Cursing

“The Believer is not given to cursing.” (Hadith)

Cursing means to wish and pray that something bad happens to a person, animal or anything else.

The Arabic word for Cursing is La’n.

What causes people to curse?

1. Dislike: Example – when you do not like someone or something.

2. Anger: Example – if you plan something and it does not work out due to the weather, or some delay, etc.

3. Jealousy: Example – if other people have what you desire.

Some people curse by making hand gesture which have bad meanings.

Cursing is a bad action and is greatly disliked by Allah (The Exalted).

As Muslims, we do not curse anyone or anything, but we must ask Allah (The Exalted) to guide us to the right path and to have patience and tolerance.

Our beloved Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant peace) said:

“The Believer is not given to cursing.” (Hadith). 2 www.GardensOfSunnah.co.uk

Explanation:

A Mu’min does not wish or pray for anything bad to happen to anyone or anything but rather prays to Allah (The Exalted) for things to get better or improve.

Here is an incident that took place during the time of our beloved Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). The name Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) means the praised one. Before our beloved Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) began teaching about Islam, the Makkans used to refer to our beloved Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) as As-Saadiq (the Truthful) and Al-Ameen (the Trustworthy).

When our beloved Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) started to teach the people about Islam, some of the Makkans became his worst enemies. Besides abusing and torturing him, they also used to curse him with the name Mudhammam which means “the one that is abused and disliked by everyone.”

Our beloved Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) companions became very concerned and asked him why he did not become offended and angry at the Makkans. To this our beloved Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) replied that his name was Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and not Mudhammam.

All the curses and swearing did not affect him but the person whose real name was Mudhammam.

The companions were pleased and admired the manner in which our beloved Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) handled this delicate matter/issue.

Likewise, we learn in the following Hadith what happens when a person curse someone or something. 3 www.GardensOfSunnah.co.uk

What happens when we curse?

Our beloved Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) has said:

“When a man curses somebody, then that curse rises up to the heavens but finds the doors of heaven closed. Then it turns to the earth. Here also the doors are found closed. Therefore, it wanders to the right and to the left, and if it does not find a proper place it goes to the man who was cursed. If he deserved it, well and good, otherwise it returns to the man who cursed.” (Abu Dawud)

We should therefore learn to control our thoughts so that we do not harm others or ourselves.

When we are happy about someone or something, we should, instead of cursing, pray to Allah (The Exalted) to help and make him/her a better person. Just as our beloved Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did at Taif.

Remember the time when our beloved Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) visited Taif to tell the people about Islam, they set their dogs on him and even threw stones at him.

But he did not curse these people. Instead he made du’a to Allah (The Exalted) to make the children and grandchildren of these cruel people of Taif, Muslims.