As-salamu alaykum. I have some questions related to backbiting/ghibat. To start, I am aware of how emphatically backbiting is denounced in Islam. My questions are as follows. 1) Is it considered (sinful) backbiting to tell someone about the sin of a person who openly boasts about their sin (a faasiq)? I have come across the Hadith below which I have seen some use as evidence that (sinful) backbiting does not apply to the sins of someone who sins openly. Is it correct that the sin of backbiting does not apply to the sins of one who sins openly? Even if that is the case, doesn't go against the general advice from the Hadith I quoted earlier that a Muslim should remain silent if he has nothing good to say? 2) If one were comparing two people about to engage in an athletic competition, for example, wrestling, would it be considered backbiting if people were attempting to predict the outcome of the match by comparing the two competitors and making statements such as, "Participant A will win because he is stronger and faster than Participant B?" Surely, one of the two people would not like hearing to hear those things when present, so would it be considered backbiting? I came across a scholarly opinion on the subject of backbiting and read it before I made this thread, but it may be helpful to anyone who reads this thread (and perhaps those who attempt to answer my questions) because it's very possible that they may notice or understand something in the discussion that I didn't. The link is below. The Rules of Backbiting http://spa.qibla.com/issue_view.asp?id=212 JazakAllahu Khayran for all of your help.