1.About this video

This video on the Razia Azeem Official channel answers a question most of us have asked ourselves: what exactly is gheebat? The answer given in the Hadith is precise and uncomfortable. Abu Hurayrah (RA) reported that the Prophet ﷺ asked his companions, "Do you know what backbiting is?" When they said Allah and His Messenger know best, he replied, in meaning, that it is mentioning your brother in a manner he dislikes (Sahih Muslim 2589). It does not matter whether what you said was true — if he would dislike hearing it, it is gheebat. That one definition quietly covers most of our everyday conversation about other people.

2.Key reflections

The Quran gives backbiting an image nobody forgets: "And do not backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it" (Quran 49:12). The comparison is deliberate. Backbiting is done behind someone's back, to someone who cannot defend himself — exactly like eating the flesh of the dead, who cannot fight back. And the damage is real: every word spoken against an absent person is a withdrawal from the speaker's own record of good deeds, handed over on a Day when good deeds will be the only currency that matters.

That is why guarding the tongue is treated in Islam as guarding the whole faith. Sahl ibn Sa'd (RA) reported that the Prophet ﷺ said, in meaning, that whoever guarantees him what is between his jaws and what is between his legs, he guarantees him Paradise (Sahih al-Bukhari 6474). The tongue is small, but it decides more of our hereafter than most of our limbs. The practical rule is simple enough to use today: before you speak about someone who is not present, ask whether you would say it to his face, and whether it would help anyone if you did. If the answer to either question is no, silence is the better deed.

3.Watch & share

Watch the video above, and try the tongue-guard for one day: no comments about absent people, no forwarded gossip, no "just telling you" stories. Share the video so others benefit too, and subscribe to the channel for a new reminder every day. You can read more on guarding your speech in our article on backbiting, and find more reminders on the blog.