We often hear the word ‘backbiting’. It simply means “speaking about a person behind his or her back in a way which damages their image publicly, it could either be their appearance, lifestyle, faith, clothes, or house.”

Backbiting is being blatantly done these days. In today’s world, no one cares about others and they openly go around saying bad things behind their back. It spreads enmity between two people and gradually in the whole society.

Actually, when a person backbites, it is his image that falls in front of others, and he cannot be friends with the person he was talking maliciously about. In all cultures and religions, backbiting is considered a wrong practice and disapproved of. In Islam, backbiting is prohibited.

If there really is something that one feels is not right about a person or that a person has not behaved well, one should talk to the person directly and address the issue rather than going around to talk to everyone about it rather than the concerned person.

People often enjoy listening to others when they are backbiting about someone and even encourage the person to say more. But, in reality, they do not consider that act as good and think that the person doing it is not trustworthy, for he may start talking badly about them behind their back. A backbiter loses respect and trust with this act.

So, my dear readers don’t get overwhelmed if you have done any backbiting in the past, all you have to do is to repent with sincerity and not repeat it. Surely, God loves those who repent.

After knowing the meaning of backbiting and how it can harm others and ourselves equally, those who have this bad habit must be thinking how to avoid and overcome it so, I’m jotting down few simple ways which may help you to get rid of this problem.

• Avoid sitting with such people who always point out the mistakes of others.

• We must think if we are backbiting about others, someone might also do it about us. What goes around, comes around.

• If we are sitting with someone who is doing backbiting, we must stop him from doing so. If the person still continues, politely get up, excuse yourself and leave such a gathering.

• While sitting in a gathering and having a discussion, we often think of sharing an incident about someone else. This is also a kind of backbiting; we should stop ourselves right there.

• In the end, I would only like to say that backbiting has only cons it would neither give you satisfaction nor a happy life, so stay away from it.

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 8th, 2021