Character & conductFrom the masjid's own video, Sep 3, 2025.
Stop gossip before it harms others
Masjid Jafar Community · Zakirullah
“Try to tell him, don't talk about their problem.”
In one sentence
The khutbah urges Muslims to avoid sinful suspicion, spying, backbiting, mockery, and tribal arrogance while repairing harm through forgiveness and changed conversation.
The khutbah in 6 steps
- Introduces suspicion, spying, and backbiting and recites Surah al-Hujurat.
- Explains permissible, obligatory, and sinful forms of suspicion.
- Defines backbiting and contrasts true backbiting with false accusation.
- Warns about the spiritual and human-rights consequences of backbiting.
- Condemns joking insults, mockery, and ethnic or national superiority.
- Recommends seeking forgiveness, praying for the victim, and changing the subject when gossip begins.
Try this week
Avoid suspicion, spying, backbiting, mockery, and insulting nicknames.
If you backbite someone, contact them, admit it, and ask forgiveness.
Make dua for the person you backbit and ask Allah to forgive both of you.
Change the subject and discourage others when backbiting begins.
Take care that urine does not splash onto the body when using the restroom.
Sources the khateeb cited
Quran 49:12Used to prohibit sinful suspicion, spying, and backbiting.
Quran 49:11Used to condemn mockery and insulting names and to emphasize taqwa over ethnicity or nationality.
Quran 49:13Used to condemn mockery and insulting names and to emphasize taqwa over ethnicity or nationality.
Quotes
In the khateeb's words
“Even if it's true, But not in his presence. And if it's, Even if you said what is true, It's still beg.”
“We are human beings, We do mistake, Call that brother, That you know, Mistakenly, Or jokingly, I beg-bited. I ask you forgive me.”
“If someone starts some brother big biting, Try to change the topic. And try to tell him, Don't talk about their problem.”
Talk about it at home
For the dinner table
The khutbah teaches that Allah forbids sinful suspicion, spying, and backbiting. The speaker explains that backbiting includes saying something true about someone that they would dislike hearing, while false claims are even worse. If we hurt someone this way, we should seek their forgiveness, pray for them, and stop the conversation; we should also avoid mockery and remember that honor comes from taqwa, not ethnicity or appearance. At home, we can practice changing the subject when gossip begins.
- How can we tell when a true comment about someone has become backbiting?
- What could we say or do when friends begin gossiping?
- Why does the khutbah say a person's taqwa matters more than their background?
Keep listening
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