Believers Should Avoid Cursing People

📖Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2019
Ibn Umar reported: The Prophet ﷺ said, “The believer is not in the habit of cursing others.”

The Prophet ﷺ emphasized that a true believer does not make it a habit to curse others. Cursing is a serious action, and Muslims are instructed to avoid it because it can harm relationships, spread negativity, and is generally unbecoming of a person with faith. Habitual cursing reflects anger and lack of self-restraint, which are discouraged in Islam.

Why not curse:

• A believer should maintain good character and avoid unnecessary harm.
• Cursing can reflect poorly on one’s faith and disrupt social harmony.
• Humans do not have absolute knowledge of others’ inner state or intentions, so indiscriminate cursing is unjust.

Why the Prophet ﷺ cursed sometimes:

• The Prophet ﷺ only cursed specific actions or people who clearly engaged in manifest evil.
• Allah’s curse as the Creator targets wrongdoing and injustice; it is not arbitrary.
• When the Prophet ﷺ cursed, it was for things that were clearly forbidden or harmful, not personal dislike. Humans do not have the right to curse others because they lack divine authority.
• Those who commit manifest sins essentially accept the consequences of their actions, which can be seen as accepting Allah’s curse by their wrongdoing.

How to apply this guidance:

1. Avoid cursing others out of anger or habit.
2. Focus on correcting behavior through advice, patience, and guidance rather than insult.
3. Remember that Allah alone has ultimate authority over punishment and curse.
4. Recognize that wrongdoing invites divine accountability, not human retaliation.
5. Encourage positivity and mercy, reflecting the Prophet’s ﷺ character.

Quranic Context:

📖Quran 7:157
Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet, whom they find written in the Torah and the Gospel, commanding them what is right and forbidding them what is wrong, and making lawful for them the good things and prohibiting the evil, and relieving them of their burdens and shackles which were upon them. So those who believe in him, honor him, help him, and follow the light revealed with him—it is they who will be successful.

📖Quran 49:11
O you who have believed, let not a people ridicule [another] people; perhaps they may be better than them. Nor let women ridicule [other] women; perhaps they may be better than them. And do not insult one another and do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames. Wretched is the name of disobedience after faith.

📖Quran 49:12
O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is Accepting of Repentance and Merciful.