The reason for the Prophet's supplication against the man who ate with his left hand

10-12-2015 | IslamWeb

Question:

Dear respected Scholar, can you please explain the following hadith to me: When the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, saw a man eating with his left hand, he said to him, "Eat with your right hand." The man said, "I cannot." Thereupon, the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, said, "May you not be able to." Thereafter, the man was not able to raise that hand again." My question is: Why did the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, curse the man who refused to eat with his right hand? We know Allah said, {And We have not sent you [O Muhammad] except as a mercy to the worlds.} And in one hadith, we read: Abu Huraira reported that it was said to Allah's Messenger, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, "Invoke curse upon the polytheists," whereupon he said, "I have not been sent as the invoker of curses, but I have been sent as mercy."

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 ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

This hadeeth did not mention 'cursing' at all. The hadeeth was narrated on the authority of Salamah ibn Al-Akwaʻ  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him and reads, "A man ate with his left hand in the presence of the Messenger of Allaah  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) whereupon he said, 'Eat with your right hand.' The man said, 'I cannot.' Thereupon, he (the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention )) said, 'May you not be able to.' It was vanity that prevented him from doing it." [Muslim]

As for the supplication of the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) against this man although he  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) was sent as a mercy to mankind, some of the replies to that are the following:

1) That man was a hypocrite, as evidenced by the fact that he disobeyed the command of the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) out of arrogance and self-conceit. This was the decisive view of Al-Qaadhi ʻIyaadh  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him.

2) He  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) supplicated Allaah against that man because he disobeyed the relevant sharee'ah ruling in general, as decisively stated by Imaam An-Nawawi  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him.

3) The Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) supplicated Allaah against him because of his arrogance; Al-Munaawi  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him wrote, "The fact that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) supplicated against that man was because of his arrogance driving him to disobey the command of the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) as underlined in the hadeeth." [Faydh Al-Qadeer]

Allaah knows best.

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