وعن ابن مسعود رضى الله عنه قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم: سباب المسلم فسوق وقتاله كفر .
It is narrated from Ibn Mas’ud, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “Insulting a Muslim is immorality (disobedience), and fighting with him is disbelief.”
Authentication:
,
, and others. See Tuhfat al-Ashraf
Vocabulary:
The verbal noun of سِبَاب، سَبَّ يَسُبُّ (نَصَرَ يَنْصُرُ) is سَبٌ and سِبَابٌ, both forms occur. Insulting, some have said here سباب is from the chapter of mutual action (Maf’alah), meaning insulting each other from both sides. اَلسُّبَّةُ, the one who is insulted, is also called Subbah because the insult is directed towards him. Ibrahim Harbi said: سباب is called the harshest and most painful insult because سباب means mentioning the faults of a person that are present in him and also those that are not present in him.
قِتَال – is the verbal noun of the chapter of mutual action, meaning to fight one another.
فُسُوْق . نَصَرَ يَنْصُرُ is the verbal noun of فَسَقَ يَفْسُقُ فِسْقًا وَ فُسُوْقًا. In linguistics, it means “to leave,” and in Shariah, it means to leave by the command of Allah and His Messenger, peace be upon him. In Shariah, this is more severe than disobedience. وَكَرَّهَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْكُفْرَ وَالْفُسُوقَ وَالْعِصْيَانَ
And He has made disbelief, immorality, and disobedience hateful to you.
Benefits:
➊ Insulting a Muslim is disobedience to Allah’s command. Even in a confrontation, one should avoid cursing because it is difficult to avoid excess in such situations.
➋ If someone initially insults, it is permissible to take revenge, although patience is better. وَلَمَنِ انتَصَرَ بَعْدَ ظُلْمِهِ فَأُولَـٰئِكَ مَا عَلَيْهِم مِّن سَبِيلٍ
“Whoever retaliates after being wronged, there is no blame on them.” وَلَمَن صَبَرَ وَغَفَرَ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ لَمِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ
“And whoever is patient and forgives, indeed that is of the matters requiring determination.”
➌ The condition for taking revenge is to only return the insult equal to what was given, without excess, and not to say anything false. In this case, the sin lies with the one who initiated the insult. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
المستبان ما قالا فعلى البادي منهما ما لم يعتد المظلوم
“Between two who exchange insults, whatever they say, the sin is on the initiator until the oppressed person commits excess.”
If both lie against each other, both are sinful, although the initiator is also guilty of starting it. It is narrated from Iyad ibn Himar (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: المستبان شيطانان يتهاتران ويتكاذبان
“Those who exchange insults are both devils, as they speak ill of each other and lie against each other.”
➍ “Insulting a Muslim is an act of immorality (fisq).” From this, it is understood that one may insult a disbeliever, especially when they are in a state of war (muharib). At that time, it is permissible to use such words to humiliate them. For example, Urwah ibn Mas’ud said to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) at the time of Hudaybiyyah that people from around were gathering, and when the war happens, they will all flee. Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) addressed him and said: امصص بظر اللات انحن نمر عنه
“(Go and) suck the shameful place of Lat, do you think we will leave you and flee?”
➎ “And fighting with him is disbelief (kufr).” Fighting is more severe than insulting, so the ruling on it is also severe.
➏ Some say that committing a major sin causes a person to cease being a believer and leaves the Muslim community because the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) declared fighting a Muslim as disbelief and also said: لا ترجعوا بعدي كفارا يضرب بعضكم رقاب بعض
“Do not become disbelievers after me by killing one another.”
This is the position of the Khawarij, and on this basis, they declared Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and many others as disbelievers for committing major sins. However, deriving this meaning from these hadiths is incorrect and contradicts the principles of Shariah and the explicit texts of the Quran and Sunnah.
➐ The reality is that kufr is used in two senses in the Quran and Sunnah:
One is the kufr that means leaving Islam, and the one who commits it is outside Islam and eternally in Hellfire. This is the kufr of denial (juhud) and major kufr, i.e., rejecting any statement of Allah or His Messenger (peace be upon him) knowingly and considering this rejection correct.
The second type of kufr, according to Imam Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) and other Imams, is كفرٌ دُوْنَ كفرٍ (lesser kufr than major kufr), meaning committing an act of kufr while remaining within Islam. Committing this kufr does not expel a person from faith. The detail is that according to the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) statement, faith has sixty or seventy branches, the smallest of which is removing harm from the road, and modesty is a branch of faith.
All the opposites of these branches are acts of kufr. However, committing every act of kufr does not expel a person from faith. For example, if a person accepts Islam, testifies to the oneness of Allah and the messengership, establishes prayer, pays zakat, and practically submits to Allah and His Messenger, but then commits a sin such as murder, adultery, theft, etc., without considering these acts permissible or denying any statement of Allah or His Messenger, then this person is a sinful Muslim. He is neither outside Islam nor eternally in Hellfire. Yes, the sin he committed is an act of kufr and ignorance, so if the word “disbeliever” is used for him, it means one who commits acts of kufr, not that he is outside the Muslim community or eternally in Hellfire without hope of forgiveness.
For evidence of this detail, consider some verses and hadiths:
إِنَّ اللَّـهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَن يَشَاءُ
“Indeed, Allah does not forgive associating others with Him, but He forgives anything else of whoever He wills.”
This shows that a polytheist who dies upon shirk has no hope of forgiveness, but Allah may forgive the sins of a believer, either by punishment and then removing him from Hellfire or by mercy.
(b) All hadiths about intercession prove that one who commits major sins is still a member of the Muslim community, and Allah may remove him from Hellfire through intercession or by His grace without intercession.
(c) Allah says:
وَإِن طَائِفَتَانِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ اقْتَتَلُوا فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَهُمَا
“If two groups of believers fight, then make peace between them.”
And in the next verse:
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَ أَخَوَيْكُمْ
“The believers are brothers, so make peace between your brothers.”
This shows that Muslims remain believers despite fighting among themselves; their brotherhood in faith does not end so that they leave the Muslim community. Similarly, in the verses about Qisas (retaliation), the killer and the heirs of the victim are called brothers. Allah says:
فَمَنْ عُفِيَ لَهُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ شَيْءٌ فَاتِّبَاعٌ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَأَدَاءٌ إِلَيْهِ بِإِحْسَانٍ
“But if the victim’s brother pardons, then follow the way of forgiveness and pay with kindness.”
It is understood that despite killing, the killer is a Muslim, and the heirs of the victim are his religious and faithful brothers. This is why the companions (may Allah be pleased with them) did not declare anyone who fought against each other, such as Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and Muawiyah, or Talhah, Zubair, Aisha (may Allah be pleased with them), or Ali and the Khawarij, as disbelievers. They did not enslave their women and children nor seize their wealth as spoils. If they had declared them disbelievers, they would have treated their wealth and families like the followers of Musaylimah the liar.
From these verses and the consensus of the companions, it is established that the hadith declaring fighting a Muslim as kufr and calling those who fight each other disbelievers means that fighting a Muslim is an act of kufr, not an act of faith, and the one who commits it commits an act of kufr. It does not mean that fighting a Muslim expels one from Islam or that the one who fights a Muslim leaves the Muslim community.
➑ During the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), many companions committed sins such as murder, adultery, theft, slander, drinking alcohol, and other sins. He applied the prescribed punishments on them but did not declare any of them disbelievers, nor expelled them from the Muslim community, nor declared them apostates and executed them for apostasy.
➒ Declaring insulting a Muslim as immorality (fisq) and fighting with him as kufr shows the severity and abhorrence of these sins. It is not befitting for the people of faith to commit acts of fisq and kufr.
➓ Some scholars have explained that “fighting a Muslim is kufr” means it is metaphorically called kufr, meaning it is ingratitude for Allah’s blessing, His favor, and the disregard of Islamic brotherhood. It is not the kufr that necessitates denial of faith. It is called kufr because increasing in this sin may cause the heart to rust, and sometimes a person reaches major kufr. اعاذنا الله منه
