In the name of God, The most Gracious, The most Merciful

{وَ لا تَسُبُّوا الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ فَيَسُبُّوا اللَّهَ عَدْواً بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ}

God, the Exalted says:

"Revile not ye those whom they call upon besides Allah, lest they out of spite Revile Allah in their ignorance."

The holy Quran explicitly prohibits us from ill-speaking, cursing, and imprecating those deviating from the right path as this makes them disrespect the creator of the world.

Paying enough attention, we can notice a general criterion in this Nobel verse.

Doing anything that can provoke people's hostility and cause them to do wrong deeds is prohibited.

Therefore, ill-speaking, cursing, and imprecating those who are respected by a group, especially if they are followers of a heavenly and divine religion, is not allowed.

It is clear that If these actions, whether directly or indirectly result in murder, massacre, destruction and loss of life and property of the others, they are sure unlawful, and those in charge should be held accountable both in this world and the hereafter.

Such cursing and swearing may be virtual or real, taking the form of poems, panegyric or even eulogy or mourning or theater and cinematic atmosphere

No matter what the nature of the action is, it brings about murder, massacre, and damage to the life, honor and property of the people.

Considering this general introduction, in the world where nothing remains secret, satellites, security forces, spy networks, and modern and speedy mass media ,ranging from internet, radio, television, mobile phones to the other reporting devices, broadcast the events.

Cursing the leaders of godly religions, especially the divine prophets, the Muslim caliphs and their successors, the prominent in Islam, and in a word the caliphs in the early eras of Islam, the Prophet's wives and his children is not permitted.

Not only the effect of these actions causes division and dispersion among Islamic Ummah, but also it is the source of numerous conflicts in different parts of the Islamic world, and it is evidently religiously forbidden.

The practice and behavior of the guiding Imams especially the commander of the faithful, Imam Ali, is testimony to this claim.

And in general, ill-speaking, cursing and imprecating have never been an effective tool for stating any true ideas.

We should not ignore the point that the research for substantiating a fact by scholars, scientists and the elite, whether individually or in a group, in scientific, educational and research centers of seminaries and universities should be conducted away from any bias, partiality and politicization.

The scientific advances in all fields of humanities, religious ideological studies or other scientific disciplines are dependent on impartiality and objectivity, not friendship or hostility.

It is hoped that the various classes of the Muslim Ummah know the time and circumstances of today's world, consider these issues more cautiously, and act more sensibility and logically so that they will be protected by God. Amen.

Mohammad Yazdi

Chairman of the Supreme Council of Qom Seminary Teachers' society.