The Question of Imprecation

By: Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn at-Tabataba'i

Question
In “Al-Tafsir al-Mizan” you say that even in this age any believer who encounters the appropriate situation may perform imprecation [mubahalah]. Can just any believer undertake this grave task?

Answer
There are indications in the Qur’anic verse in which the issue of imprecation is mentioned (3:61) from which we may deduce that it is a general practice, not a one-time event that happened between the Prophet and the Christians of Najran. Moreover, there are hadiths narrated from the Imams that clearly indicate that all believers may perform imprecation when the circumstances call for it.
In a debate that Imam al-Baqir had with ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umayr Laythi on the question of temporary marriage, the Imam invites his opponent, when neither succeeded in convincing the other, to engage in mutual imprecation. In another hadith, the Imam advises a Shi‘ah, who had been engaged in theological debates with some Sunni scholars, to call his opponents to enter upon mutual imprecation. Thus we can conclude that imprecation is a general solution that God has established in support of the defenders of truth.