in al-Kabīr (3/179) with a fair chain of transmission: “Whoever harms the Muslims on their roads incurs their curse.”
6 – It is permissible to invoke a curse upon the one who does something that harms the Muslims.
7 – A curse means praying that a person be driven away from the mercy of Allah. It is a supplication uttered by those who have been wronged, and the Prophet ﷺ said: “Beware the supplication of the oppressed, for there is no barrier between it and Allah.” (Al-Bukhārī 1496; Muslim 19).
8 – So safeguard yourselves against people’s curses, which arise from their loathing and detestation of whoever commits this act and from their calling down curses upon him; and safeguard yourselves as well against the curse of Allah when people pray against you, saying, “O Allah, curse whoever did this.” Place a shield between yourselves and such curses by abstaining from relieving yourselves or urinating in these places.
9 – The ḥadith showcases the perfection and loftiness of the Islamic law: it is founded on cleanliness and purity, far removed from filth and grime, and it warns against whatever harms people in their bodies, their religion, or their character. Allah the Exalted says: “And those who harm believing men and believing women for what they did not earn have certainly borne upon themselves a slander and an obvious sin.” (Al-Aḥzāb 33:58).
10 – It also illustrates the comprehensive nature of the Sharia: it has left no good without calling to it and no evil without warning against it. Even concerning these particular places, it guides people and clarifies for them where they may relieve themselves and the spots they must avoid.
11 – The ḥadith points to a legal principle: when an instigator (mutasabbib) and a direct agent (mubāshir) are both involved,
• if the action of each is independent of the other, liability and sin fall upon the direct agent;
• but if the direct action rests upon the cause set in motion by the instigator, the instigator bears the burden—as in the example mentioned in the ḥadith: the sin lies in the act of cursing performed by the one who curses the person who relieves himself in the roadway, yet the instigator of that curse is