Hadiths: from Abu Dawud, Kitab al-Adab (Book of Manners)

1. The Prophet said: "A mischief-maker will not enter Paradise." #4853

2. The Prophet said: "He who is two-faced in this world will have two tongues of fire on the Day of Resurrection." #4855

3. The Prophet was asked: "Apostle of Allah! What is back- biting?" He replied: "It is saying something about your brother which he would dislike." He was asked again: "Tell me how the matter stands if what I say about my brother is true?" He replied: "If what you say of him is true, you have slandered him [i.e. it is backbiting], and if what you say of him is not true, you have reviled him [i.e. it is calumny, a worse sin than backbiting]." #4856

4. The Prophet said: "The most prevalent kind of usury [riba] is going to lengths in talking unjustly against a Muslim's honor." #4858

5. The Prophet said: "The gravest sin is going to lengths in talking unjustly against a Muslim's honor, and it is a greater sin to abuse twice after abusing once." #4859

6. The Prophet said: "When I was taken up to heaven I passed by people who had nails of copper and were scratching their faces and their breasts. I asked: Who are these people, Gabriel? He replied: They are those who were given to backbiting and who cast aspersions on people's honor." #4860

7. The Prophet said: "O community of people who believed by their tongue, while belief has not entered their hearts: Do not backbite Muslims, and do not search for their faults, for if anyone searches for their faults, Allah will search for his fault, and if Allah searches for the fault of anyonoe, He disgraces him in his house." #4862

8. The Prophet said: "If anyone eats once at the cost of a Muslim's honor, Allah will give him a like amount of Jahannam [the lowest pit of hell] to eat; if anyone clothes himself with a garment at the cost of a Muslim's honor, Allah will clothe him with a like amount of Jahannam; and if anyone puts himself in a position of reputation and show (at the cost of a Muslim's honor), Allah will disgrace him with a place of (ill-)reputation and show on the Day of Resurrection. #4863

9. The Prophet said: "Everything of a Muslim is sacred to a Muslim: his property, honor, and blood. It is enough evil for a man to despise his brother Muslim." #4864

10. The Prophet said: "If anyone guards a believer from a hypocrite, Allah will send an angel who will guard his flesh on the Day of Resurrection from the fire of Jahannam; but if anyone attacks a Muslim, saying something by which he wishes to disgrace him, he will be restrained by Allah on the bridge over Jahannam till he is acquitted of what he said." #4865

11. The Prophet said: "No man will desert a Muslim in a place where his respect may be violated and his honor attacked without Allah deserting him in a place where he wishes His help; and no man will help a Muslim in a place where his honor may be attacked and his respect violated without Allah helping him in a place where he wishes his help." #4866

12. The Prophet said: "Avoid envy, for envy devours good deeds just as fire devours fuel or grass." #4885

From Malik's Muwatta':

13. The Prophet said: "If the Lord should protect a man from the mischief of two things, he shall enter Paradise: firstly, from that which is between his two jaws [i.e. his tongue], and secondly, from that which is between his two loins." #1794

14. The Prophet was asked: "Can a believer be a coward?" He said: "Yes." He was asked again: "Can a believer be a miser?" He said: "Yes." He was asked again: "Can a believer be a liar?" The Prophet replied: "No." #1802

Âthâr (Sayings of the Saints): from Qushayri's Risalat, chapter on backbiting [ghiba]:

15. Sufyan ibn al-Husayn reported, "I was sitting with Iyas ibn Mu`awiya, and I slandered a man. He asked me, Have you attacked the Byzantines or the Turks this year? I replied, No. He exclaimed, The Turks and the Byzantines are safe from you while your Muslim brother is not!"

16. It was told to Hasan al-Basri, "So-and-so has slandered you." He sent a tray of halwa [sweets] to the man, noting, "I hear that you have bestowed upon me your good deeds. I would like to repay you."

17. Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak said, "If I were to slander anyone, I would slander my parents, for they are the most deserving of my good deeds."

18. From Ibn Hajar al-Haythami's Fatawa Hadithiyya: "To attack the people who strive to purify themselves (sufis) is the most murderous venom for one's soul and the road to destruction."

'O YOU WHO SLANDER, BEWARE!'

"Those who slander such of the Believers as give themselves freely to (deeds of) charity, as well as those who give according to their means, -- and throw ridicule on them -- Allah will throw back their ridicule on them: and they shall have a grievous chastisement." (9:79)

Hadiths: from Abu Dawud, Kitab al-Adab (Book of Manners)

1. The Prophet said: "The gravest sin is going to lengths in talking unjustly against a Muslim's honor, and it is a greater sin to abuse twice after abusing once." #4859

2. The Prophet said: "When I was taken up to heaven I passed by people who had nails of copper and were scratching their faces and their breasts. I asked: Who are these people, Gabriel? He replied: They are those who were given to backbiting and who cast aspersions on people's honor." #4860

3. The Prophet said: "O community of people who believed by their tongue, while belief has not entered their hearts: Do not backbite Muslims, and do not search for their faults, for if anyone searches for their faults, Allah will search for his fault, and if Allah searches for the fault of anyonoe, He disgraces him in his house." #4862

From Malik's Muwatta':

4. Sufyan ibn al-Husayn reported, "I was sitting with Iyas ibn Mu`awiya, and I slandered a man. He asked me, Have you attacked the Byzantines or the Turks this year? I replied, No. He exclaimed, The Turks and the Byzantines are safe from you while your Muslim brother is not!"

GF Haddad