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Ethics of speech

The Quran forbids mockery, insulting nicknames, suspicion, spying and backbiting, and gives backbiting a striking image: "Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it" (49:12). But speaking about someone's wrong is not always forbidden: scholars set out cases — complaining of injustice, warning others of harm — where it is allowed or even required.

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا يَسْخَرْ قَوْمٌ مِّن قَوْمٍ عَسَىٰٓ أَن يَكُونُوا۟ خَيْرًا مِّنْهُمْ وَلَا نِسَآءٌ مِّن نِّسَآءٍ عَسَىٰٓ أَن يَكُنَّ خَيْرًا مِّنْهُنَّ ۖ وَلَا تَلْمِزُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَلَا تَنَابَزُوا۟ بِٱلْأَلْقَٰبِ ۖ بِئْسَ ٱلِٱسْمُ ٱلْفُسُوقُ بَعْدَ ٱلْإِيمَٰنِ ۚ وَمَن لَّمْ يَتُبْ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلظَّٰلِمُونَ۝١١ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱجْتَنِبُوا۟ كَثِيرًا مِّنَ ٱلظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعْضَ ٱلظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ ۖ وَلَا تَجَسَّسُوا۟ وَلَا يَغْتَب بَّعْضُكُم بَعْضًا ۚ أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَن يَأْكُلَ لَحْمَ أَخِيهِ مَيْتًا فَكَرِهْتُمُوهُ ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ تَوَّابٌ رَّحِيمٌ۝١٢

Transliteration: yāayyuhā alladhīna āmanū lā yaskhar qawmun min qawmin ʿasā an yakūnū khayran min'hum walā nisāon min nisāin ʿasā an yakunna khayran min'hunna walā talmizū anfusakum walā tanābazū bil-alqābi bi'sa l-s'mu l-fusūqu baʿda l-īmāni waman lam yatub fa-ulāika humu l-ẓālimūna · yāayyuhā alladhīna āmanū ij'tanibū kathīran mina l-ẓani inna baʿḍa l-ẓani ith'mun walā tajassasū walā yaghtab baʿḍukum baʿḍan ayuḥibbu aḥadukum an yakula laḥma akhīhi maytan fakarih'tumūhu wa-ittaqū l-laha inna l-laha tawwābun raḥīmun

O you who have believed, let not a people ridicule [another] people; perhaps they may be better than them; nor let women ridicule [other] women; perhaps they may be better than them. And do not insult one another and do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames. Wretched is the name of disobedience after [one's] faith. And whoever does not repent - then it is those who are the wrongdoers. O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance and Merciful.

49:11–12

Translation: Saheeh International

If you want to go deeper

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What it means

Ghība and buhtān. Ghība (backbiting) is saying about someone, in their absence, what they would dislike — even if it is true. Buhtān (slander) is saying what is false. Namīma (talebearing) is carrying words between people to cause trouble.

What the Quran says

Six forbidden things (49:11–12). "O you who have believed, let not a people ridicule [another] people; perhaps they may be better than them; nor let women ridicule [other] women… And do not insult one another and do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames… O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance and Merciful" (49:11–12). Sura al-Hujurat is Medinan and addressed to the believers. The forbidden list moves from public (mockery, nicknames) to private (suspicion, spying, backbiting). The image of eating a dead brother's flesh fits: the person is absent and cannot defend himself.

Does "your brother" include non-Muslims? The verse addresses believers and speaks of "his brother". Whether the prohibition extends to non-Muslims has not yet been checked in a named commentary. The general commands of justice (5:8) and good speech apply to everyone, and slander is forbidden against anyone.

What the Prophet (pbuh) taught

What backbiting is. The Prophet (pbuh) asked: "Do you know what is backbiting?" and answered: "Backbiting implies your talking about your brother in a manner which he does not like." Asked what if it is true, he said: "If (that failing) is actually found (in him) what you assert, you in fact backbited him, and if that is not in him it is a slander" (Muslim 2589 Ṣaḥīḥ (sound), narrated by Abu Hurayra). So truth is not a defence: true but hurtful gossip is still backbiting.

When an untruth is allowed. Umm Kulthum bint ʿUqba (ra) reports the Prophet (pbuh) as saying: "The liar is not the one who reconciles between people: he says good, and conveys good." The narrator Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri then adds: "I have not heard of permission being granted in anything that people call lying except in three cases": war, reconciling people, and what a husband and wife say to each other (Muslim 2605a Ṣaḥīḥ (sound)). The list of three is al-Zuhri's, not the Prophet's (pbuh) words. What the Prophet (pbuh) said is narrower: making peace by saying good things is not lying.

How scholars have understood it

Al-Nawawi's six cases where speaking about someone is allowed. Al-Nawawi (d. 1277), the great Shafiʿi scholar, lists them (as translated in "Guarding the Tongue"):

  1. Complaining of injustice to a ruler, judge or anyone who can give justice: "Such and such person wronged me."
  2. Seeking help to stop a wrong, from someone able to stop it — the aim must be ending the wrong.
  3. Asking for a religious ruling — ideally without naming the person, though naming is allowed; he cites Hind's complaint that her husband Abu Sufyan was stingy, which the Prophet (pbuh) did not forbid.
  4. Warning others of harm — about an unreliable witness or hadith narrator, or someone entering a marriage, business or other dealings: "It is obligatory on you to mention to that individual what you know." He cites the Prophet's (pbuh) frank description of two suitors to Fatima bint Qays when she asked his advice. Only what the warning needs may be said.
  5. Someone who openly sins, about the sin they make public — not their other faults.
  6. Identifying someone by a known nickname, not to demean, and a neutral description is better.

Al-Ghazali's banes of the tongue. In Book 24 of the Iḥyāʾ, al-Ghazali (d. 1111) lists twenty banes of the tongue, "beginning with the least serious to the most egregious", including excessive speech, lying, backbiting, scandalmongering, obscenity, arguing, disputation and exposing others' faults (translators' introduction, Fons Vitae, 2024). The full list was not available in the introduction read.

The law: what the four schools hold

Warning is sometimes required, not just allowed. In al-Nawawi's fourth case, telling someone what you know about a prospective spouse or partner who asks you is "obligatory". This answers a common worry: warning about an abuser or a fraud is not backbiting when it protects someone and says only what is needed.

History

Hadith criticism as permitted speech. Al-Nawawi's fourth case includes the critique of hadith narrators — the basis of the whole science of judging chains. Scholars openly called narrators liars or weak in memory, and held that this was not forbidden backbiting because it protected the religion from false reports.

What research shows

No research specifically on Islamic speech ethics was read. This page makes no scientific claims.

In daily life

Before speaking about someone, ask three questions. Would they dislike it? Is there a need — justice, protection, advice? Am I saying only what the need requires?

When someone backbites in front of you, change the subject, defend the absent person, or leave.

Warning about an abuser or a dishonest partner. Tell the person who needs to know, stick to facts you know, and do not spread it further. If it is a crime, report it to those who can act.

Online. The same rules apply to posts, comments and group chats, where words spread faster and further.

For the heart and mind

If you have been the target of gossip, the Quran calls what was done to you like eating your flesh. You are allowed to clear your name and to complain to those who can help (al-Nawawi's first case).

If you have backbitten someone, the verse ends: "Allah is Accepting of repentance and Merciful" (49:12). Stop, ask God's forgiveness, and, where it will not cause more harm, put things right with the person or speak well of them where you spoke badly.

Questions readers ask next

When am I allowed to speak about someone's wrongdoing?

In al-Nawawi's six cases: seeking justice, seeking help to stop a wrong, asking for a ruling, warning someone of harm, speaking of sin they make public, and neutral identification.

Does "your brother" in 49:12 include non-Muslims?

Not checked in a named commentary. Slander and injustice are forbidden against anyone (5:8).

Are there times Islam allows lying, for example to make peace?

The Prophet (pbuh) said that someone who reconciles people by saying good is not a liar. The list of three cases (war, peace-making, between spouses) is the narrator al-Zuhri's addition.

How does this relate to free speech and blasphemy laws?

These ethics are about personal conduct. Modern free-speech and blasphemy laws raise legal and political questions that this page does not cover; Muslim scholars and states disagree about them.

What are al-Nawawi's six exceptions to ghība?

See above.

What are al-Ghazali's calamities of the tongue?

Twenty "banes" in Book 24 of the Iḥyāʾ, from excessive talk to the most serious, including lying and backbiting.

Sources

  1. Saheeh International via the site's Tanzil data — 49:11–12, 4:135.
  2. Sahih Muslim 2589 (sunnah.com), https://sunnah.com/muslim:2589 — definition of backbiting.
  3. Sahih Muslim 2605a (via hadithunlocked.com), https://hadithunlocked.com/muslim:2605a — permitted untruth.
  4. Al-Nawawi, "Guarding the Tongue", al-Ibaanah e-book, reposted at AbdurRahman.org (16 April 2015), https://abdurrahman.org/2015/04/16/what-type-of-backbiting-is-permissible-imaam-an-nawawee — the six cases; translator not named, and the source book (al-Adhkār or Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn) not stated.
  5. Al-Ghazali, The Banes of the Tongue (Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn, Book 24), trans. Mohamed Fouad Aresmouk and Abdurrahman Fitzgerald (Fons Vitae, 2024) — introduction, https://fonsvitae.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/March-10th-2024-final-0000-Intro-KLH-1.pdf.
  6. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6018
  7. Al-Ghazālī, Āfāt al-lisān (Iḥyāʾ)