Pearls Of Wisdom

How to avoid "Backbiting"

Assalam-o-Alaykum!

 Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

"neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting). And fear Allah. Verily, Allah is the One Who forgives and accepts repentance, Most Merciful" [49:12] 

In ancient Persia, One day a person met the great Saadi, and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"
"Hold on a minute," Saadi replied.
"Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test.
It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?"

"That's right," Saadi continued.
"Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say.
That's why I call it the triple filter test.
The first filter is Truth.
Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..."
"All right," said Saadi.
"So you don't know if it's true or not.
Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness.
Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"
"No, on the contrary..."
"So," Saadi continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true.
You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left, the filter of Usefulness.

Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really."
"Well," concluded Saadi, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"
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Use this triple filter each time you hear bad talk about any of your near and dear ones.