غیبت کیا ہے؟

Narrated by Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): One day the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Do you know what backbiting (ghibah) is?" The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) said, "Allah and His Messenger ﷺ know best." He ﷺ said: "It is your mentioning of your brother in a way that he would dislike." Someone asked, "What if what I say about my brother is actually true in him (is that also backbiting)?" He ﷺ said: "It is backbiting only when that fault is actually present in him; and if the fault you mention is not in him, then you have slandered him (and that is even more severe and grievous than backbiting)." (Muslim)

This hadith makes clear the reality of backbiting and the difference between backbiting (ghibah) and slander (buhtan), and also that slander is an even more severe and grievous kind of sin than backbiting. The root of the sin is hurting someone's feelings and disgracing and dishonouring him, whether it is done to his face or behind his back; so mentioning a fault of someone which, if mentioned, would displease and distress him is backbiting. In his teachings the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared it an utterly contemptible bad character trait and a major sin. In the Holy Qur'an, Allah has likened backbiting to eating the flesh of one's dead brother. Just as a person would naturally be repelled by eating the flesh of his dead brother, so too should a person intensely detest backbiting and avoid it.