Ghibah

Ghibah is the masdar (verbal noun) of ghaba and also that of ightiyab, as mentioned in the dictionaries. Al-Jawhari says:

واغْتَابَهُ اغْتِيَاباً، إذَا وَقَعَ فِيهِ، وَالاسْمُ الغِيبَةُ، وَهُوَ أنْ يَتَكَلَّمَ خَلْفَ إِنْسَانٍ مَسْتُورٍ بِما يُغِمُّهُ لَوْ سَمِعَهُ. فإنْ كَانَ صِدْقاً سُمِّيَ غِيبَةً وإنْ كانَ كَذِباً سُمِّيَ بُهْتاناً.
(It is said) “ightabahu ightiyaban” when one falls into it (i.e. backbiting). The noun is al-ghibah, and it means saying such things about an absent person as well distress him if he hears them. If it is true it is called ghibah and if false, buhtan (slander).

The researcher and traditionist al-Majlisi (M) states that this meaning is a literal one. But, apparently, the author of al-Sihah has given the technical (istilahi) meaning, not the literal one, because this is not the literal meaning of ghaba, ightaba and other related derivatives. Rather, their meaning is of a more general character. The lexicographers occasionally give the technical or Shar’i meanings in their works. The author of al-Qamus is quoted to have taken ghaba to signify ‘aba. According to al-Misbah al-munir:

إغْتَابَهُ إذَا ذَكَرَهُ بِمَا يَكْرَهُهُ مِنَ العُيُوبِ، وَهُوَ حَقٌّ.
Ightabahu’ means making a mention of someone’s actual defects that he would find detestable (to be mentioned).

In the view of this author, none of the above-mentioned quotations give the literal meaning; rather, certain conditions inherent in each of them have led to the mix-up with the technical sense. In any case, there is not much benefit in discussing the literal meaning, for the main purpose here is relevance to the Shari’ah and religious duty, and seemingly there are certain conditions implicit in the special meaning which lie outside the literal significance of the term (ghibah or ightiyab). Later on we will have occasion to discuss this special sense.