating the meat of a dead animal).

Abu Hurairah (RAA) narrated, ‘The Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H.) asked, “Do you know what backbiting is?” They replied, `Allah and His Messenger (P.B.U.H.) know best.’ He said, “It is saying something about your brother which he dislikes.” Someone asked, ‘Supposing that what I said about my brother was true?’ and the Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H.) said, “If what you say about him is true you have backbitten him and if it is not true you have slandered him.” Related by Muslim.

It is reported by Jabir bin Abdullah (ra) that they had accompanied the messenger of Allah when they came to two graves. Both the inmate of the graves were being punished. He said," They are being punished not for committing a grave sin. But, yes! (They are grave sins though on the face of it they are ordinary and it is easy to avoid them but their punishment is severe.) One of them was given to backbite other people while the other was not. Careful to clean himself of urine drops (over his body)". He then asked for one or two branches of fresh date palm and split them and dug them on each grave. He said afterwards," Soon their punishment will be softened as long as the branches are green." Or he said, “Until they dry up.”

It is reported by Abu Hurayrah (ra) that Maiz bin Maalik al-Aslami (ra) came to the Prophet (saws) repeatedly (so that he may be given the prescribed punishment for the sin he had committed). When he came the fourth time, the Prophet (saws) gave orders for Rajam and he was stoned to death. The Messenger of Allah (saws) and a few of his companions afterwards passed by him. One of the companions remarked," How many times this perished man came to the Prophet, and each time he turned him away until he was stoned like a dog." The Prophet (saws) did not say anything and walked ahead till they came to the corpse of a donkey with its legs in the air. He said,"Eat some of this (corpse)." They asked "Messenger of Allah, from this dead donkey?" He said to them." That you have just backbited your brother is more serious than eating some of it (the donkey's corpse). By him in whose hand the soul of Muhammad is, he (Mariz bin Maalik) is now among the rivers of paradise plunging into it".