(360) Chapter: Undesirability of Praising a Person in his Presence

Abu Bakrah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:
Mention of a man was made to the Prophet (ﷺ) and someone praised him whereupon he (ﷺ) said, "Woe be to you! You have broken the neck of your friend!" He repeated this several times and added, "If one of you has to praise his friend at all, he should say: 'I reckon him to be such and such and Allah knows him well', if you think him to be so-and-so, you will be accountable to Allah because no one can testify the purity of others against Allah."

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].


Commentary: This Hadith prohibits us from praising anyone in his face. If at all one has to praise someone, he should say that "In my opinion he is such and such,'' provided he really thinks as he says. The reason for this is that it is Allah Alone Who knows him thoroughly and none can claim to be innocent before Him.