The ruling on a parent cursing his child

The questioner : There are people, O Lord, O Lord, we are people, but people say "sadness," meaning "may Allah make you sad," meaning from the perspective of

The Shaykh : Because look, the colloquial language is full of phrases like "May Allah be angry with you for not doing such and such," or "May Allah take you for not doing such and such." This is common usage; people do not intend for Allah to overwhelm them, meaning to make them miserable and weary, nor do they intend for Allah to destroy them. Rather, it is something that passes on the tongues to convey urging, warning, or the like.

The questioner : There are three phrases people use without intending their meaning at all: some mothers saying "May Allah break your livelihood," and "May Allah take you by your life,"

The Shaykh : This is among what is not intended. Always, when a mother or father threatens, they swear by their life, saying "May Allah give you blindness," "May Allah give you blindness," as if they did not see the child under them, for example, and many other things of this type which they certainly do not intend. Likewise, in threats they say, "Look, by Allah, if you do this, I will break your leg" or "I will break your back." This is all I want. Words are molds, and the criterion, the criterion is by what? By the reality and the meaning. Now, some people have denied the common people's saying "I did not believe in Allah," interpreting it to mean "I did not believe that Allah would do it" or "that Allah would be truthful in this." This is wrong. People say "I did not believe in Allah" meaning "I did not think this would happen," and that it occurred after effort and exhaustion. So words are molds, and the criterion is by the meanings. It is necessary that if people have proceeded with a specific meaning in a specific word that can bear another meaning opposite to it, you do not open the doors for people. Do not open the doors for people. Leave them as they are, unless the word itself is forbidden, which is another matter.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : One man is enough. Yes.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, how do we say regarding the hadith "Do not curse" that the supplication is directed at the son and is answered?

The Shaykh : Yes,

The questioner : No, Shaykh, I mean the hadith about the parent does not apply to the child.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : Praise be to Allah.

The Shaykh : This is if you intended it. If he intended it, meaning it is interpreted as intention, then it may coincide with a time of answered supplication. But if Allah knows from the parent's heart that he does not want this, and that if his son were afflicted with what he supplicated for, he would be the first to be affected by it, then Allah the Exalted is Merciful,

The questioner : O Shaykh, this is the minority view, and our principle is to interpret texts according to the majority view,

The Shaykh : What is the minority view?

The questioner : The minority view is that the parent curses his son, meaning he rejects it.

The Shaykh : Here, the interpretation is necessary because we have evidence. If we did not have evidence, we would interpret it according to the majority. But we have evidence that Allah the Exalted knows from this man that he did not intend it. So how would Allah answer the man contrary to what he intends? That is far-fetched.