Does Islam Order the Insulting of Non-Muslims? — Contextualizing the Harsh Prophetic Hadiths
The basis of dealing according to the religion of Allah is kindness and gentleness — and the harsh expressions found in certain hadith narrations are not the norm for treatment, but exceptions permitted only in specific contexts of oppression and transgression. Some critics cite hadiths containing harsh language — such as the Prophet’s statement about biting with the father’s name, and Hamza’s statement during a duel — and generalize them to claim that Islam orders Muslims to insult non-Muslims. This claim ignores the Quranic foundation of Islamic conduct, the conditions and contexts of those specific hadiths, and the explicit prophetic prohibition against a believer being obscene or vulgar.
The Quranic Foundation — Kindness Is the Principle
“And speak to people kindly.”
Among the established matters is that Islam forbids everything that harms others in word or deed. It forbade mockery and name-calling.
“O you who have believed, let not a people ridicule another people; perhaps they may be better than them; nor let women ridicule other women; perhaps they may be better than them. And do not insult one another and do not insult one another by offensive nicknames. Wretched is the name that is disobedience after faith, and whoever does not repent — then it is those who are the wrongdoers.”
Islam also forbade backbiting:
“And let not some of you backbite others.”
Rather, Islam demanded that those who oppose it be debated in the best way:
“Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best. Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has strayed from His way, and He is most knowing of the rightly guided ones.”
The Prophetic Prohibition Against Obscenity and Vulgarity
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “A believer is not a slanderer, nor a curser, nor obscene, nor vulgar.”
In this noble prophetic hadith, the Prophet denied that a believer should have any faults of slander — attacking others’ lineage — and denied him from cursing a great deal and seeking to expel others from the mercy of Allah, the Most High, which encompasses everything. He also denied the believer from committing obscenities and from uttering ugly words.
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “There is no obscenity in anything except that it disfigures it, and there is no modesty in anything except that it adorns it.”
This is because modesty prevents the generous from uttering what is not appropriate for him from obscenities and words that hurt feelings.
If religion is behavior, and if the origin of Islam is the call to good treatment according to what is mentioned in the noble verses and hadiths, then the claim that Islam calls for insulting non-Muslims in general is refuted by the foundational texts of the religion itself.
The Key Question — What About Aggressors and Oppressors?
The question that those who raise this objection never ask is: What is required of a Muslim when he sees a person’s injustice and transgression against Allah Almighty, the Prophet, and the believers in their lives, their honor, and their religion? Should he look at him and say to himself, “May Allah forgive you,” and leave him to transgress and harm the believers?
“The sacred month is for the sacred month, and for the sacred things there is legal retribution. So whoever transgresses against you, transgress against him in proportion to his transgression against you. And fear Allah and know that Allah is with the righteous.”
Tolerance, compassion, mercy, and gentleness are required and are the principle urged by the Shariah:
“So by mercy from Allah, you were lenient with them. And if you had been rude in speech and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you.”
But when these are not in their place, this is from weakness and lack of wisdom. The believer is not weak in the face of insults and harm from others. Confronting the oppressor and letting him hear what he hates is what will silence his foul tongue and protect the believers from his evils. This remains a message to everyone who dares to attack the believers — because he knows they will respond to this attack and not meet it with weakness and turn the other cheek, so that they are not exposed to every oppressor who dares to attack and oppress, and there is no protection for the believers from the spiteful tongues who want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths.
The Rule on Stating Private Parts — When Necessity Permits
It is known that it is not permissible to state the name of the private parts except when there is a necessity or when the interest requires it — such as the prescribed punishments (hudud). In the prescribed punishment for adultery, insinuations and hints are of no use because the matter may lead to the death of a person, so careful investigation is necessary to prove the fact of adultery in fact. Otherwise, a person’s life will be lost in vain. This is from the perspective of preserving life. And when fighting enemies, harsh speech may be used to annoy them and weaken their morale.
These hadiths which the enemies of truth try to use as a weapon against the religion of Allah Almighty are used against the arrogant and unjust — those who transgress against the believers and fight them.
The Two Specific Hadiths Under Objection
The First Hadith — “Bite His Father”
In the first hadith, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, orders this treatment for those who seek condolences with the condolences of the Age of Ignorance. Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned in Zad al-Ma’ad:
“Mentioning them by the father here is the best reminder for this arrogant person with the claim of the Age of Ignorance about the organ from which it emerged, which is his father’s organ, so he should not overstep his bounds.”
So whoever is biased towards the people of his town, his sect, his method, or his relatives, and with this bias wants to divide the community of Islam and be arrogant towards others by mentioning his family and his household — then remind such an arrogant person of his own self and how it emerged from his father’s organ. In this reminder there is the most powerful reprimand.
The Second Hadith — Hamza’s Words During a Duel
As for the second hadith in which the words of Hamza, may Allah be pleased with him, are mentioned — he was in a fight and a duel with an aggressor. Is a place of physical combat and dueling one where it is acceptable to demand kindness in speech? Every situation has its own appropriate saying. Placing things in their proper place is not a fault.
The Quranic Permission for the Wronged to Speak
“Allah does not like the public mention of evil except by one who has been wronged. And ever is Allah Hearing and Knowing.”
The principle is not to speak evil aloud — but there is an exception for the wronged person, to protect him from the oppressor and to silence him and stop his oppression of himself and those around him. Speaking with kindness and advice will not work with every oppressor.
“And when it is said to him, ‘Fear Allah,’ pride in sin takes hold of him. Sufficient for him is Hell, and wretched is the resting place.”
Logic says that when leniency fails, there is severity — and the believer may be forced to this, because this is the way that protects the believers from the evil of the unjust. This treatment is not for non-Muslims in general at all, but only for those who have been wrongdoers.
“There shall be no aggression except against the wrongdoers.”
The Response to This Criticism of Islam
What we see now is criticism of Islam because it treats the wrongdoer as he deserves — and a demand that Islam treat wrongdoers and the righteous equally. Islam does not do that, because it is a religion of justice.
“Say: Not equal are the evil and the good, even though the abundance of the evil might impress you. So fear Allah, you of understanding, that you may succeed.”
“And not equal are the blind and the seeing, nor those who believe and do righteous deeds and the evildoer. Little is what you remember.”
If people are divided into several groups, Islam teaches how to deal with each group. We deal with good people — whether Muslims or non-Muslims — with kindness and gentleness. However, we tell the oppressor who harms others what he hates. If he stops, we stop. If he returns, we return to the same, until he stops his oppression and harm.
The Comparative Argument — Harsh Language in the Bible
Those who raise this objection against Islamic texts should note what exists in the book they claim was revealed by the Lord.
“Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him: ‘You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?’”
“You will stumble by day, and the prophet will stumble with you by night, and I will destroy your mother.”
“And say: What is your mother? A lioness that lies down among lions, and raises her cubs among the young lions.”
“At the head of every way you have built your high place, and have defiled your beauty; you have spread your feet to every passerby, and have multiplied your harlotry.”
These are passages from the biblical text, in the books that critics claim were revealed by the Lord. If harsh language in the context of rebuke and warfare is evidence against a religion, then those who raise this criticism have a far greater obligation to answer for what exists in their own scripture.
Islam does not order the insulting of non-Muslims in general. The foundational Quranic position is kindness in speech, prohibition of mockery and name-calling, prohibition of backbiting, and the command to debate opponents in the best manner. The Prophet explicitly denied that a believer is a slanderer, curser, obscene person, or vulgar person. The harsh expressions found in certain hadiths — such as the expression about the condolence of the Age of Ignorance and Hamza’s words during a duel — apply in specific contexts of oppression, transgression, and active combat. The Quran itself grants the wronged person permission to speak what would otherwise be impermissible in public. Allah does not treat the wrongdoer and the righteous equally, and Islam is a religion of justice, not false equivalence. The demand that Islam meet every attack with passivity is a demand for a religion stripped of justice and self-defense — and those who make it have not accounted for the far harsher expressions found in the very scriptural texts they hold sacred.