In the early periods of Islamic history political, doctrinal, and social divisions gave rise to many conflicts and problems. One of the significant consequences of these conflicts was the institutionalization of the phenomenon of “cursing” over time. This dissertation focused to examine this historical phenomenon of cursing from multiple perspectives. The study attempted to demonstrate how cursing transformed into a tool both in individual reactions and in socio-political events.

The dissertation consists of introduction, two main chapter and conclusion. The introduction covers the research problem, purpose, significance, and methodology. In the first chapter, the concept of cursing is evaluated in the Quran sources and Hadiths. Additionally, the semantic structure of the concept of “la'n” and analyzed its use in classical sources. This chapter also addresses the historical development of the cursing phenomenon in light of socio-cultural, political, and religious factors. In particular, the cultural characteristics of Arab society, the deep-rooted understanding of among Arab tribes, and the intertwining of Arab literature with the concept of cursing are evaluated as the main reasons that paved the way for the institutionalization of cursing.

In the second chapter, the practical and discursive dimensions of the cursing phenomenon are examined in detail. In this chapter we tired to answer to questions such as who are the cursing and cursed parties, which discourses and expressions were preferred, and what are the duration and means of cursing. Additionally, in this chapter presented classical works featuring cursing, the social and individual effects of this discourse, and historical efforts to prevent cursing with concrete examples. As a result, it is shown that cursing became a religious tool in individual contexts and political struggles. The data in this study were gathered and interpreted using text analysis and the historical method, both of which are qualitative research approaches.