It is said that a shot arrow and spoken word cannot be recalled. Another famous saying is that the wound of the tongue is worse than that of an arrow. That is why insulting someone is generally frowned upon in societies. There are many ways to attack someone’s honor and cause them pain, but the most used method among them are insults.
Insult means to slander someone on their face or say something hurtful. Usually, when people oppose and criticize someone, out of cowardice, they secretly point out his faults behind his back and seek to insult him. This is called backbiting. Sometimes the disagreement escalates to such an extent that people start insulting the opponent to his face, criticizing him, pointing out his faults, unveiling his weaknesses, cursing and blaming, using sarcastic phrases and do not even refrain from swearing.
This behavior is neither acceptable in religion nor meets the moral standards of the world. If the adversary is weak, this results in a loss of self-esteem and irreparable psychological trauma. If the two adversaries are equally matched, in addition to other harms, ill will turns into resentment, and resentment turns into enmity, which results in revenge against revenge.
Prohibition of insults in Quran and Hadith:
Due to such evils of insult, it has been strongly condemned in the Qur’an and Hadith. In the Qur’an, in the verse of Surah Al-Hujarat, this behavior is clearly considered bad and has been prohibited and those who do not refrain are included in the ranks of the wrongdoers. “do not speak ill of one another; do not use offensive nicknames for one another. How bad it is to be called a mischief-maker after accepting faith! Those who do not repent of this behavior are evildoers..” (Al-Hujurat 49:11)
In Surah Al-Qalam, there is a warning for the slanderer (Al-Qalam 68:11).
Similarly, in Surah Al-Humazah, the warning of doom has been given to the slanderer.
“Woe to every scorner and mocker” (Al-Humazah 104:1).
In addition to the Qur’an, insult has also been clearly condemned in the hadiths.
“Do not harm the Muslims, nor revile them, nor spy on them to expose their secrets. For indeed whoever tries to expose his Muslims brother’s secrets, Allah exposes his secrets wide open, even if he were in the depth of his house.” (Jami at Tirmidhi, Vol 1, Hadith 2121)
The honor of a Muslim is so sacred that whoever harms this sanctity, even his prayers are not accepted. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever dishonors a Muslim, the curse of Allah, the angels and all the people is on him, and his obligatory worship is not accepted. (Sahih Bukhari: Vol. II: Hadith No. 440)
These hadiths describe the sanctity of a believer’s honor and dignity in a general way. On the other hand, its various aspects have been made the topic in the hadiths due to the immorality of insult. Therefore, one of the important aspects of insult is the misuse of the tongue, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Whoever gives me a guarantee to safeguard what is between his jaws and what is between his legs, I will guarantee him Paradise (Sahih Bukhari: Volume III: Hadith No. 1421).
Similarly, one of the important aspects of bad speech, i.e. swearing, is described in a hadith
“Reviling a Muslim is Fusūq (disobedience) and fighting him is Kufr (disbelief).” (Sahih Bukhari: Volume I: Hadith No. 47)
In the same manner, cursing is prohibited as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Cursing a believer is like murdering him.” (Sahih Bukhari: Volume III: Hadith No. 1058)
Sarcasm is also prohibited in these words. It is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): “There are two things in people that are signs of disbelief: defaming lineages and wailing over the dead.” (Sahih Bukhari: Volume II: Hadith No. 1082)
In the same way, it has been instructed to refrain from obscenity and adopt politeness. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
“Be polite, avoid lewdness and obscenity.” (Sahih Bukhari: Volume III: Hadith No. 988)
Translated by Ali Zafar