Cursing (la'n), fiqh rulings

La'n, in lexicon, is expulsion and removal from good, or from God, and from people it is abuse and invocation; the Arabs used to greet their kings with abaytu l-la'n, you have refused what would bring you a curse. Sabb is abuse by direct speech of what is disliked, and al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam held that cursing is stronger in ugliness than general abuse ^{1 2}.

There is no dispute that cursing a protected Muslim is forbidden. For a named sinful Muslim, the Hanafis, Shafi'is and the school of the Hanbalis, and Ibn al-Arabi of the Malikis, forbid it, on the hadith of the man who drank wine repeatedly, where the Prophet ﷺ said: by God, I know he loves God and His Messenger ². In another view of all four, cursing him is allowed, since the Prophet named tribes in the morning prayer's qunut ². Al-Qurtubi and Ibn Hajar hold no cursing for one who has received the hadd, but the sinner who has not been punished may be cursed while in the state that deserves it ^{2 3}.

The Hanafis, Shafi'is and the school of the Hanbalis do not allow cursing a named living unbeliever, since his end is unknown; Ibn al-Arabi and one Shafi'i view allow it for his apparent state and for the lawfulness of killing him. Cursing unbelievers in general, or those who died in unbelief, is allowed by agreement ³. The Shafi'is forbid cursing an animal or an inanimate thing, on the hadith of the she-camel that was cursed and then left to wander ³.