Gheebah (backbiting) is among the major sins, and Allah likened it to the most repulsive of acts: "And do not backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would detest it." (al-Hujurat 49:12). The Prophet (ﷺ) defined it: "Do you know what gheebah is?" They said: Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: "That you mention your brother with what he dislikes." It was said: What if what I say of him is true? He said: "If what you said is in him, you have backbitten him; and if it is not in him, you have slandered him (buhtan)." (Muslim 2589). It is permitted in narrow, well-defined situations only — those mentioned by the scholars in six exceptions: (1) the oppressed reporting his oppressor to one able to remove the oppression; (2) seeking a fatwa ("my husband does such…"); (3) warning a Muslim of harm (e.g. a marriage proposal, business partner, study under a particular teacher whose creed is corrupt); (4) when the person openly commits a sin and is identified by it (e.g. "the drinker"); (5) seeking help in changing a wrong; (6) when no other identifier suffices (e.g. ''the lame one'' if there is no other means). Outside these, it is forbidden — and the repentance from it requires both repenting to Allah and seeking the pardon of the one backbitten if possible.