Daily Ayah ยท Al-Hujurat 49:12
You are chatting with friends, and a name comes up. Before long, everyone is sharing what is wrong with him, and he is not there.
This ayah warns against wrong assumptions and spying. Then it forbids backbiting, which is speaking about someone, behind his back, in a way he would dislike.
To show how serious that is, the ayah gives a picture: eating the flesh of your own dead brother. It says you would hate that.
Al-Saadi explains that since you hate that picture, you should hate backbiting just as much.
Al-Qurtubi explains that the dead cannot know their flesh is eaten, just as the one backbitten does not know. Other scholars add he cannot defend himself.
Next time an absent person is being discussed, picture him listening. Honest advice or a needed warning has its place, but idle talk does not.
Amal for today: Today, when someone who is absent is being criticized, stay quiet or gently change the subject.
Sources: al-Qurtubi (al-Jami li-Ahkam); Israr Ahmad (Bayan ul Quran); al-Saadi (Taysir al-Karim)