KEEPING PEOPLE’S FAULTS A SECRET

Allah’s Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) said,“Whoever sees a defect in a Muslim and overlooks it is like one who saves a young girl who has been buried alive.” (Related by Al-Bukhari in Al-Adab Al-Mufrad and Ahmad).
Sometimes we are faced with a situation where quoting an incident or a person’s behavior may serve a good purpose. Is it acceptable, from the Islamic point of view, to give such a report, or does that come under backbiting, which is forbidden in Islam? This is a question that we are often faced with in a wide variety of situations. Because backbiting is strongly repudiated in Islam, good Muslims hesitate to say anything about other people, even when what they have to say does not detract from the person so spoken of in any way.
Abdullah ibn Masoud (RadhiAllahu Anhu) reports: “When the Prophet (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) divided the spoils of war after the Battle of Hunain, people were overcrowding the place at Ji’irranah. The Prophet (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) said: ‘Once God sent one of His servants to a certain community, but they rejected him, accused him of lying and injured him in his forehead. He wiped the blood off his forehead and said, ‘My Lord, forgive my community for they do not know (the truth).’” Ibn Masoud adds: ‘I can almost see the Prophet (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) imitating the man and wiping his forehead.’ (Related by Al-Bukhari in Al-Adab Al-Mufrad, Ahmad, Ibn Majah and others).
This is a simple report which the Prophet (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) felt useful to quote in that particular situation when people did not pay attention to the fact that they were hurting the Prophet (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) in their scrambling for their shares of the booty. He reports to them that earlier Prophets (peace be upon them) suffered ill-treatment at the hands of their people, to the extent that a Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) might be physically assaulted and injured. This was a subtle hint by the Prophet Muhammad (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) to those who hurt him, so that they might desist.