Tazkirul Quran, Qur’an 58:9–10
The Pleading (Al-Mujadalah)
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
English text; the translator is not named in the archive’s data.
Translation
(9) Believers, when you confer together in private, do not confer in support of sin and transgression and disobedience to the Messenger, but confer for the promotion of virtue and righteousness. Fear God, before whom you shall all be gathered. (10) Conspiracy for evil purposes is the work of Satan, by which he means to bring grief to believers. But he cannot harm them in the least, unless it be by God’s leave. Let the believers put their trust in God.
Commentary
(a) As a rule, secret whispering is an undesirable action. However, sometimes for some good reason, secret whispering has to be resorted to. In this case, the decisive factor is intention. If it is done with good intentions, it is legitimate but if it is done with evil intentions, it is sinful.