483 – Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ cursed the woman who wails and the one who comes to listen to her.” Recorded by Abū Dāwūd ⦗1⦘.

Degree of the ḥadīth: Weak.

Al-Talkhīṣ states: “Aḥmad (11228) transmitted it through the chain of Abū Saʿīd, and Abū Ḥātim declared it objectionable. Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it from Ibn ʿUmar, and Ibn ʿAdī from Abū Hurayrah; all of these routes are weak.”

I say: It was therefore judged weak by Abū Ḥātim, Ibn Ḥajar, and Ibn al-Mulqin.

Vocabulary of the ḥadīth:
• laʿana (he cursed): to expel and distance someone from all good. The object is malʿūn (accursed), the doer lāʿin (one who curses), and the intensive form laʿʿān. Al-Taʿrīfāt explains: when the curse comes from Allah it means casting the servant far away under His wrath; from a human being it is a supplication that the person incur Allah’s wrath.
• an-nāʾiḥah (the wailing woman): nīyāḥah is raising the voice in lament, listing the virtues of the deceased. Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ said: “Nīyāḥah is the gathering of women to weep over the dead.”
• al-mustamiʿah (the listener): the one who deliberately comes to hear the wailing.