Hadith Comprehension analysis of illegitimacy of the backbiter

علوم قرآن و حدیث

Volume 56, Issue 2 - Serial Number 113, January 2025, Pages 71-101   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/jquran.2024.87030.1669

Authors

Mohsen Rafaat¹; Sayyid Ziyaoddin Olyanasab¹; Samira Talkhabi^{* 2}

¹Associate Professor, Department of Quranic Sciences and Hadith, Faculty of Theology and Law, Hazrat Masoumeh University, Qom, Iran

²MA. Student, Department of Quranic Sciences and Hadith, Faculty of Theology and Law, Hazrat Masoumeh University, Qom, Iran

Abstract

Ghiybat (backbiting) is a common social behavior seen in most communities and people commit this sin without considering its negative consequences. Many hadiths have been narrated from the Infallibles (AS) that blame the backbiter. One of them attributed to Amīr Muʾminān (AS)(Imam Alī) conveys that the backbiter is not a legitimate person; it seems contrary to other narrations. This study deals with validating this hadith. So, using a descriptive-analytical method, it tries to evaluate the reliability of hadith transmitters and conceptually analyze the terms backbiting and illegitimacy, and their interrelation. According to the results, as some of the transmitters are anonymous, the Isnad of the narration is weak.  Regarding the denotation, there is proof demonstrating that the intention of "illegitimacy" in the text is not its technical jurisprudential meaning.  Instead, it may have a general concept, namely the participation of Satan in the semen and the mental impurity of the parents at the moment of conception. Also, the effect of unlawful food can be considered as another implied meaning of the hadith; it means that the unlawful food can appear as this moral vice in a person in such a way that he uses backbiting as a tool for mortal pleasure and does not seek forgiveness and compensation of the sin and its consequences.

Keywords

Backbiting; Backbiter; Illegitimate person; Bastard; Legitimate person; Criticism of hadith

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