Al-Haj Karriem Shabazz

Why Allah Forbids Bullying! Al-Haj Karriem Shabazz

Calling somebody a sinner or a hypocrite, or calling someone a lame or blind, or one-eyed, or giving him a nickname containing a reference to some defect or flaw in him/her, or his parents, or in his family, or giving such a nickname to a person, or a family, or a community, or a group, which may bring disapproval or disgrace on it. Only those nicknames have been made an exception from this Command, which though offensive, are not intended to disapprove of the persons concerned, but they instead serve as a mark of recognition for them. If there are several men with the same name and a particular man among them may be recognized only by a particular title or nickname of his, the title or nickname can be used, even though the title by itself may be offensive. For instance, if there are several men called Abdullah, and one of them is blind, he may be called Abdullah the blind, only for recognition purposes. Those titles also are not a part of this Command, which though offensive, are in fact, given out of love and the people who are called by those titles themselves approve of them, like Abu Hurairah (father of the kitten).