Fatwa: 868

Category: fatwas about hajj

Cursing and insulting in hajj and the incumbent rulings upon the author

The question:

Do cursing and insulting annul hajj? And supposing that the hajj [of the one who does so] is nullified, does this imply that all his deeds, among them his hajj for the first time, are annulled? Please, give us a convincing answer, and may Allah reward you.

The answer:

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Peace and blessing be upon whom Allah sent as a mercy to the Worlds, upon his Family, his Companions and his Brothers till the Day of Resurrection.

Allah سبحانه وتعالى forbids committing any kind of bad things in hajj or in other than hajj, whether by word or by action. As regards hajj, Allah تعالى says:

﴿الْحَجُّ أَشْهُرٌ مَعْلُومَاتٌ فَمَنْ فَرَضَ فِيهِنَّ الْحَجَّ فَلاَ رَفَثَ وَلاَ فُسُوقَ وَلاَ جِدَالَ فِي الْحَجِّ﴾ [البقرة: 197].

The Hajj (pilgrimage) is (in) the well-known (lunar year) months (i.e. the 10th month, the 11th month and the first ten days of the 12th month of the Islâmic calendar, i.e. two months and ten days). So whosoever intends to perform Hajj, therein by assuming Ihrâm), then he should not have sexual relations (with his wife), nor commit sin, nor dispute unjustly during the Hajj﴿ [Al-Baqarah (The Cow): 197].

So, Allah showed that whoever intends to perform hajj, by assuming Ihrâm(1), then he should not have sexual relations with his wife and should avoid preliminaries, such as touching, kissing and embracing…etc. or speaking about intercourse in presence of women.

Allah also forbids committing sins as a whole, among them cursing and insulting, because it is reported in the hadith “Insulting a Muslim is a sort of sin, while fighting him is a sort of disbelief”(2).

Allah also forbids dispute in hajj. It is reported that Ibn `Umar رضي الله عنهما said: “Dispute in hajj consists of insults, arguments and divergences”(3).

Hereupon, we know that insulting is prohibited in Ihrâm. However, its degree differs:

if one insults, abuses or condemns the actions or the behaviors of others out of undervaluation and depreciation, then he incurs sin by committing such prohibition, because the Prophet صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم says, “The Muslim is he, from whose tongue and hands all of Muslims are saved. The true immigrant is he, who abandons all of what Allah has forbidden”(4). This does not imply compensation. His hajj is valid and is not nullified, but it is deficient, and the person will not have the promised reward of it which is stated in the hadith, “Whoever performs hajj for Allah’s pleasure and does not have sexual relations with his wife [during the hajj days] and does not do evil or sins, then he will return from hajj as if he were born anew (free from all sins)”(5).

If one insults Allah تعالى, Islam, rites or holy shrines…etc. this is then a clear disbelief. That person is considered unanimously a disbeliever and an apostate; whether he knows that he disbelieved or does not know. If he commits this verbal disbelief when performing the hajj for the first time, his apostasy nullifies his hajj.

If he performs the hajj for the first time before he apostatizes, his hajj is valid if he makes repentance, and he is not enjoined to make up for it, according to the soundest of the two opinions of scholars. This is the opinion of the Shâfi`ites and Hambalites, contrarily to the opinion of the Hanafites and Mâlikites who say that he should perform his hajj again if he had offered it before apostatizing. The reason of their divergence lies in whether apostasy nullifies the deeds or not: the Hanafites and Mâlikites think that apostasy implies the nullification and corruption of deeds; their evidence is Allah’s Word:

﴿وَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِالإِيمَانِ فَقَدْ حَبِطَ عَمَلُهُ﴾ [المائدة: 5].

And whosoever disbelieves in the Oneness of Allâh and in all the other Articles of Faith [i.e. His (Allâh's), Angels, His Holy Books, His Messengers, the Day of Resurrection and Al­Qadar (Divine Preordainments)], then fruitless is his work﴿ [Al-Mâ'ida (The Table Spread With Food): 5]; fruitless means corrupt. Consequently, the deeds of the one who apostatizes should be nullified, and he should perform again the deeds if he makes repentance.

The others think that the deeds will be void just if he dies in state of apostasy, because Allah تعالى says:

﴿وَمَنْ يَرْتَدِدْ مِنْكُمْ عَنْ دِينِهِ فَيَمُتْ وَهُوَ كَافِرٌ فَأُولَئِكَ حَبِطَتْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَةِ وَأُولَئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ﴾ [البقرة: 217].

And whosoever of you turns back from his religion and dies as a disbeliever, then his deeds will be lost in this life and in the Hereafter, and they will be the dwellers of the Fire. They will abide therein forever﴿ [Al-Bqarah (The Cow): 217]. Therefore, if he embraces Islam again by repentance, he should not redo the obligations he had done, while he is not rewarded for his deed, even if he is not enjoined to do it again. Therefore, we have interpreted the absolute verse [that is the first] with the restricting one [which is the second].

The perfect knowledge belongs to Allah عزَّ وجلَّ. Our last prayer is all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Peace and blessing be upon our Prophet, his Family, his Companions and Brothers till the Day of Resurrection.

Algiers, Rabî` Al-Awwal 6th, 1429 H
Corresponding to March 12th, 2008



(1) Ihrâm: The state in which one is prohibited from doing certain things which are lawful at other times. `Umra and hajj are performed in such a state.

(2) Reported by Al-Bukhâri in his “Sahîh”, chapter of “Faith”, concerning the fact that the believer fears that his deeds become void without being aware of it (hadith 48) and Muslim in his “Sahîh”, chapter of “Faith”, concerning the saying of the Prophet صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم that insulting a Muslim is a sort of sin…(hadith 221) on the authority of `Abd Allâh Ibn Mass`ûd رضي الله عنه.

(3) Reported by At-Tabari in his “Tafsîr” (2/282) and mentioned by Ibn Kathîr in his “Tafsîr” (1/319). It is also reported by As-Suyûti in “Ad-Dur Al-Manthûr” (1/529).

(4) Reported by Al-Bukhâri in his “Sahîh”, chapter of “Faith”, concerning the fact that the Muslim is he, from whose tongue and hands all of Muslims are saved (hadith 10), Abu Dâwûd in his “Sunan”, chapter of “Jihad”, concerning whether emigration has ceased or not yet (hadith 2481), An-Nassâ'i in his “Sunan”, chapter of “Faith and its prescriptions”, concerning the description of the Muslim (hadith 4996) and Ahmad in his “Musnad” (hadith 6671) on the authority of `Abd Allâh Ibn `Amr Ibn Al-`Âs رضي الله عنهما.

(5) Reported by Al-Bukhâri in his “Sahîh”, chapter of “Hajj”, concerning the merit of the accepted hajj (hadith 1449), Muslim in his “Sahîh”, chapter of “Hajj”, concerning the merit of hajj and `Umra (hadith 3291), At-Tirmidhi in his “Sunan”, chapter of “Hajj”, concerning what is reported on the merit of hajj and `Umra (hadith 811), An-Nassâ'i in his “Sunan”, chapter of “The rites of hajj”, concerning the merit of hajj (hadith 2627), Ibn Mâjah in his “Sunan”, chapter of “The rites”, concerning the merit of hajj and `Umra (hadith 2889) and Ahmad in his “Musnad” (hadith 7096) on the authority of Abu Hurayra رضي الله عنه.

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