Friday Sermon: A message to Hushpuppi’s (Abbas) parents!, By Murtadha Gusau

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family and companions.

Dear brothers and sisters! Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, commonly known as Hushpuppi, Hush, or Ray Hushpuppi is a Dubai-based Nigerian Instagram influencer, self-acclaimed real estate mogul, and convicted felon. Born 11 October, 1982 (age 42 years), in Lagos, Nigeria. He married Shawana Nakesia Chapman in 2018.

He was popularly known as Hushpuppi, Hush, Ray Hushpuppi, The Billionaire Gucci Master. And his lifestyle is Fashion and luxury.

He is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence in the United States for international fraud.

As you all know, Hushpuppi’s parents has been reported cursing him for the offence he committed. His mother said:

“I DON’T CARE HOW LONG ABBAS STAYS THERE, HE NEVER CARED WHEN HE WAS OUT! I CURSE THE DAY I BIRTH HIM!!!”

“The day I gave birth to him, people celebrated and adorned themselves in powder, but I never imagined he would grow up to bring shame upon our family.
I sold bread alongside his father, who drives a taxi, to send him to secondary school. We even enrolled him in a program to learn mechanics, but he chose a life of crime. No mother should have to endure the shame of a son like Abbas. He has brought nothing but disgrace. People tell me they see him on that thing you call ‘social media,’ driving fancy cars and wear!ng expensive clothes, yet here I am, still selling bread while his father drives a taxi on hire purchase. Do you consider me a proud parent? No, not at all. He can stay there as long as he wants because he means nothing to us. May Allah have mercy on him if he chooses to return the money he stole.” ~ Hushpuppi’s (Abbas) Mother

His father also said:

“I SUPPORT MY WIFE, ABBAS SHOULD NEVER COME OUT, I INVESTED SO MUCH ON HIM BUT HE TREATED ME LIKE I WASN’T HIS FATHER.”

“Just look at our lives, everyday we cry and wish we can get back our normal lives on how it used to be. I drive taxis and sometimes I will hear people gossip and tell each other “ehen Na Hushpuppi father be that wey I don dey tell you.” We aren’t sad that we didn’t eat his money but sad because of the shame he brought upon us. I am an honest, hardworking man who makes a decent living but Abbas has brought me so much shame. I feel I have failed to raise him up responsibly. They should keep him there for as long as until he changes from his evil ways.” ~ Hushpuppi’s father

Dear brothers and sisters! Yes, there’s no argument, Abbas (Hushpuppi) has committed a grave mistakes in his life; the mistake of not taking care of his parents, the mistake of fraud and so on. But let’s all understand that, any kind of offence he have had committed, Abbas didn’t deserve to be cursed by anybody, talk less of his parents.

Respected brothers and sisters! Cursing your own child is one of the worst things you could do to him. No matter what, forgive him, pray for his guidance and goodness rather than curse him. The effect of a curse of a parent against his own child can be severe, so abstain from it.

Sadly sometimes even when parents are totally wrong, they still curse their children. Such a curse may be a means of the downfall of that parent rather than the child. Spread a good prayer for each other rather than words of curse for each other.

Uttering curses is a very delicate and dangerous issue in Islam. One should be very careful not to incur the curse of someone and one should also be careful about uttering a curse, for a curse is something that takes its effect. If the person is deserving of the curse, it will affect him/her and if the person is not truly deserving of the curse, it will rebound on to the one who has uttered the curse and it will affect him/her.

Abud Darda (RA) reports that Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said:

“When a person utters a curse, it ascends to the sky and the doors of the sky are shut on it, then it descends to the earth and the doors of the earth are shut on it, then it goes to the right and left, looking for a way to escape but it cannot escape. So it then goes to the one who has been cursed. If the person is deserving of the curse, it afflicts him/her and if the person is not deserving of the curse, it rebounds onto the one who has uttered the curse and afflicts him/her.” [Abu Dawud reported the Hadith]

Cursing our own children has serious long term negative effects. Rather keep praying for their goodness without losing hope.

And when the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) guided the one who was seeking salvation to control his tongue, this was an indication of the grave dangers of the tongue, particularly when one gives it free rein. Getting used to abusing and cursing is one of the greatest dangers of the tongue. Many people think too lightly of this and therefore curse their children, curse their leaders, curse their country, curse their means of transportation, curse those who contradict their views, and even those with whom they are joking. Hence, I will state some of what was reported in warning against the dangers of cursing and making a habit of this.

Cursing means the deprivation and exclusion of goodness or of the Mercy of Allah (The Creator) The Almighty, and this can never be the habit of the Muslim believers. The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said:

“The believer does not slander, curse, or speak in an obscene or foul manner.”

In a Hadith on the authority of Abu Hurairah, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:

“It does not befit a man of truth to be a curser.”

Cursing a believer is a great crime that a Muslim should never dare to commit. To illustrate the enormity of this crime, it is enough to mention the Hadith where the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said:

“Cursing a believer is like killing him.”

Commenting on this Hadith, Imam An-Nawawi said:

“According to the apparent meaning of the Hadith, both killing and cursing are equal in prohibition, however, killing is graver.”

Other Islamic scholars said:

“Cursing a believer is like killing him with respect to prohibition, guilt and deprivation. This is because cursing is deprivation of the mercy of Allah The Almighty, and killing is deprivation of life.”

As mentioned earlier, when a person curses something that does not deserve to be cursed, the curse rebounds and comes back onto him, even if that which is cursed is the subjugated wind. In a Hadith, on the authority of Abdullah Ibn Abbas, it was mentioned that the wind blew away a man’s outer garment and, thereupon, he cursed the wind. The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said to him:

“Do not curse the wind because it is commanded [by Allah to blow]. Whoever curses something and it does not deserve the curse, the curse will turn back upon him.”

People often think of this as something trivial and they curse even their animals as well as their means of transport. Such people are heedless of the fact that doing so, they themselves mix with cursed things. It was narrated that the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was on a journey on which there was also a woman from the Ansar riding a she-camel. The she-camel annoyed her and so she cursed it. Having heard her, the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) said:

“Take off the load on its back and set it free because it is cursed.”’

According to the consensus (Ijma’) of the Islamic scholars, cursing is prohibited. Imam An-Nawawi said:

“There is a consensus (Ijma) among the Islamic scholars that cursing is prohibited. Linguistically, cursing means to deprive or expel. In the Shari’ah, it means deprivation of the Mercy of Allah The Exalted. For a person whose status and end are not decisively known, it is not permissible to deprive him of the Mercy of Allah The Almighty. Therefore, they [the Islamic scholars] have said: ‘It is not permissible to curse a specific person, whether he is a Muslim or a disbeliever, unless there is a Shari’ah text that tells us that a specific person died or will die as a disbeliever, like Abu Jahl and Shaitan (Satan); and it is impermissible to curse a mount. However, cursing by general description is permitted such as cursing women who artificially lengthen their hair or those who have their hair artificially lengthened for them, women who tattoo or have themselves tattooed, the two parties of a Riba [interest] transaction, those who produce images, evildoers, oppressors, disbelievers, those who misappropriate public funds and those who misappropriate the limits of their land. This is general cursing that does not specify someone in particular.”

The Muslim Ummah (nation) has been afflicted by some of its youth who joke with each other only by sending curses and abuse, as they recklessly curse fathers and mothers. They do this despite the fact that this is one of the grave major sins as the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said:

“One of the gravest of grave major sins is when a person abuses his parents.”

It was then asked:

“O Messenger of Allah, is it possible that one could abuse his own parents?”

The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) replied:

“Yes, when he abuses the father or mother of another person and the latter returns the insult.”

Parents are the cause behind one’s existence in this life and so they should not be harmed, even by as little as being shown the signs of tedium and annoyance in front of them by using the word “uff.” Therefore, what about those who curse their parents? These people are in fact committing a grave major sin and deserve the Du’a and supplication of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) against them as in the Hadith where he said:

“May Allah curse the one who slaughters for the sake of anything other than Allah, the one who shelters a man who causes mischief upon the earth, and the one who curses his parents.”

If cursing is dangerous, obscene and offensive to that extent, then the Muslim believer, who seeks salvation on the Day when neither wealth nor children will be of benefit to him, must refine and purify his tongue from this disaster. He should recall the prohibition of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) in the Hadith where he said:

“Do not curse one another invoking the curse of Allah, the wrath of Allah, or the fire of Hell.”

Respected servants of Allah! Now, let’s all understand that Abbas (Hushpuppi) and all of us are in needs of our parent’s forgiveness and good prayers, not their curse.

So I’m sending this message to the Abbas’s parents, to their son and to all the parents and children drawing their attention to their respective obligations, in the spirit of Islam.

And please, let our respected and esteemed Islamic scholars reach out to the Abbas’s parents, in order to guide them through this very dangerous situation.

Dear brothers and sisters! I ask Allah The Almighty to purify our tongues, purify our hearts and our bodies from everything that stirs His wrath.

I also pray, may Allah accept all our Ibadah (worship) and supplications, May He guide our leaders and provide us with a lasting peace, unity and progress in our beloved country Nigeria, ameen Ya Mujib!

All perfect praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May the peace, blessings and salutations of Allah be upon our noble Messenger, Muhammad (Peace be upon him), and upon his family, his Companions and his true followers.

Murtadha Muhammad Gusau is the Chief Imam of: Nagazi-Uvete Jumu’ah Mosque; and Late Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Okene Mosque, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via: gusauimam@gmail.com; or +2348038289761.

This Friday sermon (Jumu’ah Khutbah) was prepared for delivery today Friday, 18 Jumadal Akhirah, 1446 AH (December 20, 2024).