Have you ever felt like your character was being attacked for no good reason? Like your reputation was purposely being tarnished from all directions, and you could do little more than placidly deny the accusations being thrown at you; often with little effect? If so, you may have been victim of character assassination.

Being the victim of character assassination, whether in the workplace, by a former partner, or at the hands of a seasoned narcissist (or in certain cases, by all three) can feel like the end.

But it needn’t be. Getting over a character assassination is entirely possible, but it takes guts, willing, and an overall strength of character to push through the mud and come out alive, and fighting, on the other side. This week, inshaAllah, we will be discussing various issues relating to character assassination.

What is Character Assassination?

Character assassination is a deliberate effort to damage the reputation, credibility, or good standing of a person, group or organisation. It typically takes places when a rival, whether in business, society or even within a family, decides they wish to take the other person down.

Examples of character assassinations have taken place throughout history. Nabi S.A.W. suffered character assassination when the Quraysh spreads the rumour that he is a magician and a mad man. They could not stop his message spreading so they decided the best way forward is to tarnish his reputation by spreading rumours regarding his character.

In political circles, the character of a leader or prominent personality is tarnished unfairly; in family circles, the character of a person getting all the attention is sometimes destroyed by the spreading of rumours; in society the character of individuals belonging to a certain organization is attacked with the intention of bringing down the entire organization.

What is NOT Character Assassination?

If you are undergoing or underwent a character assassination, it is possible that you are the problem. This is probably the case if: 1) you have a hard time making and keeping friends, and, 2) the negative comments are consistent, and comes from different people. The point is, if you feel that your entire life the whole world is trying to assassinate your character, then chances are that you could be the problem.

In such a case, it will be a better to sit down with a close friend and explain to him that he/she needs to be honest and tell you where you are going wrong as far as your character is concerned. Then work on a way to better yourself.