- Baha’u’llah ('The Hidden Words')
The worst human quality and the most great sin is backbiting [“discussing the faults of others in their absence”], more especially when it emanates from the tongues of the believers of God.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Quoted in Star of West, Vol. IV. p. 192; included in a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles, February 11, 1925; 'Lights of Guidance')
On no subject are the Bahá'í teachings more emphatic than on the necessity to abstain from fault-finding and backbiting while being ever eager to discover and root out our own faults and overcome our own failings.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, May 12, 1925: 'Living the Life'; 'Lights of Guidance')
… backbiting is divisive, it is the leading cause among the friends of a disposition to withdraw. If any individual should speak ill of one who is absent, it is incumbent on his hearers, in a spiritual and friendly manner, to stop him, and say in effect: would this detraction serve any useful purpose? Would it please the Blessed Beauty, contribute to the lasting honour of the friends, promote the holy Faith, support the Covenant, or be of any possible benefit to any soul? No, never! On the contrary, it would make the dust to settle so thickly on the heart that the ears would hear no more, and the eyes would no longer behold the light of truth.
- 'Abdu'l-Baha ('Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha')
