Woe to every Lumazah

‎"Woe to every slanderer and backbiter." [The Qur'an 104:1]


‎"The one to whom GOSSIP comes, saying So & so said this about you, or did that to you, should do six things: 

1- He should not believe it, because the one who gossips is an evildoer.

2- He should tell him not to do that, & advise him, & condemn his action.

3- He should hate him for the sake of Allah, for he is hateful before Allah, may He be exalted, & he should hate the one whom Allah hates.

4- He should not think ill of his absent brother."


"5- He should not let what he is told lead him to spy on others or try to find out about it.

6- He should not approve for himself what he told the gossipmonger not to do, so he should not transmit the gossip & say “So and so said such and such”, in which case he would also be a gossipmonger & would be doing that which he told someone else not to do. End quote.

[al-Nawawi said, quoting from Abu Haamid al-Ghazaali (may Allah have mercy on them both), Al-Adhkaar (275)]
‎
"What should be avoided and shunned totally is gossip which means transmitting words from one person to another, or from one group to another, or from one tribe to another, with the aim of causing trouble and creating problems between them. It means disclosing that which should not be disclosed, whether it is disliked by the one from whom it is transmitted or the one to whom it is transmitted or a third party, and whether it is disclosed verbally, in writing, in symbols or by gestures, and whether what is transmitted is words or actions, and whether it refers to a fault or shortcoming in the person from whom it is transmitted or not. A person should keep quiet about whatever he sees of people’s situations, unless speaking of it will bring some benefit to a Muslim or ward off some harm." 
[Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him)]