Backbiting Idiom

In Classical Arabic poetry, there is a poem from Hassan ibn Thabit that states:

حَصَانٌ رَزَانٌ مَا تُزَنُّ بِرِيبَةٍ وَتُصْبِحُ غَرْثَى مِنْ لُحُومِ الْغَوَافِلِ

Here is the word by word translation of this expression.

Put another way:

A respectful chaste woman does not conjure evil suspicious thoughts and becomes hungry for the flesh of the unware women.

This expression to “غَرْثَى مِنْ لُحُومِ الْغَوَافِلِ” to “hunger for the flesh of the unaware” is an Arabic idiom that means to backbite.

This concept of backbiting and being suspicious, particularly for women, reminds me of the following verses of the Quran and uses a similar idiom.

49:12 O you who believe, you shall avoid any suspicion, for even a little bit of suspicion is sinful. You shall not spy on one another, nor shall you backbite one another; this is as abominable as eating the flesh of your dead brother. You certainly abhor this. You shall observe GOD. GOD is Redeemer, Most Merciful.