Hadith: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) forbade throwing stones and said: It does not kill the quarry or harm the enemy. Instead, it can gouge out an eye or break a tooth

عن عبد الله بن مغفل رضي الله عنهما قال: نَهَى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم عن الخَذْف، وقال: «إِنَّه لاَ يَقتُلُ الصَّيدَ، ولاَ يَنْكَأُ العَدُوَّ، وإِنَّهُ يَفْقَأُ العَيْنَ، ويَكسِرُ السِّنَ». وفي رواية: أن قَرِيباً لابن مغفل خَذَفَ فنَهَاه، وقال: إن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم نهى عن الخَذْفِ، وقال: «إِنَّهَا لاَ تَصِيدُ صَيداً» ثم عاد، فقال: أُحَدِّثُك أنَّ رسول الله نهى عنه، ثم عُدتَ تَخذِفُ! لا أُكَلِّمُكَ أَبَداً.
[صحيح] - [متفق عليه والرواية الثانية لفظ مسلم]

‘Abdullāh ibn Mughaffal (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) forbade throwing stones and said: "It does not kill the quarry or harm the enemy. Instead, it can gouge out an eye or break a tooth." Another narration reads: "A relative of Ibn Mughaffal threw a stone (using the index finger and the thumb), and he forbade him, saying: 'The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) forbade throwing stones and said: 'It does not hunt a quarry.'' Then, he did it again. So, Ibn Mughaffal said: ‘I tell you that the Messenger of Allah forbade that and you do it again! I shall never talk to you again.'"
[Authentic hadith] - [Narrated by Bukhari & Muslim]

Explanation

‘Abdullāh ibn Mughaffal (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) forbade throwing stones and said: "It does not kill the quarry." Another narration reads: "It does not hunt the game" - "or harm the enemy. Instead, it can gouge out an eye or break a tooth." Scholars said that the prohibited “throwing”, which is intended in this Hadīth, is the kind of throwing where one places a pebble between the right index finger and the left index finger or between the index finger and thumb, then placing the pebble on the thumb and flicking it with the index finger or placing it on the index finger and flicking it with the thumb. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) forbade this and justified it by saying that it can gouge out an eye or break a tooth if it hits someone and it cannot catch the quarry, because it is not strong enough, and it cannot ward off the enemy, because the enemy is repulsed by arrows, not by small pebbles. Then, one of his relatives came out and started throwing pebbles. So, he prohibited him from doing so and told him that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) forbade that. Then, he saw him doing that again, and he said: "I told you that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) forbade throwing stones, and you are still doing it! I shall never speak to you again." He disassociated from him because he did something that violated a prohibition of the Prophet, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him).