... the
worst human quality and the most great
sin is backbiting; more especially when it emanates
from the tongues of the believers of God. If some
means were devised so that the doors of backbiting could be shut eternally and each one of the believers of God
unsealed his tongue in the praise of the other, then the
teachings of His Holiness Baha'u'llah would be spread, the hearts illuminated, the
spirits glorified and the human world would attain to everlasting felicity.
I hope
that the believers of God will shun completely backbiting, each
one praising the other cordially and believe that backbiting is the cause of Divine wrath, to such an extent that if a person backbites to
the extent of one word, he may become dishonored among all the people, because the most hateful characteristic of man is
fault-finding. One must expose the praiseworthy qualities of the souls and not
their evil attributes. The friends must overlook their shortcomings and faults
and speak only of their virtues and not their defects. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, from a Tablet,
Star of the West, vol. 4, no. 11, September 27, 1913; ‘Lights of Guidance’)
