It is reported by Jabir bin Abdullah (ra) that they had accompanied the messenger of Allah when they came to two graves. Both the inmate of the graves were being punished. He said," They are being punished not for committing a grave sin. But, yes! (They are grave sins though on the face of it they are ordinary and it is easy to avoid them but their punishment is severe.) One of them was given to backbite other people while the other was not. Careful to clean himself of urine drops (over his body)". He then asked for one or two branches of fresh date palm and split them and dug them on each grave. He said afterwards," Soon their punishment will be softened as long as the branches are green." Or he said, “Until they dry up.”
It is reported by Qasim bin Abdur Rahman as-Shami that he heard Ibn Unm Abd say, "If a believer is backbitten before someone and he helps the believer (by refuting backbiting) then Allah will reward him well in this world and the next. And, if a believer is backbitten before someone and he does not help him (by not refuting the backbiting) then Allah will give him a bad return for that in this world and the next. Further, if anyone does not take a morsel more than backbiting in his mouth and says that which he knows about him then he has backbitten him but if he says what he does not know about him then he has slandered him.
It is reported by Qays that Amr bin al-Aas (ra) was going somewhere with his friends. They saw a dead mule whose belly had swollen up. Amr (ra)said," By Allah, it is better for one to eat to his full from this (dead mule) than to eat the flesh of a Muslim" (He meant to say that to backbite anyone is worse than eating the meat of a dead animal).
حَدَّثَنَا مُسَدَّدٌ، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا فُضَيْلُ بْنُ عِيَاضٍ، عَنْ سُلَيْمَانَ، عَنْ أَبِي سُفْيَانَ، عَنْ جَابِرٍ قَالَ: هَاجَتْ رِيحٌ مُنْتِنَةٌ عَلَى عَهْدِ رَسُولِ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم، فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم: إِنَّ نَاسًا مِنَ الْمُنَافِقِينَ اغْتَابُوا أُنَاسًا مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ، فَبُعِثَتْ هَذِهِ الرِّيحُ لِذَلِكَ.
Jabir (ra) said that (once) a bad smelling wind blew in the times of the prophet Ig. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said," The hypocrites are backbiting the Muslims. That is why this wind blows"
