YouTube: Copper Finger Nails, Feasting Vultures & Backbiting
Have you ever seen vultures in feast? What an ugly sight!
Isn’t it? But that is natural for them.
Now, imagine a woman dining like a vulture except that she is eating carrion of a dead human.
Or a man doing the same?
What an ugly sighting! You may throw up!
But seeing a backbiting person is as ugly a scene as a vulture’s feast.
That is how God describes it, as we learn from the Holy Quran.
Backbiting is called Ghebah in Arabic in the Quran.
Prophet Muhammad ( peace be on him) taught us what backbiting is.
It is talking about a person in a manner which he or she would dislike. It is a grave sin in the sight of God.
A question raised. What if that person is as is being talked about?
Its response is, that is exactly what backbiting is!
If the victim is as is being said about him, then that in fact is backbiting.
On the other hand, if he or she is not as is being said, then it is something else. It is slandering, another grave sin.
So, why not we always try to find something good in a person and talk about it in his absence and we overlook a perceived or actual fault or a dislike?
What may happen to a person who doesn’t give up backbiting?
Imagine a person who puts up copper nails on his hands. Then he or she starts scratching his or her own face or body. As we learn from the sayings of Prophet Muhammad ( peace be on him) that is how a person may be punished in the Hellfire.
A person who does not have a control over his tongue may have lost his faith.
The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) said
“A Muslim is he from whose hand and tongue the Muslims are safe.”
And that:
“Every believer is the mirror of his brother.”
An inner good in a person when awake will find it easy to see good in another person which should inspire him to remain good. Yet at the same time, if he sees something bad, it gives him a chance to reflect on his own self. If he finds that he does not have that weakness, he shows gratitude to God and prays that he stays away from it.
How about finding something good in a person and talking about it in his absence instead?
Will that not be an essential oil in an ultimate ultrasonic aromatherapy diffuser for every gathering?
It only takes an intention and a prayer to God to get that oil. Ultrasonically delivered!
God is the turner of hearts. When tomorrow comes, a good person may become evil and a bad may become righteous.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) was used to supplicate much: “Oh God! Oh Turner of the hearts, keep my heart firm on your religion, the Islamic Way of Life.”
So let us supplicate,
“Oh God! Oh Turner of the hearts, keep my heart firm on your religion.”
“Oh God! Oh Turner of the hearts, keep my heart firm on your Deen.”
“Oh God! Oh Turner of the hearts, keep my heart firm on the Islamic Way of Life.”