Surat Al-Humazah (The Traducer)
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This Surah was revealed at Makkah and is one of the early Surahs.
Major Issue, Divine Law and Guidance:
● The slanderer, defamer and stingy shall be thrown into the blazing fire.
This Surah condemns the evils which are prevalent among the materialistic hoarders of wealth. After stating this kind of ugly character, the ultimate end of such a people in the Hereafter is told. Both of these things (i. e., the character and one's fate in the Hereafter) are depicted in a way which makes the listener reach the conclusion that such a man deserves to meet such an end. And since in the world, people of such character may not suffer and appear to be thriving instead, the occurrence of the Hereafter becomes absolutely inevitable.
If this Surah is read in the sequence from the Surahs beginning with Az-Zalzalah, one can fully understand the fundamental beliefs of Islam. In Surah Az-Zalzalah, it was said that in the Hereafter, man's full record will be placed before him and not an atom's weight of good or evil done by him in the world will have been left unrecorded. In Surah Al-'Adiyât, attention was drawn to the plunder, loot, bloodshed and vandalism, prevailing in Arabia before Islam; then making the people realize, that the way the powers given by Allah were being abused, was indeed an expression of sheer ingratitude to Him which deserves punishment. In Surah Al-Qari'ah, after depicting the Resurrection, the people were warned that in the Hereafter, a man's good or evil end will be dependent on whether the scale of his good deeds was heavier, or the scale of his evil deeds was heavier. In Surah At-Takathur the people were taken to task for their materialistic mentality because of which, they remained occupied in seeking increase in worldly benefits, pleasures, comforts and position. They were warned that they would have to render an account to their Rabb and Sustainer as to how they obtained it and how they used it. In Surah Al-'Asr, it was declared that each member, each group and each community of mankind, even the entire world, was in manifest loss, if its members were devoid of faith, righteous deeds and the practice of exhorting others to truth and patience. Immediately after this comes Surah Al-Humazah, in which, after presenting a specimen of leadership of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, the people are asked the question: "What should such character deserve, if not loss and perdition?"
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slander is, and has been, one of the most effective weapons of propaganda used against believers throughout history. The Qur’an alludes to this behavior when it says: “The evil-doers mock the faithful and wink at one another as they pass by them” (al- Mu~affifÏn: 29–30). In modern times, propaganda and psychological warfare of this kind have been much more systematic and effective.
As the Qur’anic revelation was being received by Muhammad, groups of Makkans who were wealthy and did not need to earn their livelihood would gather together to mock the Muslims and scoff at Muhammad and Islam. This surah was revealed as a warning and a threat to those slanderers. It says: “Woe to every back-biting slan- derer who amasses wealth and sedulously hoards it, thinking his wealth will secure him immortality” (1–3).
Slanderous activity takes various forms including verbal jeering and abuse, or gestures and gesticulations. It can be expressed in writ- ing or caricatures or depictions of all kinds. Slanderers are usually idle people, with money and time to spare, or people who are paid to pursue such wasteful and futile activity.
They should, however, beware God’s wrath, for He says: “He [the slanderer] shall be thrown into the all-consuming fire. And what will explain to you what the all-consuming fire is like? It is God’s own raging fire, which will scorch the hearts and engulf the slanderers from every side, in towering columns” (4–9). They shall be entrapped in a towering inferno, from which they shall have no means of escape.