Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {Indeed, Allah is not timid to present an example -- that of a mosquito or what is smaller than it is.} [Quran 2:26]
Some people might find it strange that Allah The Almighty sets forth an example of a small insect like the mosquito in the Quran. This insect chooses the (most exposed) parts of the body to land on and vex a person by appearing and disappearing in ceaseless maneuvers, to prey on him when he tries to get some rest. The mosquito stealthily lands on one’s body in times of repose, and then suddenly pierces one’s resting body, catching one unawares. One is jolted awake only to discover that he has been bitten, and the blood has been drawn out from his veins. Then he looks here and there to discover that the perpetrator is a mosquito, a parasite on others, exploiting their heedlessness to suck their blood. Upon seeing it fly away after its crime, one makes bitter supplications against it and wishes to see it dead with blood flowing from it.
Dear readers, excuse me if I have offended your feelings by speaking about this irritating insect, but I have found that it inspires many people today, taking them along its dark road, and they follow it until they turn into veritable swarms of mosquitoes by building their lives on hurting others and living happily at the expense of their fellows.
The group of cannibals:
Some of these people have no qualms about eating the flesh of their dead brothers. They are mainly interested in mentioning the worst attributes of their fellow Muslims, finding great pleasure in disparaging them, enjoying defaming them and describing them in the worst possible way. They make their fellow Muslims an object for derision and delight the enemies by telling them about their faults. They spared the Jews and the Christians their tongues, but not their fellow Muslims.
This shameful behavior is strange indeed, and we wonder how they do not listen to a verse in the Qur’an in which Allah The Exalted Says (what means): {O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is accepting of repentance and Merciful.} [Quran 4912]?
Do they not know the Hadeeth (narration) in which the Prophet, , said: “During the Mi‘raaj (the Night of Ascension), I saw a group of people who were scratching their chests and faces with their copper nails. I asked, `Who are these people, O Jibreel?' Jibreel replied, `These are the people who ate the flesh of others (by backbiting) and trampled people's honor.’” [Al-Albaani: Saheeh]
O slave of Allah, fear your Lord and never allow yourself to listen to those who scratch their chests and faces with their copper nails. Never hesitate to silence them, and be a shield for your brother, so that Allah The Almighty will protect you from Hell on the Day of Judgment. The Prophet, , said: “He who defends the honor of his (Muslim) brother, Allah will save his face from Fire on the Day of Judgment.”[At-Tirmithi] [Hasan]
The group of those who stir up discord between people:
They sow the seeds of dissension and discord among friends and brothers and they never rest, until they see two close friends turn enemies, two spouses who love each other separate, and (formerly) cooperating parties fighting each other. The love of tale bearing is in their blood; cordiality and accord between people burn their hearts. Their souls are sick and their hearts are black. What can we say to describe and dispraise them, after they have been dispraised by their Lord in His Book, when He Says (what means): {[And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip -} [Quran 68:11]
Is there any warning that can be more of a deterrent than the Prophetic Hadeeth (narration), in which the Prophet, , said after passing by two graves: “Both of them (the persons in these graves) are being tortured, and they are not being tortured for a major sin (but indeed they are great sins). One of them did not use to save himself from being soiled with his urine, and the other one used to go about with calumnies (among the people to rouse hostilities, e.g., one goes to a person and tells him that so-and-so says about him such-and-such evil things).”[Al-Bukhari]
If this is the condition of the tale-bearer in his grave, we can imagine his condition when he stands before Allah The Almighty and the person he spread tales about!
A group of people who mock others:
They enjoy looking for faults in people and they see a speck in their brothers’ eye but forget the beam in their own eyes. Ridicule has become their wont, and once any one of them finds an unintentional fault in his brother, he starts inflating it with lies. Then he circulates his exaggerated narrations about that fault in all gatherings and houses to make his companions laugh and to satisfy his own evil whims. Of course, such people have deviated from the path of Allah The Exalted Who Says (what means): {O you who have believed, let not a people ridicule [another] people; perhaps they may be better than them; nor let women ridicule [other] women; perhaps they may be better than them. And do not insult one another and do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames. Wretched is the name of disobedience after [one's] faith. And whoever does not repent - then it is those who are the wrongdoers.} [Quran 49:11]
The Prophet, , said: “It is enough for a Muslim to commit evil by despising his Muslim brother.” [Muslim]
A group of spies:
These people are those who attack the Muslims through spying on what they say or do without permission, thus violating their privacy. Such people have forgotten that people have secrets that are protected under Islam and according to the commands of Allah The Almighty and the Prophet, . Allah The Exalted Says (what means): {And do not spy …} [Quran 49:12]
The Prophet, , also said: “Do not spy!” [Al-Bukhari]
He also said: “Do not hurt the Muslims, abuse them or seek them because whoever seeks his brother’s faults, will have his own faults revealed by Allah even in his own house.” [Al-Albaani: Hasan]
The people who belong to this group commit additional crimes, when they backbite people and rejoice at their misfortunes after spying on them. The Prophet, , said: “Do not express malicious joy towards your brother’s misfortune, for Allah may have mercy on him and afflict you (by the thing you made fun of).” [Al-Munthiri] [Saheeh or Hasan chain of narrators]
The real danger:
The real danger lies in the fact that most of those who savor being parasites on others consider backbiting as a form of "kidding", tale-bearing as "advice", ridiculing as "joking", and spying as "curiosity". However, the rulings in Islam are based on the essence of acts rather than on their names.
We should all know that these prohibited things ignite the flames of grudge and envy in the hearts and build up on that, though they started as mere joking.
It is enough that such behavior fills our record of deeds with what will disgrace one in front of his Lord and will make him bankrupt on a Day when none can make up for any loss. Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet, , said:
‘Do you know who is bankrupt?' They said, ‘The bankrupt person among us is the one who has neither money with him nor any property.’He said: ‘The real bankrupt person of my Ummah (Muslim nation) would be the one who would come on the Day of Judgment with prayer, fasting and charity, (but he will find himself bankrupt on that day as he will have exhausted his good deeds) because he reviled others, brought calumny against others, unlawfully devoured the wealth of others, shed the blood of others and beat others; so his good deeds would be credited to the account of those (who suffered at his hands). If his good deeds fall short to clear the account, their sins would be added to his account and he would be thrown into Hell.’ [Muslim]
How to protect ourselves from these swarms:
The Prophet, , was keen on keeping his Ummah united under the shade of love and brotherhood, warning against the factors that could untie this bond. He warned us about hostilities and their apparent, explicit, and implicit causes; otherwise, how could we establish an entity for this religion to apply its rulings and intimidate its enemies? The only way to achieve this sublime purpose is to purify the hearts from envy that leads to these bad outcomes, from which the Prophet, , warned us, saying: “Do not envy one another; do not inflate prices by overbidding against one another; do not hate one another; do not turn away from one another; and do not enter into a commercial transaction when others have entered into that (transaction); but be you, O slaves of Allah, as brothers. A Muslim is the brother of another Muslim; he neither oppresses him nor does he look down upon him, nor does he humiliate him. Piety is here, (and he pointed to his chest three times). It is enough evil for a Muslim to hold his brother Muslim in contempt. All things of a Muslim are inviolable for his brother-in-faith: his blood, his property and his honor.” [Muslim]
Thus, we have to fear Allah The Almighty and not be among any of these swarms; one should give his Muslim brothers their rights, to have his own rights protected. He should treat others only as he wants them to treat him.