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Fatwa CenterShe cursed a man who molested her. Does this affect her Hajj?
Question
All praise be to Allaah, I performed Hajj this year. In the last day and before the farewell tawaf (circumambulation), and as I was returning from the Sacred Mosque, a man sexually molested me, putting his hand on my behind – intentionally. I turned towards him and cursed him, and we exchanged abuses. I was annoyed and upset, for how could this happen in the most sacred land on earth. Since then, I have been fearful that this incident might have affected the validity of my Hajj. Answer me, please!
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Abuse is to revile a person and dishonor him. Abusing a Muslim without right is prohibited, by consensus. This is based on a Hadeeth in which the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "Abusing a Muslim is evil-doing." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
This applies unless the person does something that makes him deserve abuse. If he does so, then there is nothing wrong with abusing him in a way that he deserves and that deters him from doing the wrong thing. So, since this person molested you, he thus deserved abuse and rebuke, like saying to him, "You are a shameless person, or you are ill-mannered."
However, it is not permissible to curse him, for cursing a specific person is not permissible, even if he does such a thing that makes him deserve to be cursed, according to the preponderant scholarly opinion. So, there is greater reason to regard it as impermissible if the person does not do something that is regarded in the Sharee'ah as a valid cause for a person to be cursed. We do not know any proof that entails that a man's mere sexual molestation of a woman entails cursing him.
Accordingly, we implore Allaah Almighty to pardon you, since you said these words out of jealousy about your honor and out of ignorance about the prohibition of cursing a specific person. You have to know that this does not invalidate your Hajj, according to the unanimous agreement among the scholars. This applies even if the pilgrim is still in the state of ihram, so it applies even more if he has terminated his ihram. Moreover, this does not diminish the reward for your Hajj, so long as you had an excuse, such as losing immediate control over your tongue, unintentionally, or being ignorant that cursing a specific person is prohibited. If you had no excuse, however, then it is a sin for which you should repent to Allaah Almighty and ask for His forgiveness.
Allaah Knows best.
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