When Three People Are Together, Two Should Not Speak Secretly To The
Exclusion Of The Third.

In doing that, the two that are speaking privately are, either knowingly or
unknowingly, causing sadness to enter the heart of the third among them.
Ever eager to bring sadness to the heart of a Muslim, Shaitaan will whisper
to him and instill doubts into his hearts, so that he will become suspicious
of the other two, feeling that if they are into plotting against him, they
are at the very least backbiting him or excluding him, not considering his
worthy enough to share their secret. To prevent the Shaitaan from instilling
such doubts in a Muslim, the Prophet (saas) said,

        “Two people must not speak secretly to the exclusion of the third
(among them), for that will make him sad.” 1

But if you are in a gathering of four people, the reason for the prohibition
is absent, and so two of you may speak in private, if necessary, to the
exclusion of the other two that are present. The Prophet (saas) said,

        “ If you are three, then let not two men (among you) speak to the
exclusion of the other, at least not until you mix with people (until you
are more than three), so that you do not make him sad.” 2

‘Abdullah Ibn Deenaar gave an account of how ibn ‘Umar (ra) applied this
Hadeeth. He said, “I was with ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘ Umar (ra) at the home of
Khaalid Ibn ‘Uqbah, which was beside the marketplace. A man then came who
wanted to speak to him in private, and at the time, only I and the person
that wanted to speak to him were with ‘Abdullah (ra) ‘ Abdullah invited a
fourth man to join us, and when we became four, ‘ Abdullah asked the man he
had just invited and me to move back a little, saying ‘ Verily, I heard the
Messenger of Allah (saas) say:

        “Two people should not speak secretly to the exclusion of one (i.e,
of the third among them if they are three).’’’ 3

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1 ) Related by Bukhaaree (6288) and At- Tirmidhee (2725) Ahmad (4550), Abu
Daawood (4851)
2) Related by Bukhaaree (6290), Muslim (2184), Ahmad (3550)
3) Maalik related it in his Muwatta (1856), and Ahmad related it in
truncated form in his Musnad (5477).

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