It begins with a whisper: a message slides into your consciousness with the practiced ease of a skilled assassin. “Have you heard about…” The words hang in the air, and in that suspended moment, a profound power dynamic unfolds. Make no mistake: this is not merely gossip; it’s the redistribution of social capital through character assassination. What masquerades as “just sharing information” reveals itself as a weapon wielded in the silent warfare of reputation. 

Like those who now gather around tables before dawn, carefully choosing what will sustain them through the long hours of fasting ahead, we too should be mindful of what fills our social spaces. But unlike the careful consideration given to what nourishes the body during these sacred days of Ramadan, we rarely scrutinize what passes our lips when it concerns others’ reputations. The irony is stark: we meticulously avoid a drop of water touching our tongues from fajr to maghrib, yet let torrents of destructive speech flow freely when speaking of others.

Precision-Guided Missiles

Let us strip away the comfortable illusions: words are instruments of power. When deployed against the defenseless, they become tools of oppression as real as any physical constraint. “Words are arrows,” warned Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, but this metaphor sanitizes their true nature. Words are precision-guided missiles that destroy not merely reputations but entire lives: careers demolished, family bonds severed, mental health shattered beyond recognition. Behind closed doors, victims of our careless speech collapse under psychological torture, their very sense of self disintegrating as community after community turns against them.

And you, yes you, become complicit with each passive nod, each failure to demand evidence, each cowardly silence that prioritizes your social comfort over another’s dignity. The Qur’an confronts this moral abdication with surgical precision:

“Why, when you heard it, did not the believing men and believing women think good of themselves and say: ‘This is obvious falsehood’?” [Surah An-Nur: 24:12]

“Words are arrows,” warned Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib [PC: Possessed Photography (unsplash)]

Imagine standing before your Creator, every instance where you participated in this systemic oppression laid bare: the whispered accusations you amplified, the context you deliberately omitted, the times you cloaked character assassination as “just asking questions.” The angels who recorded your every utterance stand as witnesses, their eternal ledgers containing words you yourself have forgotten speaking. These vigilant scribes who never sleep, never forget, and never fail to capture every syllable now present the complete record of your speech. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ didn’t merely suggest discretion; he recognized that the tongue serves as the primary instrument of injustice. Your defense that you were “just passing along information” will collapse under the weight of its own moral bankruptcy.

Of Sacred Speech And Cowardly Silence

We’ve all experienced that moment when someone leans close, voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper: “Did you hear what they did?” In that moment, a moral test presents itself. Your response, whether eager reception or principled rejection, reveals not just your character but your relationship to power itself. Will you participate in the destruction of another’s reputation for the fleeting currency of insider status? And have you considered the chilling reality that tomorrow, the same machinery of social destruction could turn against you with equal efficiency?

The pious predecessors understood what we conveniently forget: that words create reality. Imam Malik ibn Anas would bathe, apply perfume, and don his finest clothes before narrating hadith in Medina. The renowned scholar Muhammad ibn Sirin was known to perform ritual ablution before transmitting even verified information, a physical acknowledgment of speech’s sacred power. The hadith compiler Imam al-Bukhari would pray two rakʿahs of prayer before recording any prophetic tradition. This wasn’t mere symbolism but a profound recognition that words reshape the social landscape, determining who is embraced and who is exiled. If these towering figures approached confirmed knowledge with such reverence, our casual transmission of unverified claims represents not just carelessness but a form of violence.

Examine the mechanics of how truth erodes: a hesitant “I think maybe…” transforms into “I heard definitely…” and finally calcifies as “Everyone knows…“ This isn’t accidental; it’s a deliberate alchemy that transmutes suspicion into social consensus without the inconvenience of evidence. In our digital age, this process accelerates exponentially, creating parallel realities where the accused stands convicted without trial, defense, or appeal.

Consider the devastating scandal that engulfed Aisha , Mother of Believers. For weeks, she suffered in agonizing isolation as rumors consumed her reputation. Her body wasted away until she had no tears left, describing her pain as beyond any physical suffering she had endured, a soul-deep wound inflicted not by enemies but by those she considered family. The power dynamics were unmistakable: accusations flowed from those seeking to undermine the Prophet’s ﷺ mission by attacking his household, while others amplified these claims to secure their own social position.

The divine warning thunders through centuries:

“Those who love to see immorality spread among the believers will have a painful punishment in this life and the Hereafter. And Allah knows and you do not know.” [Surah An-Nur; 24:19]

This isn’t merely cautioning against gossip; it’s exposing our psychological attraction to others’ moral failures, a perverse comfort we find in their downfall that allows us to feel superior while doing nothing to improve ourselves or our communities.

Yet make no mistake: absolute silence in the face of genuine injustice represents not piety but moral cowardice. When actual harm occurs and you remain mute, your silence doesn’t preserve peace; it preserves oppression. One day, those who suffered while you knew and did nothing might rightfully name you as complicit: “You witnessed the truth yet chose your comfort over our protection.” The false binary between harmful speech and unconditional silence serves those in power by neutralizing legitimate criticism under the guise of spiritual discretion.

The Strength Of Moral Discernment

Between reckless accusation and cowardly silence, lies a third path: principled, evidence-based intervention that prioritizes justice over comfort. The Prophet ﷺ advised leaving “what doesn’t concern you,” but this wasn’t permission for apathy. Rather, it demands discernment, the wisdom to distinguish between idle curiosity about others’ affairs and moral responsibility to confront genuine harm. The question isn’t whether to speak or remain silent, but whether your words serve truth or merely your own social interests.

The Prophet ﷺ advised leaving “what doesn’t concern you.” [PC: Dendy Darma Satyazi (unsplash)]

In our networked world, this ethical challenge has gained unprecedented urgency. A rumor that once traveled through neighborhoods now races across continents instantaneously, preserved eternally in digital amber. Each thoughtless share, each “just letting you know” message, each public innuendo fuels a machine of destruction that operates with ruthless efficiency while maintaining plausible deniability for all participants. “I was just sharing what I heard” becomes the modern equivalent of “I was just following orders,” a moral abdication disguised as neutral information sharing.

Those with genuine spiritual maturity instinctively recoil from unverified claims, not from naivety but from acute awareness that our words actively create the communities we inhabit. They recognize that the momentary social currency gained from sharing scandalous news pales against the permanent moral debt incurred by participating in another’s destruction. They live with the constant awareness of the angels at their shoulders, recording each word in an unfading ledger, capturing not just what was said but the intention behind it. Their restraint isn’t weakness but profound strength, the discipline to resist the intoxicating power that comes from controlling others’ reputations.

If you’ve already participated in this system of reputational violence, the path to redemption remains open but demands more than private regret. True repentance requires public repair: seek those you’ve misled and correct yourself without excuses or deflection. Then speak well of those you’ve wronged, not merely to clear your conscience but to begin restoring what your words destroyed. Anything less transforms apology into performance, concerned more with reclaiming your moral standing than repairing the damage you’ve caused.

A person refined by these principles develops not just a reputation but a moral authority that eclipses superficial influence. When they speak, people listen, not because they wield institutional power but because they’ve demonstrated the courage to value truth over convenience, principle over popularity. Their restraint testifies to inner discipline, and their interventions carry the weight of discernment rather than impulse.

“Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should speak good or remain silent,” declared the Prophet ﷺ with unflinching clarity. This isn’t gentle advice but a fundamental standard that separates superficial faith from authentic conviction. When questionable information about another reaches you, this principle demands not passive acceptance of whatever narrative benefits you, but active interrogation of both the claims and your own motives in receiving them.

In every word, in every silence, your moral compass reveals itself. Each time you pass along unverified information, you aren’t merely sharing news; you’re actively participating in systems of power that destroy lives while maintaining the fiction of your own neutrality. And know with certainty that angels are recording every word, every whisper, every innuendo.. these tireless scribes who never sleep, never tire, and never miss even the subtlest inference in your speech. The Qur’an reminds us:

“Not a word does he utter but there is a vigilant Guardian.” [Surah Qaf; 50:18]

Choose wisely, for in the economy of justice, nothing is forgotten, nothing is without consequence, and no one escapes accountability for the worlds their words create.

Related:

– The Top 5 Misconceptions of Backbiting and How To Respond To Them

– The Muslim’s Stance Toward Ethical Crises and Scandals [A Summarized Paper]