The Slanderer

Al Humazah

Verses

Revelation

Makki

Period

Early Meccan

Surah No.

104 / 114

Overview

Condemns the one who disparages people to their face and behind their back, who counts his wealth as though it were a shield against death, and names the specific Fire prepared for him: al-Hutamah, the Crusher, whose flame reaches the very hearts and closes over its inmates in outstretched columns.

أسباب النزول

Occasion of Revelation (Asbab al-Nuzul)

Reports name several wealthy Qurayshi figures, among them al-Akhnas ibn Shurayq, Umayya ibn Khalaf and al-Walid ibn al-Mughira, who mocked the Prophet ﷺ and the believers openly and privately, and boasted that their fortunes made them untouchable. Ibn Kathir treats the surah as a general censure of anyone who lives by that same combination of contempt for others and confidence in wealth.

Key Themes

Slander and backbiting as wounds inflicted with wordsFalse security in counted wealth against the certainty of deathAl-Hutamah, the Fire whose flame reaches the heart itselfPunishment fitted to the sin: the heart that harboured malice is what the fire reachesPerpetual, sealed punishment for arrogant, harmful conduct

Notable Verses

104:1-3

“Woe to every scorner and mocker, who collects wealth and counts it, thinking that his wealth will make him immortal.”

Al-Qurtubi distinguishes humazah, one who disparages to the face with word and gesture, from lumazah, one who slanders behind the back, and notes the surah condemns both as one figure, since the two behaviours usually accompany each other. The verb counts, from a root meaning to enumerate and hoard, pictures a man returning again and again to tally his fortune, treating the number itself as a source of security rather than what it is used for.