سَمِعْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ( عليه السلام ) يَقُولُ الْغِيبَةُ أَنْ تَقُولَ فِي أَخِيكَ مَا سَتَرَهُ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ أَمَّا الْأَمْرُ الظَّاهِرُ فِيهِ مِثْلُ الْحِدَّةِ وَ الْعَجَلَةِ فَلَا وَ الْبُهْتَانُ أَنْ تَقُولَ فِيهِ مَا لَيْسَ فِيهِ .
Translation
Ali Bin Ibrahim, from Muhammad Bin Isa, from Yunus Bin Abdul Rahman, from Abdul Rahman Bin Sayaba who said, ‘I heard Abu Abdullah<sup>asws</sup> saying: ‘The backbiting is that you are saying regarding your brother what Allah<sup>azwj</sup> has Veiled upon him, and as for the apparent matters in him, like the violent anger and the haste, so no; and ‘الْبُهْتَانُ’ (<span class="iTxt">al-Bohatan</span> - the slander) is that you are saying regarding him what is not in him’.
Compiled by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni
Source
License: Free for educational and research use (Thaqalayn Data API)
Provided for research and educational purposes. Original source: Thaqalayn Project. Open License.