491 – ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Do not revile the dead, for they have already reached the consequences of what they sent ahead.” Narrated by al-Bukhārī. (1)

Al-Tirmidhī related a similar report from al-Mughīrah, but with the wording, “so that you do not harm the living.” (2)

Hadith grading
The additional phrase recorded by al-Tirmidhī is sound (ḥasan).
The report from Ibn ʿAbbās containing the wording “and thereby harm the living” comes through several routes in al-Ṭabarānī’s al-Kabīr (8/25). Although each chain is individually weak, they corroborate one another. Imām Aḥmad also included it in his Musnad (17744). Al-Haythamī remarked, “Aḥmad’s transmitters are those of the authentic collections,” and al-Suyūṭī judged it sound in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr.

Lexical notes
• “Do not revile (lā tasubbū)” – sabb denotes insult, abuse, or censure, thus encompassing every statement or gesture intended to injure the one targeted—whether by cursing, invoking damnation, belittlement, and the like. And Allah knows best.
• “They have gone on (afḍaw)” – meaning: they have arrived at the outcome of whatever good or evil they did. One says, “afḍaytu ilā shayʾ,” i.e., “I reached it,” as in al-Miṣbāḥ al-Munīr.
• “What they sent ahead (mā qaddamū)” – what they forwarded for themselves of deeds, i.e., the recompense for those deeds.