Slandering people (iftira')

The Sheikh says Islam forbids slandering people, and that whoever says of someone what is not in him will have it returned upon him in his life, finding its effect as hardship in his livelihood; he cites God's words that whoever fabricates has failed. ^{1 2} He holds that slander is a bundle of major sins, lying, false witness and injustice, committed by husband against wife and wife against husband, by manager against employee and by official against those under him. ^{2 3}

He relates that a man came to a virtuous person and told him that someone had spoken ill of him; he answered: the one who spoke shot an arrow that did not reach me, and you came and planted it in my heart. He concludes that one should carry good, not evil. ^{4 5} He mentions that Islam allows one reconciling spouses or disputants to tell each side kind words that were not said, as a husband telling his wife that his mother speaks well of her, and counts it permitted lying; see lying. ^{5 6} He mentions a hadith that the worst of servants are those who go about with tales, divide loved ones and seek faults in the innocent. ⁶

He holds that if someone says something nine-tenths of which is wrong and one-tenth of which may be meant well, it should be taken in the good tenth, and that one should accept the excuse of whoever apologises, since he has humbled himself by apologising; he mentions that no one loves excuses more than God. ^{7 8} He cites the verse that God does not love evil speech in public except by one who has been wronged. ⁹

He criticises those who post evil words on the web, misread situations, attack reputations and pass on false news, holding that it should be a means of mercy and good, not of severing ties and obscenity; this is his view. ^{9 10}

He relates that al-Shafi'i, past seventy, still had white, strong teeth and said they were trusts he guarded when young, so God guarded them for him in old age; the Sheikh explains that he never ate the unlawful with them nor chewed on people's honour with his tongue (needs_source: the story is the Sheikh's narration). ^{11 12} He holds that a word has its weight: by a word a person enters Islam, by a word a marriage is made and by a word it ends. ¹³