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 were shut eternally and each
one of the believers unsealed his lips in praise of others, then the teachings
of His Holiness Baha’u’llah would spread, the hearts be illumined, the spirits
glorified, and the human world would attain to everlasting felicity.'
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Star of West, Vol. IV; quoted in a letter dated February 11,
1925 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles; compilation:
Lights of Guidance)
