to Abu Dharr, ?O Abu Dharr, beware of backbiting, for verily backbiting is worse than adultery...' [Abu Dharr narrates], I asked, ?O Prophet of Allah, and what is backbiting?' to which he replied, 'Your mentioning something about your fellow brother that he would not like.' I asked, ?O Prophet of Allah, and what if the thing mentioned about him was actually true about him?' so he replied, 'Know that if you say something about him that is true then you have indeed backbit about him, and if you what you have said is not true, then you have indeed slandered him.'