Explanation of the Forty-Ninth Chapter After the Hundred, which is the Chapter on Cursing the Disbeliever, and beneath it is one authentic hadith from Abu Hurayrah: It was said, “O Messenger of Allah, invoke Allah against the polytheists”

The Shaykh : Today we studied the forty-ninth chapter after the hundred, which is the Chapter on Cursing the Disbeliever. As for the previous chapter, it contained a weak hadith, and so we passed over it. As for this chapter, it contains one authentic hadith with a chain of narration from Abu Hurayrah, who said: It was said, “O Messenger of Allah, invoke Allah against the polytheists.” He 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,” not “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, and 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 narrated in the two Sahihs from the hadith of Anas and others that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) once sent out a secret expedition containing a select group of the best of the Companions. When they reached a tribe, they gave them safe conduct, but the tribe betrayed them and killed seventy of the best of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings 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 until Anas ibn Malik said, “I never saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) more distressed about anything than he was about those Companions.” The Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) grief was for two reasons: first, as we mentioned, they were among the worshippers of the Companions and their reciters; and second, they were killed by treachery, not 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 deeply grieved, and he used to invoke against them and curse them in every one of the five prayers until the words of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) in the Noble Qur’an were revealed. The verse has slipped my mind, but it is to the effect that “these are the ones you are invoking against; it is not for you to guide them, but Allah (Mighty and Majestic) may guide them.” This is the meaning of the verse, and perhaps I will 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 for those people 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 (Mighty and Majestic) did not want His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to keep invoking against them and cursing them. The result was that those people whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had been cursing returned as Muslims. Here, the secret lies in the fact that it is not recommended, at the very least, for a Muslim to curse a specific disbeliever, because there is a possibility that he may return to Islam, and another possibility that his Islam may be better than the Islam he inherited from his fathers and grandfathers. 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 from continuing to curse the disbelievers. So when he (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked to curse the disbelievers, his answer in this hadith was, “I was not sent to curse, but I was sent as a mercy.” Thus, in this hadith, he (peace and blessings be upon him) wanted to link speech with action and action with speech. Just as his (peace and blessings be upon him) call was a mercy, as He (Mighty and Majestic) said: , meaning by his call to His Shari'ah, so he (peace and blessings be upon him) wanted to be merciful to people even in his wording. He did not curse, not even the polytheists who opposed Allah and His Messenger. He did not curse them, first because cursing does not have much benefit, and second, for the reason we mentioned earlier, which is that 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 and blessings be upon him) with the most intense opposition, such as 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, for example. Yet he later became one of the greatest and strongest of people in faith after Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with them both). If the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had made it his habit to curse the disbelievers and the polytheists who opposed him, it would have appeared as a competition in the end: these are the ones he curses, and then they become Muslim believers.
The reason is the good conduct of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) with people, in that he did not use the word “curse” even with those disbelievers who deserved cursing. Here we say, as the Lord of the Worlds said: . This is because if the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is pointing out to us in this hadith that we should not curse disbelievers and polytheists, then it is even more so that we should not curse a Muslim, even if he is a sinner. And this, as we said in the previous part of the lesson, means establishing a rule and a conduct for the Muslim to follow and walk upon. But sometimes, as we mentioned, a person may become angry and a word like cursing or something similar may slip from his tongue. No one is exempt from this. But the perfect man, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So if one of the people falls into such a slip by cursing one who does not deserve cursing, as we heard about what happened to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), where he cursed a slave boy of his, what he did was nothing but freeing a slave of his, or some of his slaves. Therefore, we must habituate ourselves to not speak except with good, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .