Farhan Abdul Azeez – When is Backbiting Allowed?

			When is backbiting allowed? A Muslim Institute presents q&a with forehand abdulazeez. This is a
common question that gets asked and a common scenario that we deal with, especially at workplace or
when people are together, maybe over lunch, the conversation starts turning towards people and co
workers, other things that happen and we start talking about people. So a question comes, when is
backbiting allowed? Now, as a physician in the medical field, this is a very serious issue when it
comes to patients and their privacy, right, there's cause severe consequences if you were to violate
somebody's protected medical information, if I were to speak to another, you know, staff member or
		

			family member, even without the patient's permission about something that they would not want
mentioned, it could cost me my job. And if it continues to be a problem, it can actually cost me my
license. So this is very serious and worldly consequences. And islamically, we have a similar
parallel, when can we talk about someone? And when can we not? First of all, we have to define what
is backbiting. It's mentioning something about your brother or sister that they would not want to be
mentioned, whether it's true or not, if they didn't want it to be mentioned that would be considered
backbiting. So when are we allowed to mention something right? There may be scenarios that we we
		

			have to and so there's a scholar who mentioned the six scenarios and we're allowed to in a beautiful
line of poetry. He kind of combined it all together, he said, and they said bellybutton feasts, etc.
And there are six scenarios where backbiting, were speaking, mentioning a fault of someone is not
considered backbiting. The first thing he says Motovun limine somebody who has been oppressed. So if
you have to go to a judge, or a police officer, for example, to tell them what happened to you,
somebody you know, broke into your home, and you know who the person is, that's not considered
backbiting, because you're right had been taking, you're trying to get it back, you're going to
		

			someone of authority to help you. Then he says, one more How did anything, say someone is known by a
certain quality. And this might be a relevant example, for those who follow basketball. There's a
basketball star named Anthony Davis, and his nickname is a unibrow. Right? Because he has an eyebrow
that's connected. Now generally, people consider that to be something that they could you know, they
insult people for that they have a one one connected eyebrow, so it can be considered an insult for
him. However, he doesn't consider it an insult. He actually identifies by he copyrighted that
nickname, right? So if you're trying to mention a characteristic of someone to identify the person,
		

			without any intention of insulting them, say for example, you have a friend named Abdullah Abdullah,
he, when he speaks, he stutters. So you say, hey, my friend, Abdullah, in your Yahoo talking to
says, I don't know who that is. And you say, Oh, you know, he lives in this city. And he's like, I
still don't know what that is. Well, he comes to this special that sort of on his own, you know, the
guy who actually has a little stutter in his speech. Oh, that Abdullah. So if the intention isn't to
insult or criticize him, then that also be allowed, then he says, The third thing when we'll have
the ad, and you're warning someone, you're cautioning someone about somebody else. So let's say for
		

			example, somebody asks you, hey, this brother in the community has proposed to my daughter, and do
you know anything about him? Is he a good, you know, match for my daughter, and you know that there
are certain things that you should tell the person to prevent his daughter from falling into harm,
then absolutely you can you can tell the person about it. Similarly, if a business deal or
transaction, or something along those lines, where maybe potential preventing harm from happening.
So you're cautioning someone you're advising them. He goes on to say in the in the poetry, he says
in the three more scenarios, he says, When moja hit, when would you hit a fist bump? Somebody who
		

			openly sins, right, somebody, for example, there's a guy who's selling alcohol and at a store,
right, that's an open sin, he's publicly doing it, then mentioning that sin is not forbidden.
However, we don't take it overboard and say, you know, go into other things about the person's
character, if that's not, you know, in the in the in relationship to what we're talking about. And
then the fifth scenario where, where it is allowed to mention something
		

			that the person may not like, is a scenario where you're seeking a farewell almost stepped in, like,
for example, somebody had a problem with her husband, he did X, Y and Z to her. And so she needs to
go to the chef to find out what's the ruling, and he may, she has to mention something that would
not be
		

			putting her husband in a good light that is allowed. And the last thing he says is woman thought
about IANA trophy, is it moon caddy, and someone who's seeking help and removing a harm. So it could
be a scenario for example, you know, just a very, maybe extreme case. But let's say somebody is
trying to attack you. So you run into the metal, you run to the store and you say, hey, this
person's chasing me versus threatening to harm me. You're saying something bad about them, but it's
allowed, or for example, maybe another scenario, you know, somebody who's struggling with drugs,
right, and you don't know how to advise the person. So you go to a professional, a social worker,
		

			whoever it is a therapist who can maybe help counsel the person, get him the resources, he needs to
get off his addiction to drugs that would be allowed in this scenario where you're trying to prevent
harm. So those are the six scenarios where you are allowed to backbite we'll be covering this and
much more in my upcoming class, titled faith and honor, we're looking at the tuxedo soda gerat and
going through
		

			Whole suit are trying to anchor our faith in the face of winds of change that may affect our
morality, our ethics, our belief, and we're going to cover all of that and try and, you know, anchor
our faith so that we are strong to face these challenges. I hope to see you all there.