Chapter 104 - 14
The Slanderer (Surah Al-Humazah)
(9 verses in total; revealed in early Makkan period)
Another short chapter directed to some of adversaries of the Prophet, especially those who were blinded by their wealth and could not tolerate Prophet’s call for social justice and equity among the people. They are warned of dire consequences that their future and their situation in the afterlife will be precarious and different from their current unjust and arrogant dominance in their tribal societies.
Key themes in this short chapter are as follows:
People blinded by enormous wealth want more and feel that wealth gives them permanence and a license to be arrogant
The reality is that they incur God’s direct displeasure for their denials and arrogance
Such displeasure will manifest itself on the day of judgment as facing severe consequences but also in this life in terms of other difficulties and trials that besets them, something they cannot spend their way out, just because they have money to waste
In the Name of God, the God of Mercy, the Endower of Mercy!
Woe to every kind of slanderers, defamers!1
Amassing and counting their wealth!
Self-assured that their wealth gives them permanence (v.1-3)
Nay, they will be thrown into the great Crusher!
Do you comprehend what that Crusher is?
It is fire lit by God
It rises over man’s heart
Closing over it
As towering columns! (v. 3-9)
1Though broad in its implication, some commentors think that these verses referred to specific individuals such as al-Walid ibn al-Mughira and/or al-Akhnas ibn Shurauq who used their considereable power and wealth to oppose the Prophet and propagation of Islam in the early days of Islam in Makkah
