Ibn Daud - A Handbook of Spiritual Medicine

Negative Feelings
Signs & Symptoms
Qur’ānic, Prophetic
& Scholarly Evidence
NEGATIVE FEELINGS
Bad Opinion of Others & Being
Judgemental Allāh said, “O believers! Avoid many suspicions, (for)
indeed, some suspicions are sinful. And do not spy, nor
Based upon your own assumptions
(i.e. without sound reasoning or
evidence), you hold a bad opinion
about someone who actually
demonstrates righteous behaviour
You form your own conclusions
based on a perceived ‘bad’
appearance of someone (it could
be that Allāh is veiling their
goodness from you)
Your suspicion is judgemental,
often superficially plausible and
almost always incorrect
You divulge the flaws and complain
about an oppressor to such
people who have no control over
the oppressor and are unable
to alleviate the suffering of the
complainant
Backbiting of the Limbs, Tongue,
Mind & Heart (Ghībah)
You communicate about another
by means of backbiting (ghībah),
often finding yourself saying:
o ‘Brother, but it’s the truth’
o ‘I would say it to his face, it
doesn’t matter’
o ‘I’m not backbiting but…’
and then you mention a
weakness of that someone
else
o ‘Sister, what do you think
about so and so?’
o
o
198
‘This is what he is like…’
‘Did you hear about this
person, he’s involved in
such and such an action’
You harbour suspicion in your heart
that affects your thoughts and
opinion of another person (ghībah
al-qalb or ‘backbiting of the heart’)
backbite one another. Would any of you like to eat the flesh
of their dead brother? You would despise that! And fear Allāh.
Surely Allāh is (the) Accepter of Repentance, Most Merciful.”
[Al-Hujurāt 49:12]
The Prophet said,
o “Among my people, the one who is bankrupt is
the one who – after praying, fasting, and paying
charity – arrives on the Day of Judgement having
cursed one person and slandered another, assaulted
another, and misappropriated the wealth of someone
else. Then those people will be given of his good
deeds, and if his good deeds run out before redress
is made, then some of their sins will be taken from
them and put upon him. Then he will be cast into
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Hell” [%a#ī# Muslim 2581:59]
“Do you know what ‘ghībah’ (backbiting) is?” The
listeners said, “Allāh and His Messenger know best.”
He said, “Saying something about your brother
that he dislikes.” It was said, “What if what I say about
my brother is true?” He said, “If what you say is
true then you have backbitten about him, and if it is
not true, then you have slandered him” [%a#ī# Muslim
2589:70]
“The person who spreads calumnies will never enter
Paradise” [%a#ī# Al-Bukhārī 6056, %a#ī# Muslim 105:168]
“Beware of sitting in the roads.” The listeners said,
“O Messenger of Allāh, we have nowhere else
to sit and talk.” The Prophet said, “If you insist,
then give the road its right.” They said, “What is its
right, O Messenger of Allāh?” The Prophet said,
“Lower the gaze, refrain from harming others, return
greetings of peace, enjoin good and forbid evil” [%a#ī#
Al-Bukhārī 2565, %a#ī# Muslim 2121:114]
“When I was taken up to Heaven I passed by people
who had nails of copper and were scratching their
faces and their breasts. I said, ‘Who are these people,
Jibrā’īl?’ He replied, ‘They are those who were given
to backbiting and who aspersed people’s honour”
[Sunan Abī Dawūd 4878]
“The faith of a servant is not upright until his heart is
upright, and his heart is not upright until his tongue is
upright. A man will not enter Paradise if his neighbour
is not secure from his evil” [Musnad A#mad 13048]
“Whoever taunts a brother with a sin (which the
brother has committed), will not die until he (the
taunter) commits the same sin” [At-Tirmidhī 2505]
“When the son of Ādam wakes up in the morning, all
the limbs humble themselves before the tongue and
say, ‘Fear Allāh for our sake, (for) we are with you;
if you are upright, we will be upright; and if you are
crooked, we will become crooked” [At-Tirmidhī 2407]