The word · The heart
الغِيبَة
Ghibah
Mentioning something about a person, behind their back, that they would dislike hearing.
Also written · Gheebah · Gheeba · Ghiba · Ghibat · Gheebat · Gibah · Gibet · Backbiting · Gossip · Talking behind someone's back · Slander · Buhtan · Bad-mouthing
The meaning
What Ghibah means in Islam
The Qur'an compares it to eating the flesh of your dead brother (Qur'an 49:12). When the Prophet peace be upon him was asked what if it is true, he answered that if it is true you have backbitten him, and if it is not you have slandered him, in Muslim. Scholars list narrow exceptions, such as warning someone about a business partner or a marriage proposal, or reporting a wrong to a person able to stop it. These exist for need, not for cover.
Evidence · Qur’an · Stated directly in the Qur’an
Read beside it
Words that sit beside it
- NamimahCarrying words between people in a way that sets them against each other.النَّمِيمَة
- Husn al-ZannThinking well of people: reading an ambiguous act in the best way it can honestly be read.حُسْنُ الظَّنّ
- KadhibLying: saying what you know is not so, in speech, in a hint, or in a misleading silence.الكَذِب
- AdabGood manner in a specific situation: the right way to sit, speak, eat, enter, and ask.الأَدَب
More from The heart
- 'AfwPardon: dropping a wrong you are owed, without the other person having to earn it.العَفْو
- GhaflahHeedlessness: not the denial of the truth, but the habit of never getting round to it.الغَفْلَة
- KhawfFear of Allah: the awareness of His justice that keeps a person from walking off the edge.الخَوْف
- NushrahUndoing magic with magic, which the Sunnah rejects, unlike undoing it with the Qur'an.النُّشْرَة
- SakinahA stillness Allah sends down into the heart, usually at the moment it is least expected.السَّكِينَة
- TamimahAn amulet worn for protection, whose ruling depends on what has been put inside it.التَّمِيمَة