What is the authenticity of the hadith: “If I have cursed a person or insulted him, let it be an expiation for him on the Day of Judgment”?

The Shaykh : I read in the book *Fath al-Aziz Mukhtasar al-Zubaydi* a hadith from Anas ibn Malik that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, to the effect of: “If I have cursed a person or insulted him, let it be an expiation for him on the Day of Judgment” . How is that, when he was not harsh and was of noble character? And how can it be an expiation on the Day of Judgment... on the Day of Judgment belongs to Allah alone? Is this hadith weak?

The Shaykh : I did not understand this; it is not clear Arabic.

The questioner: ...

The Shaykh : Yes, “If I have cursed a person or insulted him, let it be an expiation on the Day of Judgment”—what does that mean?

The questioner: ...

The Shaykh : Ah, I understand now. This hadith passed by us in the book *Al-Adab al-Mufrad* by Imam al-Bukhari. We mentioned at that time that the Messenger (peace be upon him), although he was the best of people, did not depart from his human nature. This human nature overcomes him on rare occasions. He might hastily direct a word that wounds the feelings of a person, but he is not like us at all. What do we do? We curse a Muslim and accuse him of what is not in him, then we do not care about it. As for the Messenger (peace be upon him), he would quickly realize that he had spoken a word that it would have been better not to speak and not to direct at a Muslim. However, it happened from him on some occasions. The Messenger (peace be upon him) lived for sixty-three years. If you counted such words that the Messenger (peace be upon him) directed at some people who were not deserving of them, perhaps they would not reach ten words in these thousands of years. This does not affect the status of the Messenger (peace be upon him) in his prophethood and messengership, as long as he is a human being by the text of the Qur’an: . But we must not take one side of this hadith, meaning we ask how such a word could have come from the Messenger (peace be upon him) regarding this person whom he cursed without right. Here, we must take the full hadith. Just now it passed by us that among his attributes, he (peace be upon him) did not follow a bad deed with a bad deed, but he forgave and pardoned. So, when the Messenger (peace be upon him) cursed a person who was not deserving of that curse, did it just go like that? No, he would raise his hands to his Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) and say: This good deed overcame that bad deed. Therefore, there is no objection to this, except when we look at the Messenger (peace be upon him) with a poetic, imaginative view, meaning we imagine that he is not a human being and that he is like the angels of the Most Merciful . When we look at the Messenger (peace be upon him) with this poetic, imaginative view, the objection arises. But when we look at him with the eye of reality, with the eye of him being a human being chosen and selected by Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), and that his being a chosen human does not preclude that some mistakes may come from him. For that reason, He (the Exalted) said: . Is it correct to say regarding the angels that Allah forgave them what came before and what came after? No, because Allah created the angels and created them with the nature that they . As for humans, including the master of humans, the Chosen One (peace and blessings be upon him), they were not created with the nature of obedience, but rather with the nature of striving in the path of obedience. Therefore, he was truly the master of those who strive. But this does not preclude that some minor, few matters may come from him that do not scratch his status as the master of the messengers and prophets (peace and blessings be upon them). Perhaps this clarifies and removes the objection, if Allah wills.