What is the ruling on seeking absolution from backbiting for one who has spoken about the residents of an entire residential block, men and women, when he is not certain of what he said and finds it difficult to recall exactly what he said and whom he intended?

The preponderant view regarding repentance from backbiting is that it does not require seeking forgiveness from the person backbitten, especially if informing them is feared to cause greater harm. It is not necessary to inform people and seek their forgiveness if the backbiting was not directed at a specific individual. The author of Al-Mukhtar from the Hanafi school said: "There is no backbiting for an oppressor or a transgressor, and there is no sin in striving against them. There is no backbiting except for a known person, and there is no backbiting for the people of a village."