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Fatwa CenterThe reason for the Prophet's supplication against the man who ate with his left hand
Question
Dear respected Scholar, can you please explain the following hadith to me: When the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, saw a man eating with his left hand, he said to him, "Eat with your right hand." The man said, "I cannot." Thereupon, the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, said, "May you not be able to." Thereafter, the man was not able to raise that hand again." My question is: Why did the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, curse the man who refused to eat with his right hand? We know Allah said, {And We have not sent you [O Muhammad] except as a mercy to the worlds.} And in one hadith, we read: Abu Huraira reported that it was said to Allah's Messenger, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, "Invoke curse upon the polytheists," whereupon he said, "I have not been sent as the invoker of curses, but I have been sent as mercy."
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
This hadeeth did not mention 'cursing' at all. The hadeeth was narrated on the authority of Salamah ibn Al-Akwaʻ 
and reads, "A man ate with his left hand in the presence of the Messenger of Allaah whereupon he said, 'Eat with your right hand.' The man said, 'I cannot.' Thereupon, he (the Prophet ) said, 'May you not be able to.' It was vanity that prevented him from doing it." [Muslim]
As for the supplication of the Prophet against this man although he was sent as a mercy to mankind, some of the replies to that are the following:
1) That man was a hypocrite, as evidenced by the fact that he disobeyed the command of the Prophet out of arrogance and self-conceit. This was the decisive view of Al-Qaadhi ʻIyaadh 
.
2) He supplicated Allaah against that man because he disobeyed the relevant sharee'ah ruling in general, as decisively stated by Imaam An-Nawawi .
3) The Prophet supplicated Allaah against him because of his arrogance; Al-Munaawi wrote, "The fact that the Prophet supplicated against that man was because of his arrogance driving him to disobey the command of the Prophet as underlined in the hadeeth." [Faydh Al-Qadeer]
Allaah knows best.
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