Surah Al-Humazah, The Slanderer

Surah 104 · 9 verses · revealed at Mecca

Al-Humazah is nine verses aimed at one kind of person: the one who slanders and mocks, who has gathered wealth and counted it over.

The two things are joined deliberately. The surah puts the habit of belittling other people next to the habit of counting money, and treats them as the same fault seen from two sides.

It says that he thinks his wealth will make him last forever, and answers that he will certainly be thrown into the crusher. Then it asks what could make you know what the crusher is, and describes a fire kindled by God that rises over the hearts.

The detail about the hearts is the one commentators return to. The fire described is not said to reach the body first; the surah says it climbs to the place where the contempt was kept.

It closes with the image of it closed in over them, in columns stretched out. The surah names nobody, and early reports differ about whether a particular man of Mecca was meant. It has been recited as a general warning ever since, and is often taught to children alongside the instruction not to mock anyone.

The two words in its opening verse are close in meaning and scholars have separated them carefully: one taken as mocking someone with gestures and looks, the other with words behind their back. The surah condemns both in the same breath.

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