But most don't think of it until there at the receiving end of it. Making a discovery that some one you believe you have a good relationship with, can turn around and talk about you in your absence is extremely hurtful and cause a lot of emotional pain and grief. Dealing and facing the perpetrator can be a difficult thing to overcome, in a Hadith it is stated that on the day of Qiyamah the person that who was backbitten would claim retribution from the one who spoke ill of him.
Allah (swt) will compensate the victim by handing over the good deeds (the currency of the Hereafter) of the culprit to him. If the latter has no good deeds to his credit, the sins of the victim would be transferred to him. The Salaah, fasts, charity, Hajj and any good deeds of the person would all be lost due to gheebat. Thus,a tremendous loss indeed!
"Nor let some of you backbite others. Does one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? But you abhor it." (49:12)
From a hadith:
Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) once enquired of the Sahaaba (R.A.): "Do you know what is gheebat"? "Allah and His Messenger know best" they replied. "To mention something about your brother which he would dislike" Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) informed them.
A person then asked: "What if this is true?" (That the person being spoken about is actually involved in that sin). The Messenger of Allah (SallallahuAlaihi Wasallam) replied: "If it is true then you have indeed backbitten about him. But if it is untrue, then you have slandered him (which is worse)." Hence to mention anything about a person in his absence which he would dislike is gheebat.
So for those of you who have been in this situation take comfort in the words of Allah (swt) and his Prophet (saw) that all is not lost. And whilst the heart aches your rewards increase inshallah and not to mention it make us all the more cautious not to engage in futile talk.
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