The proper way to atone for Gheebat (backbiting) is that one should ask everyone one has done Gheebat against, for forgiveness, if they are still alive. What our elders used to do was to send a letter to all their acquaintances asking them to forgive them for the sake of Allah, for any hurt they may have caused them. If we ask the victims of our Gheebat for forgiveness InshaAllah (God willing) Allah SWT will forgive us too.
If the people one did Gheebat against have died, or have moved away and one doesn't know how to contact them, in that case Hazrat Hasan Basri RA said that one should pray a lot for these people that, "Ya Allah! Whatever Gheebat I did against them, please grant them eternal rewards against it". Keep doing Istighfar (praying to allah SWT for forgiveness) for them. This is also a way of atoning for the sin of Gheebat.
It has been narrated in a Hadith (saying of Rasool Allah SAW) that if a person is asking another human being for forgiveness and is genuinely sorry, and the other person forgives him seeing that he is genuinely regretful, then Allah SWT will forgive the forgiver on the day he will need forgiveness most (meaning the Day of Judgment). And if a person is genuinely begging for forgiveness but the other person refuses to forgive him, then Allah SWT says that I will not forgive him on the day he needs forgiveness most. How can I forgive if you can't forgive my creations!
Adapted from the talk "Gheebat - A Great Sin" by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani DB
If the people one did Gheebat against have died, or have moved away and one doesn't know how to contact them, in that case Hazrat Hasan Basri RA said that one should pray a lot for these people that, "Ya Allah! Whatever Gheebat I did against them, please grant them eternal rewards against it". Keep doing Istighfar (praying to allah SWT for forgiveness) for them. This is also a way of atoning for the sin of Gheebat.
It has been narrated in a Hadith (saying of Rasool Allah SAW) that if a person is asking another human being for forgiveness and is genuinely sorry, and the other person forgives him seeing that he is genuinely regretful, then Allah SWT will forgive the forgiver on the day he will need forgiveness most (meaning the Day of Judgment). And if a person is genuinely begging for forgiveness but the other person refuses to forgive him, then Allah SWT says that I will not forgive him on the day he needs forgiveness most. How can I forgive if you can't forgive my creations!
Adapted from the talk "Gheebat - A Great Sin" by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani DB
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