It is still an open problem whether the inhibition phenomenon of Rayleigh--Taylor (RT) instability by horizontal magnetic field can be mathematically proved in a non-resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) fluid in a two-dimensional (2D) horizontal slab domain, since it had been roughly verified by a 2D linearized motion equations in 2012 cite{WYC}. In this paper, we find that this inhibition phenomenon can be rigorously verified in the inhomogeneous, incompressible, inviscid case with velocity damping. More precisely, there exists a critical number $m_{rm{C}}$ such that if the strength $|m|$ of horizontal magnetic field is bigger than $m_{rm{C}}$, then the small perturbation solution around the magnetic RT equilibrium state is exponentially stable in time. Our result is also the first mathematical one based on the nonlinear motion equations for the proof of inhibition of flow instabilities by a horizontal magnetic field in a horizontal slab domain. In addition, we also provide a nonlinear instability result for the case $|m|in [0,m_{rm{C}})$. Our instability result presents that horizontal magnetic field can not inhibit the RT instability, if its strength is to small.
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