tale-telling.’ (اَلْاَمَان وَالْحَفِیْظ)^[1]

Those who are indulged in tale-telling should develop the fear of Allah Almighty in their hearts. They should be frightened of the torment of the grave. They should remember their death, and the dark and narrow grave they will one day be lowered into. They should try their utmost to keep their tongue under control and learn to respect the Muslims. اَلْـحَمْـدُ لـِلّٰـه, our righteous predecessors dedicated their entire lives to taking Muslims out of the pits of evils, and also wrote books for this purpose, so that evils can be removed from the society and peace can be attained. This was because tale-telling is a grave evil, that’s why they have blessed us with Madani pearls to follow for the removal of this evil. For encouragement, let’s listen to how to get rid of this bad habit.

Six methods to get rid of tale-telling and reforming tale-tellers

Hujjat al-Islam, Imam Muhammad bin Muhammad Ghazali رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه has stated:

The one to whom someone tell-tales, or is told that someone said something concerning him,, or so-and-so has done this against you, or so-and-so is conspiring to make his matters worse, or is looking forward to having a friendship with your enemy, or is trying to make your circumstances worse, or other similar things are said; then that person must do six things:

1.   One shall not authenticate a tale-teller, because he is a fasiq [one who commits sin openly] and a fasiq’s testimony is unacceptable. Allah Almighty has stated:

یٰۤاَیُّهَا الَّذِیْنَ اٰمَنُوْۤا اِنْ جَآءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌۢ بِنَبَاٍ فَتَبَیَّنُوْۤا اَنْ تُصِیْبُوْا قَوْمًۢا بِجَهَالَةٍ

O believers! If any sinner brings you some news, so (you must) investigate it, in case you unknowingly cause suffering to some people.^[2]