A. What is the ruling on accusing somebody of having a loose tongue?

B. Do you have to tell them what they have said and to whom?

This is a matter that has arisen and instead of the person being told what they are supposed to have said and to whom. They are being told that the ones telling them they have a loose tongue, that they have it on good authority that they do not have to say any more than “you have a loose tongue”

C. How can a person be accused of something they might not have said without telling them?

The person could be innocent and their reputation is now in pieces.

I ask you to please provide all the relevant Islamic rulings on this matter to Inshallah stop all the slandering and backbiting that is happening to the person accused of having a loose tongue.


Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:  

The Muslim has to guard his tongue and
avoid things that have been forbidden. Among these forbidden things which
people often take lightly are gheebah (backbiting), buhtan (slander) and
nameemah (malicious gossip). 

Gheebah or backbiting means speaking about
a Muslim in his absence and saying things that he would not like to have
spread around or mentioned. Buhtan or slander means saying things about a
Muslim that are not true, or in other words telling lies about him. Nameemah
or malicious gossip means telling one person what another said in order to
cause trouble between them. 

There is a great deal of evidence to show
that these actions are haram (impermissible). It will suffice for us to
mention just a few of them in order to demonstrate that they are haram. 

Allah says (interpretation of the
meaning): 

“neither backbite one another. Would one
of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate
backbiting). And fear Allah. Verily, Allah is the One Who forgives and
accepts repentance, Most Merciful” [49:12] 

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may
Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings
of Allah be upon him) said: “Do you know what gheebah (backbiting) is?” They
said, “Allah 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.” 

[Muslim]

It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbas said: The
Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) passed by two
graves and said, “They are being punished, but they are not being punished
for anything that was difficult to avoid. One of them used to walk about
spreading malicious gossip (nameemah), and the other used not to take
precautions to avoid getting urine on himself when he urinated.” Then he
called for a green branch, which he split in two and planted a piece on each
grave, and said, “May their torment be reduced so long as these do not dry
out.” [al-Bukhaari, Muslim] 

For a person to say of another, “He cannot
control his tongue (or he has a loose tongue)” is undoubtedly one of those
things that a person would dislike to have said about him. If it is true,
then it is gheebah (backbiting), and if it is not true then it is buhtan
(slander). 

Everyone who does any kind of backbiting,
slander or malicious gossip has to repent and pray for forgiveness, and that
is between him and Allaah. If he knows that any of his words reached the
person about whom he was speaking, then he should go to him and ask him to
forgive him. But if he does not know, then he should not tell him; rather he
should pray for forgiveness for him and make du’a(supplication) for him, and
speak well of him in his absence just as he spoke against him. Similarly, if
he knows that telling him will provoke more enmity, then it is sufficient to
make du’a for him, speak well of him and pray for forgiveness for him. 

It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may
Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings
of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever has wronged his brother with regard to
his honour or anything else, let him seek his forgiveness today, before
there will be no dinar and no dirham, and if he has any good deeds to his
credit they will be taken from him in a manner commensurate with the wrong
he did, and if he has no good deeds, then some of his counterpart’s bad
deeds will be taken and added to his burden.” [al-Bukhaari]. 

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said: 

Whoever wrongs a person by slandering him,
backbiting about him or insulting him, then repents, Allah will accept his
repentance, but if the one who was wronged finds out about that, he has the
right to settle the score. But if he slandered him or backbit about him and
the person did not hear of that, then there are two views according to the
scholars, both of which were narrated from Ahmad, the more correct of which
is that he should not tell him that he spoke against him in his absence. It
was said that he should rather speak well of him in his absence just as he
spoke badly of him in his absence, as al-Hasan al-Basri said: the expiation
for gheebah is to pray for forgiveness for the person about whom you
backbit. Majmoo’ al-Fataawa.

 And Allah knows best.