The Festival of Cursing (ʿĪd al-Mubāhala)

The Festival of Cursing is a Shia holiday that takes place on the 24th of Dhul-Hijjah. On this occasion, the theological dispute between a Christian delegation from Najran (in the southwest of present-day Saudi Arabia) and the Prophet Muhammad is commemorated. In the dispute, according to tradition, the question was whether Jesus was God or man. The Prophet Muhammad was said to have been accompanied by his cousin ʿAlī, his daughter Fāṭima, and his two grandsons Ḥasan and Ḥusayn (the sons of ʿAlī and Fāṭima). Due to the apparent disagreement regarding the theological question of the nature of Jesus, they tried to resolve the dispute by agreeing to jointly invoke God's curse upon the liars; that is, to curse the liars.