Today we studied in the chapter forty-nine after the hundred, which is.

The Shaykh : The lesson today is in Chapter 49 after the hundred, which is the chapter on "Cursing the Disbeliever." As for the previous chapter, it contained a weak hadith, so we passed over it. As for this chapter, I want to mention one authentic hadith with its chain of narration from Abu Hurayrah, who said: . The author (may Allah have mercy on him) titled this hadith with a heading that does not specify the ruling on cursing the disbeliever, because he said, "Chapter on Cursing the Disbeliever," and did not say "Chapter on the Permissibility of Cursing the Disbeliever" or "Chapter on the Impermissibility of Cursing the Disbeliever." This is because, first, there is scholarly disagreement on the issue. Second, as mentioned in a previous lesson, the principle is that a Muslim should not habituate his tongue to cursing others, even if they are... In my opinion, this hadith was among the effects of the Lord of the Worlds disciplining His noble Prophet. It is reported in the two Sahihs from the hadith of Anas and others that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent out a secret expedition consisting of a select group of the best of the Companions. When they reached a tribe, they offered them safety, but the tribe betrayed them and killed seventy of the best of the Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him), including their reciters and memorizers of the Noble Qur'an. When the news of their fate reached the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), he was deeply grieved. Anas said regarding this, "I never saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) grieve over anything as he grieved over those Companions." The Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) grief over those Companions was for two reasons. The first reason is that, as we mentioned, they were among the worshippers of the Companions and their reciters. The second reason is that they were killed by treachery; they were not killed while facing the enemy face to face, but rather those disbelievers betrayed them. Therefore, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was distressed and grieved over them intensely. He used to invoke against them and curse them in every one of the five prayers until the word of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) was revealed in the Noble Qur'an. I have forgotten the exact wording of the verse, but it means that those whom you are invoking against are not your concern to guide, but Allah (Mighty and Majestic) may guide them. This is the meaning of the verse, and I may mention it later. Then, by the wisdom of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had been reciting the qunut against those disbelievers for a full month and that verse was revealed to him, the people returned as Muslims. Thus, the secret behind the revelation of the verse to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) became apparent, as if Allah did not want him to continue invoking against them and cursing them. The result was that those people whom the Messenger (peace be upon him) had been cursing returned as Muslims. Here lies the secret: it is not permissible, or at least not recommended, for a Muslim to curse a specific disbeliever, because there is a possibility that he may return to Islam. Another possibility is that his Islam may be better than the Islam of the Muslim who inherited his faith from his parents and ancestors.
It appears, and Allah knows best, that this hadith was after Allah (Mighty and Majestic) disciplined His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with that discipline, where He forbade him to continue cursing those disbelievers. So when he was asked (peace be upon him) to curse the disbelievers, his answer in this hadith was: . Thus, in this hadith, he (peace and blessings be upon him) wants to combine speech with action and action with speech. Just as his call (peace and blessings be upon him) is mercy, as He (Mighty and Majestic) said: , meaning by his call to His Shari'ah, so he wants to be merciful to people even in his wording. He does not curse even the polytheists who oppose Allah and the Messenger; he does not curse them because, first, cursing does not have that benefit, and second, as we mentioned previously, it is possible that these disbelievers may return to Islam. We all know that all the Companions who believed in the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) were disbelievers; they were polytheists. Among them were those who opposed him (peace be upon him) with the most intense opposition, such as 'Umar ibn al-Khattab. Yet 'Umar later became one of the greatest people in faith and the strongest in faith after Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him). If the Messenger (peace be upon him) had made it his habit to curse the disbelievers and the polytheists who opposed him, a contradiction would have appeared in the end: those whom he was cursing would become believing Muslims. Therefore, the good conduct of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) with people required that he not use the word "curse" even with those who deserve cursing, namely the disbelievers. And here we say, as the Lord of the Worlds said: . This is because if the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) legislated for us in this hadith not to curse disbelievers and polytheists, then it is even more so that we should not curse a Muslim, even if he is a sinner. This is, as we said in the past part of the lesson, establishing a rule and a conduct for the Muslim to follow. However, sometimes, as we mentioned, a person may become angry and a word like a curse or something similar may slip from his tongue. No one is safe from this, but the perfect man, as he (peace be upon him) said regarding his statement (peace be upon him): . If one of the people falls into such a slip by cursing one who does not deserve cursing, as we said in the previous lesson about the story of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), who cursed a slave of his, and the result was that he freed some of his slaves, then we must habituate ourselves not to speak except with good, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .