There are many texts which condemn nameemah and spying and
seeking out people’s faults, which will deter the Muslim from committing
these haraam actions:
1 – The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: “No person who spreads nameemah will enter Paradise.” According
to another report, “No eavesdropper (qattaat)…” Narrated by al-Bukhaari,
6056; Muslim, 105.
A qattaat is someone who
spreads nameemah. It was said that the one who spreads nameemah is the
person who is with a group who are speaking, then he spreads gossip about
them, and that the qattaat is the one who listens to them without them
realizing, then he spreads gossip about them.
2 – In al-Saheehayn it is narrated that Ibn ‘Abbaas
said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) out of
one of the gardens of Madeenah, and he heard the sounds of two people who
were being tormented in their graves. He said, ‘They are being punished, not
for something that was difficult to avoid, but it is nevertheless a major
sin. One of them did not protect himself from urine (i.e., take measures to
avoid contaminating himself or his clothes) and the other used to walk about
spreading nameemah.’”
(al-Bukhaari, 216; Muslim, 292).
3 – It is also narrated in al-Saheehayn from Abu
Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said: ‘Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the falsest of speech. Do not
eavesdrop; do not spy on one another; do not envy one another; do not
forsake one another; do not hate one another. Be, O slaves of Allaah,
brothers.”
Al-Bukhaari, 5144; Muslim, 2563.
Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “Some of the
scholars said that tahassus [‘eavesdropping’] means listening to other
people’s conversations, and tajassus [‘spying’] means seeking out their
faults. Or it was suggested that tajassus means looking for secrets. The
word is mostly used in the sense of evil. The jaasoos (spy) is the one who
seeks out secrets for evil purposes and the naamoos is the one who seeks out
secrets for good purposes. And it was said that tajassus means looking for
information for someone else, and tahassus means looking for information for
oneself. This was the view of Tha’lab. And it was said that they mean one
and the same, which is seeking out information about people’s
circumstances.”
4 – al-Bukhaari (7042) narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas that the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever
speaks of a dream that he did not actually see will be ordered [on the Day
of Judgement] to tie two grains of barley together, and he will never be
able to do so. Whoever listens in on other people’s conversations when they
do not like that will have molten lead poured into his ears on the Day of
Resurrection. Whoever makes an image will be punished and will be ordered to
breath life into it, and he will not be able to do so.”
5 – Ahmad (19277) and Abu Dawood (4880) narrated that Abu
Barzah al-Aslami said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) said: ‘O you who have spoken the words of faith but
faith has not truly entered your hearts! Do not backbite about the Muslims,
and do not seek out their faults. For whoever seeks out their faults, Allaah
will seek out his faults, and if Allaah seeks out a person’s faults He will
expose him even in his own house.’” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in
Saheeh Abi Dawood, 4083.
We do not think that a
believer would read these great ahaadeeth and then volunteer to spy on his
fellow-Muslims, or seek out their faults, or spread nameemah among them. We
think that you are one of those who will benefit from this and pay
attention, in sha Allaah. Hence we say that you must refuse to do this task,
no matter what encouragement or threats you may receive, whilst also
advising your colleagues to stop gossiping about their boss and telling them
off for doing so.
You should also advise your boss to stop spying on his
employees and not be suspicious about them, because that will corrupt them
and make them lose trust, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) said: “If you seek out people’s faults you will corrupt them or
almost corrupt them.”
Narrated by Abu Dawood, 4888; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani
in Saheeh Abi Dawood, 4088.
We will conclude with a
few points about the attitude of the Muslim towards nameemah or malicious
gossip when it is passed on to him.
Ibn Hajar al-Haythami said in his book al-Zawaajir ‘an
Iqtiraaf al-Kabaa’ir:
“The person who hears some malicious gossip, such as being
told ‘So and so said this about you’ or ‘he did this to you,’ must do six
things:
1 – He should not believe it, because the one who spreads
nameemah is a faasiq (evildoer) according to scholarly consensus, and Allaah
says (interpretation of the meaning):
“If a Faasiq (liar — evil person) comes to you with any
news, verify it, lest you should harm people in ignorance, and afterwards
you become regretful for what you have done”
[al-Hujuraat 49:6]
2 – He should tell him not to repeat this evil action, which
is evil in both religious and worldly terms.
3 – He should hate him for the sake of Allaah if he shows no
sign of repenting.
4 – He should not think badly of the one of whom it was said,
because he does not know whether that person really said it or did it.
5 – What he has been told should not make him spy on others
or look for their faults for the purpose of verifying what was said, because
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Avoid much suspicion; indeed some suspicions are sins.
And spy not…”
[al-Hujuraat 49:12]
6 – He should not approve
for himself that which he has told the other person not to do, so he should
not pass on the malicious gossip and say, ‘So and so told me this,’
otherwise he will also be gossiping and backbiting, and he will be doing
that which he told someone else not to do.
‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azeez (may Allaah be pleased with him)
said to someone who passed on some malicious gossip to him: “If you wish, we
can look into the matter. If you are lying, you will be one of the people
mentioned in the verse ‘If a Faasiq (liar — evil person) comes to you
with any news’ [al-Hujuraat 49:6 – interpretation of the meaning]; and
if you are telling the truth, you will be one of the people mentioned in the
verse, ‘A slanderer, going about with calumnies’ [al-Qalam 68:11 –
interpretation of the meaning]. Or if you wish, we will forgive you.” He
said, “Forgive me, O Ameer al-Mu’mineen, I will never do it again.”
The caliph Sulaymaan ibn ‘Abd al-Malik rebuked someone who
had spread nameemah about him, in the presence of al-Zuhri. The man denied
that and Sulaymaan said to him, “The one who told me about it is one who
does not tell lies.” Al-Zuhri said: “The one who spreads nameemah (malicious
gossip) cannot be truthful.” Sulaymaan said, “You are right,” and he let the
man go in peace.
Al-Hasan said: “The one who tells malicious gossip to you
will tell malicious gossip about you. This indicates that the person who
spreads malicious gossip should be hated and not believed or trusted. How
can he not be hated when he persists in lying, backbiting, slandering,
betraying, deceiving, envying, spreading mischief among the people and
cheating? He is one of those who try to sever the ties which Allaah has
commanded must be upheld and who spread mischief on earth. Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
‘The way (of blame) is
only against those who oppress men and rebel in the earth without
justification; for such there will be a painful torment’
[al-Shoora 42:42]
- and the one who spreads malicious gossip is one of them.”
And Allaah knows best.
Islam QA
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