Is it permissible to curse people who have died and were the cause of the killing of many of the people of the Sunnah? And when is backbiting permissible?

The questioner : Yes, is it permissible to curse dead people because they caused the killing of many Sunnis and the humiliation of the Islamic religion, and others of their kind who are still alive? Is it permissible to curse them?

The Shaykh : If these are the people about whom the question was asked, whether it is permissible to curse them, the issue must be studied very carefully. Did they cause the killing of a group of Muslims with bad intent? If so, the answer is that it is permissible. But if it was a mistake on their part, it is not permissible. Cursing the criminal in Islam is a permissible matter, contrary to what some people think; because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed the polytheists who betrayed the seventy Companions whom the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) sent to call the polytheists to the worship of Allah alone, having no partner, for a full month. They gave them safe conduct and then betrayed them, killing them all, seventy of the scholars and reciters of the Companions. So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed them in the five prayers in the qunut. Then, regarding them, was revealed the statement of Blessed and Exalted is He: . The reason for the revelation of this verse became clear after a period, when those polytheists came to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) repentant. There is no evidence in the authentic hadith prohibiting supplication against specific polytheists, because the reason for the revelation of this verse was that it had already been known in the knowledge of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) that those polytheists who killed the seventy reciters of the Companions would believe in Allah and His Messenger and become among the followers of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). From this, or in this case, came the authentic hadith: . The disbeliever kills a Muslim, so his destination is the Fire naturally, but this disbeliever believes in Allah and His Messenger, and repentance and Islam wipe out what came before. So this killer enters Paradise with the one he killed, both of them.
What can we take from this hadith regarding the cursing by the Messenger (peace be upon him) of specific groups who killed a large group of Muslims? It is evidence for the permissibility of cursing a specific disbeliever. Indeed, it is permissible to curse a known criminal who is a Muslim. He may be a hypocrite who conceals disbelief and displays Islam, or he may conceal Islam as well, but his faith in his religion is not strong, and therefore he commits sins and major crimes, among which is intentionally killing a believing soul. So this Muslim who commits a sin, especially if he persists in it and it is not a slip of the foot, it is also permissible in Islam to curse him, as came in an authentic hadith, and even regarding one who is less severe than the killer of the Muslim soul.
It came in al-Adab al-Mufrad by Imam al-Bukhari, and Sunan Abu Dawud al-Sijistani, and others, that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah, my neighbor wronged me, my neighbor wronged me. So he (peace be upon him) said to him: . The people would pass by, and the goods thrown on the road would catch their attention, and the man would be standing next to his goods, making them feel as if someone had thrown him out of his house and expelled him. They would say to him: What is wrong with you, so-and-so? He would say: This neighbor of mine wronged me. They would do nothing but curse him and say: May Allah kill him, may Allah curse him. And the wrongdoer would hear with his own ears the people’s cursing and their cursing of him. So that was a stronger deterrent for him from his wrongdoing, because he hastened to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to say: O Messenger of Allah, order my neighbor to return his goods to his house, for the people have cursed me. So his (peace and blessings be upon him) answer was: .
The attendees: Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : The point here is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) approved the people who cursed this wrongdoer, and did not deny it to them when the news of it reached him from this wrongdoer when he said: The people have cursed me. And for this reason, the scholars of usul al-fiqh say that the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is divided into three categories:
1- Verbal Sunnah from his words.
2- And practical Sunnah, which the Messenger (peace be upon him) does among his Companions.
3- Or his approval (taqrir); he sees something and does not deny it, so that thing becomes permissible in its least state.
And from this, when we see in this authentic hadith that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not deny those people who cursed the wrongdoer, but rather approved them for it, the hadith became evidence for the permissibility of cursing a specific person for a crime he commits against his Muslim brother.
And the crime may be greater if there is propaganda for the crime he is committing. And accordingly came the authentic hadith from his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . It was added in another hadith: . And in some other authentic hadiths: . Along with this, this type of women who display their adornment, who are clothed yet naked, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . For this reason, it is permissible to curse the disbeliever, and even the open sinner, by way of disciplining him, whether that is in his face or in his absence. For this reason, some scholars gathered six characteristics for which a Muslim may backbite one who possesses these characteristics. So the poet jurist said:
"Censure is not backbiting in six cases: the aggrieved, the one who is known, and the one who warns,
and the one who openly commits open sinfulness, and the one who seeks a ruling, and the one who seeks help in removing a wrong."
You all know that backbiting is forbidden with the strongest prohibition by the Book and the Sunnah, and that its definition or description, as he (peace be upon him) said: . They said: O Messenger of Allah, what if he has what you said? He said: . So slander is undoubtedly a great crime. This backbiting, which is mentioning your Muslim brother with what is in him, is forbidden.
One of the attendees: With what he dislikes.

The Shaykh : With what he dislikes, yes, that is correct, except in these six characteristics, which are: He said . A wronged man, so he mentions his wrongdoer with his wrongdoing, as mentioned in the previous hadith, how he complained to the Prophet. It is very clear that his going to the Messenger and saying "So-and-so wronged me" is backbiting, and describing him with what is in him is backbiting. But the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not rebuke him, did not forbid him, and did not say to him "this is backbiting," because this is not the forbidden backbiting, because the man’s intention was to mention that in order to have the wrong removed from him. And this is also supported by the Noble Qur’an: . Yes, this is the first category of what is permissible to backbite, and it is the wronged person backbiting his wrongdoer. And accordingly came his saying (peace be upon him): . A man has a debt of money with another, he lent it to him for the sake of Allah, then he delays the one who did him a favor, and he is able to pay but does not, so he is a wrongdoer, and it is permissible to backbite him. And the hadith came explicitly regarding his type, which is the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): . It is permissible to attack his honor, meaning to criticize him by saying "So-and-so is a wrongdoer," "So-and-so ate my right." And it should not occur to anyone that the intended meaning of "honor" here is to attack the honor of his family, far be it! Rather, it is to attack the honor of this wrongdoer within the limits of his wrongdoing toward him. . This is the aggrieved person.
The second: This is a very important issue, because many people, out of their ignorance, create problems due to their extreme scrupulousness. A person comes to you, and you are a good Muslim who does not like to disobey Allah and His Messenger. He asks you, "What do you think, so-and-so? So-and-so, the father of so-and-so, whom you know well, wants to partner with me. What do you advise me, should I partner with him or not?" He knows that this man is a traitor in his dealings with some people in the past, having consumed their wealth. But the person does not speak about what he knows of him and instead says a phrase common in some lands: "Everyone is better than me; everyone has goodness and blessing in them." But there is no blessing in him because he is a traitor. Why? He says, "This is backbiting, and it is not permissible." But he was ignorant that backbiting of this type is not only permissible but obligatory; because religion is sincere advice. Similarly, in this category, and perhaps more dangerous, a man comes to you wanting to marry your neighbor's daughter. "So-and-so, what do you think of so-and-so's daughter?" Again, the traditional answer comes: "By Allah, everyone has goodness and blessing in them." And he knows, may Allah forbid, that the girl is wayward, that she is a loose woman who goes and comes, and all sorts of things. It is obligatory for this neighbor to speak what he knows, and this is not backbiting in any way, because if he does not speak the truth.