What are the causes of and remedies for backbiting and slander?

Al-hamz and al-lamz (slandering and backbiting) mean backbiting, mockery, and ridicule of others. Their causes are envy, contempt for the one being backbitten, and hatred towards them. To remedy this, one must remember the ugliness of this sin and its punishment in this world and the hereafter, and seek out the reason that drives a person to backbite in order to address it and make sincere repentance to Allah.