Chapter IV: Poverty and Renunciation
have back-bited her. Pen is like tongue and backbiting can be done by writing by pen. If a writer criticizes a particular man by writing, it will be back-biting him. It can be committed with reference to a dead man also. When any action of a man was disliking to the Prophet, he did not particularize that person but said in a general way: What will be the condition of the people who do such and such acts? The Prophet said:0 The hearer of back-biting is included within the back-biters. If the hearer protests by his tongue, he will be exempted from its sin. If he cannot do it, he will think it bad in his mind. If he can shift from that place or change the topic, he will be exempted. The Prophet said: If a believer is dishonoured before any person who does not help him inspite of his ability to do so, God will dishonour him on the Resurrection Day before all creatures. He also said: He who protects the honour of a Muslim in his absence, it becomes the duty of God to perfect his honour on the Judgment Day. The Prophet said: If a man saves the honour of his brother Muslim in his absence, it becomes the duty of God to save him from Hell-fire.
CAUSES OF BACK-BITING: The causes of back-biting are many. We should narrate eleven causes out of them. Eight causes are applicable to all and three causes are applicable to the religious and special people.
The first cause is - Anger. If there is cause of anger in anybody, a man is engaged in saying about his guilts and there arises in his mind hatred for him. This is natural if he has got no religious connection with him. Sometimes he entertains hatred in his mind without mentioning it expressly. So anger stands as a cause of back-biting. The second cause is for pleasing the minds of friends and companions. The third cause is to shake off one's own guilts by back-biting others. The fourth cause is to get oneself free from guilt by attributing it to others saying: I would not have done it but for others. The fifth cause is to express the glory and praise of oneself thereby making another fool. He says:
He is fool and powerless. The sixth cause is hatred towards another, the seventh cause is jests and ridicules and the eighth cause is to hold another in contempt.
THE CAUSES RELATING TO RELIGIOUS MEN. The three causes of back- biting in relation to religious men are very subtle and difficult and the devil paints them in good works. The first
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1 14 The Book of Destructive evils Vol-IH