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lā yuḥibbu llāhu l-jahra bi-s-sūʾi mina l-qawli ʾillā man ẓulima wa-kāna llāhu samīʿan ʿalīman
Allah does not like the disclosure of [anyone’s] evil [conduct] in speech except by someone who has been wronged, and Allah is all-hearing, all-knowing.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah An-Nisa', Verse 148
148. "Allah does not love open utterance of evil in speech except by one to whom injustice has been done, and Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing."
In this verse and the verse next to it, a part of the ethical instructions of Islam are pointed out. At first, the verse indicates that Allah does not like that ill-speaking be performed or the vice and disgraceful actions of people be manifested by the speech of others. It says:
As Allah Himself is the Concealer of Faults, He does not love that individuals betray secrets and make manifest the vices of people so that they disgrace them. Then, the Qur'an refers to some affairs that can be counted as the authority for such betraying secrets and ill-speaking. It says:
Such persons are right to defend themselves against the cruelty of transgressors. They can complain of them, criticize them, blame them, and backbite them. They are also right to continue doing that until they get their right and ward off the transgression. And, as the style of the Qur'an is, in order that some persons do not misuse this exception and do not make manifest the vices of people under the pretext that they have been transgressed, at the end of the verse, it says: