The ruling on describing a person with the word "khabeeth"
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
What is the ruling? Is it permissible to call a person "habib" meaning that he is bad? Is it said, "So-and-so is a habib"?
Answer:
It is said, "So-and-so is khabeeth," only if it is established that there is khubuth (evil) in him and that he is wicked. As for mere accusation, it is not permissible. Also, it is not permissible for a person to address his Muslim brother and say, "O khabeeth." This is not permissible: "O khabeeth," "O enemy of Allah," "O fasiq (open sinner)." The prohibition of this came from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). (Exalted and Majestic is He) says:[Al-Hujurat 49:11]. Even if there is evil in him, even if he has some sins, it is not permissible to confuse him or address him with these offensive words. Yes.
What is the ruling? Is it permissible to call a person "habib" meaning that he is bad? Is it said, "So-and-so is a habib"?
Answer:
It is said, "So-and-so is khabeeth," only if it is established that there is khubuth (evil) in him and that he is wicked. As for mere accusation, it is not permissible. Also, it is not permissible for a person to address his Muslim brother and say, "O khabeeth." This is not permissible: "O khabeeth," "O enemy of Allah," "O fasiq (open sinner)." The prohibition of this came from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). (Exalted and Majestic is He) says:
and do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames
وَلَا تَنَابَزُوا بِالْأَلْقَابِ
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، بداية من باب قضاء الحاجة — islamhouse.com (1:00:06)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.