GHEEBAT (BACKBITING) AND ITS TREATMENT: 18 (a talk by Mufti Taqi Usmani DB)

 (Before reading the next paragraph it is important to understand the difference between different types of Fard [compulsory] commandments. There are two types of Fard commandments, the first one is Fard-e-Ain which means those commandments for which there is individual accountability, and the second is Fard-e-Kifayah for which there is collective or group accountability, meaning that if some people in that community carry it out then everyone’s responsibility has been fulfilled, e.g. praying Janazah Salah.)

 

Khidmat-e-Khalq (serving humanity) is not Fard-e-Ain in the same way that praying Salah is Fard-e-Ain, for example, it is not compulsory to do service to humanity exactly at a particular time every day. Also, there is no conflict between Salah and Khidmat-e-Khalq. If you take a 10 minutes break, pray Salah, and then start seeing patients again, what harm would it do to them? It is an excuse made by our Nafs (inner-self) that because I am doing Khidmat-e-Khalq it is okay for me to Qada (delay) my Salah. This is going outside the boundaries of Shariah because we don’t fully understand Deen. That is why Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah bless him) says that it is not right to break rules of Shariah in order to avoid hurting someone’s feelings. That is why we should not care that if I stop someone from doing someone’s Gheebat(backbiting), or if we leave a gathering to avoid listening to Gheebat, then we will hurt the feelings of the person who is committing it. We are only accountable to avoid hurting the feelings of others within the bounds of Shariah. If someone is committing a sin and wants us to join him in committing that sin, then we should not do so just because we worry that we will hurt his feelings if we refuse to do so.