AL-GHIBAH غيبة
“Slander; calumny.” Anything whispered of an absent person to his detriment, although it be true. (Buhtan expressing a false accusation.) Ghibah is condemned in the Qur’an (Surah xlix 12): “O believers, avoid frequent suspicions, for some suspicions are a crime; neither let one of you traduce (ghibah) another in his absence.” A chapter is devoted to the condemnation of backbitting and calumny in the Traditions (vide Mishkat, book xxii, ch x.)
“Slander; calumny.” Anything whispered of an absent person to his detriment, although it be true. (Buhtan expressing a false accusation.) Ghibah is condemned in the Qur’an (Surah xlix 12): “O believers, avoid frequent suspicions, for some suspicions are a crime; neither let one of you traduce (ghibah) another in his absence.” A chapter is devoted to the condemnation of backbitting and calumny in the Traditions (vide Mishkat, book xxii, ch x.)
Based on Hughes, Dictionary of Islam