“There was an orphan girl in the care of Umm Sulaym, the mother of Anas. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw the girl and said, ‘Is that you? You have grown! May you not grow older.’ The orphan girl returned to Umm Sulaym crying. Umm Sulaym said, ‘What is the matter, my dear girl?’ The girl replied, ‘The Prophet of Allah supplicated against me that I should never grow older’—or she said, ‘that my age should never increase.’ Umm Sulaym went out hurriedly, her head covering trailing behind her, until she met the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to her, ‘What is the matter, Umm Sulaym?’ She said, ‘O Prophet of Allah, did you supplicate against my orphan girl?’ He said, ‘What makes you say that, Umm Sulaym?’ She replied, ‘She says that you supplicated that her age would never increase, or that her age should not grow.’ The Messenger of Allah laughed and then said:

‘O Umm Sulaym, do you not know what I stipulated with my Lord? I stipulated with my Lord, saying: I am only a human being; I am pleased as human beings are pleased and become angry as human beings become angry. So if I supplicate against anyone from my ummah with a supplication that he does not deserve, let Him make it for him a means of purification, spiritual growth, and drawing near to Him on the Day of Resurrection.’

84 – ‘O Umm Sulaym, do you not know what I stipulated with my Lord? I stipulated with my Lord, saying: I am only a human being; I am pleased as human beings are pleased and become angry as human beings become angry. So if I supplicate against anyone from my ummah with a supplication that he does not deserve, let Him make it for him a means of purification, spiritual growth, and drawing near to Him on the Day of Resurrection.’

(Narrated from Umm Sulaym):

Imam Muslim then followed this hadith with the hadith of Mu‘awiyah and concluded the chapter with it, thereby indicating—may Allah have mercy on him—that they fall under the same heading and convey the same meaning. Just as the Prophet’s supplication against the orphan did not harm her—in fact, it was a source of purification and a means of drawing nearer to Allah for her—so too was his supplication against Mu‘awiyah.

Imam al-Nawawi said in his commentary on Muslim (2/325, Indian edition):

‘As for his supplication against Mu‘awiyah, there are two explanations:

First: it was an expression that slipped from his tongue without intent.

Second: it was a punishment for him because he was late. Muslim understood from this hadith that Mu‘awiyah did not deserve to be supplicated against; that is why he included it in this chapter, while others classified it among the…’