BACKBITING

Anything secretly whispered of an absent person which is calculated to injure him, and which is true, is called G͟hībah , a false accusation being expre ed by Buhtān . Abū Hurairah says, “The question was put to the Prophet, ‘Do you know what backbiting is?’ and he replied, ‘It is saying anything bad of a Muslim.’ It was then said, ‘But what is it if it is true?’ And he said, ‘If it is true it is G͟hībah , and if it is a false accusation, it is Buhtān ( i.e . slander).’ ” ( Mishkāt , xxii. c. x.) The following are sayings of Muḥammad on the subject:—“The best of God’s servants are those who when you meet them speak of God. The worst of God’s servants are those who carry tales about, to do mischief and separate friends, and seek out the defects of good people.” “He who wears two faces in this world shall have two tongues of fire in the day of the Resurrection.” “It is unworthy of a believer to injure people’s reputations, or to curse anyone, or to abuse anyone, or to talk vainly.” “The best atonement you can make for backbiting is to say, ‘O God pardon me and him (whom I have injured).’ ” Mishkāt , xxii. c. x. BADAWĪ ( بدوى‎ ). A name given to the Bedouin Arabs, or the Arabs of the desert. Bedouin is only a corruption of the plural of this word, which is derived from Badw = Bādiy ah , “a desert.” AL -BADĪʿ ( البديع‎ ) is one of the ninety-nine special names of God. It means “He who originates.” It occurs in the Qurʾān , Sūrah ii. 111 , “He is the wonderful originator of the heavens and the earth; when He decreeth a matter, He doth but say to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.”