By Ghulam Ghaus
Siddiqi, New Age Islam
5 December
2020
It is not a
good practice to abuse or insult anyone, Muslim or non-Muslim. Allah Almighty
does not like it. However, there is a case that when the oppressors inflict
severe oppression on the oppressed by any means, physically, financially or
religiously, it is then allowed for the people to condemn or prevent the
oppressors from committing more oppression.
Allah
Almighty says in the Quran, “Allah does
not like the saying or evil words openly except from anyone oppressed”
(4:148)
From this
Quranic verse, all the disliked matters such as abusing, backbiting, speaking
evil words for anyone, dead or alive, are forbidden. This verse is general in
its nature and must be followed in connection with all human beings, Muslims or
non-Muslims alike.
The experts
of Ahadith (Muhaddeseen) quote the
following hadith to narrate the cause of revelation of the above verse.
It is
narrated by Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab: “While the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon
him) was sitting with some of his companions, a man reviled Abu Bakr and
insulted him. But Abu Bakr remained silent. He insulted him twice, but Abu Bakr
controlled himself. He insulted him thrice and Abu Bakr took revenge on him.
Then the Messenger of Allah got up when Abu Bakr took revenge. Abu Bakr (may
Allah be pleased with him) said: Were you angry with me, Messenger of Allah?
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) replied: An angel came down from
Heaven and he was rejecting what he had said to you. When you took revenge, a
devil came down. I was not going to sit when the devil came down.” (Sunan Abu
Dawud, Hadith 4896)
The hadith
mentioned above has also been narrated by Hazrat Abu Hurairah (may Allah be
pleased with him) through a different chain of narrators (Sanad). (Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith: 4897)
The
exegetes (Mufassirin) have quoted a
number of narrations in their respective books to point out that the oppressed
are allowed to narrate the acts of oppression inflicted upon them and as per
some narrations, they are even allowed to curse upon the oppressors. The legal
experts and jurists (Fuqaha) have drawn from all the relevant transmitted
evidences (the Quran and Ahadith) that the oppressed can seek justice in the
courts of judgment by disclosing the acts of oppression and similarly others
too can adopt this method to stop further injustice or threats.
There are a
number of Ahadith which declare the practice of abusing forbidden. Some of them
are as follows;
Hazrat Abu
Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) as saying: “When two
persons indulge in hurling (abuses) upon one another, it would be the first one
who would be the sinner so long as the oppressed does not transgress the
limits”. (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2587)
Hazrat
‘Aisha reported the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) as saying, “When
your companion dies, leave him and do not revile him”. (Sunan Abi Dawud, 4899,
graded as Sahih)
It was
narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar that The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Make
a mention of the virtues of your dead, and refrain from (mentioning) their
evils”. (Sunan Abi Dawud, 4900)
Hazrat Abu
Hurairah said, “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was asked: Messenger
of Allah! What is back-biting? He replied: It is saying something about your
brother which he would dislike. He was asked again: Tell me how the matter
stands if what I say about my brother is true? He replied: If what you say of
him is true, you have slandered him, and if what you say of him is not true,
you have reviled him.” (Sahih Muslim, 2589, Sunan Abi Dawud, 4874)
Hazrat
Huzaifah reported the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) as saying, “No
slanderer (Qattat) will not paradise”
(Sunan Abi Dawud 4872)
To sum up,
Islam does not like the acts of slandering, backbiting, abusing etc. be they
are meant for Muslims or non-Muslims.
----
A regular Columnist with NewAgeIslam.com,
Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi Dehlvi is an Alim and Fazil (Classical Islamic scholar) with
a Sufi background and English-Arabic-Urdu Translator.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-q-a/ruling-abusing-non-muslims-muslims/d/123671
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