What Should I Do After Breaching the Trust of Someone?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam
Question: As salaamu alaykum
What are the steps to correct the error of revealing someone’s secret to another person? Do we tell them and seek their pardon?
Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
I pray that you are in the best of health and faith, insha’Allah.
You should repent for the enormity of talebearing (namima). [see: A Reader on Tawba (Repentance)]
If telling the person will worsen the situation, and they will not find out otherwise, you do not need to tell them.
And Allah alone gives success.
wassalam,
Tabraze Azam
Checked & Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.