Al-Humaza
سُورَةُ الهُمَزَةِ
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
About Surah Al-Humaza
Meccan · 9 verses
Main Themes
The sin of slander and backbiting, the danger of wealth-worship, the punishment of the slanderer, divine justice
Significance
Al-Humazah (The Slanderer) is a sharp, concentrated condemnation of a specific personality type: the one who slanders and backbites and believes that wealth grants immunity from accountability. The surah's portrayal of wealth as something that leads its possessor to believe he has achieved immortality is one of the Quran's most psychologically acute analyses of how material security breeds spiritual blindness.
Key Verse Explained
Ayah 2 ("Who collects wealth and continuously counts it, thinking that his wealth will make him immortal") identifies the psychological mechanism of wealth addiction: when accumulation becomes the primary activity of a life, the accumulator begins to unconsciously believe that enough wealth can defeat death. Scholars use this verse in Islamic ethics to distinguish between earning lawfully (encouraged) and the pathological counting and hoarding that replaces tawakkul in Allah with trust in accumulated resources.
Related Practices
Al-Humazah is taught in Islamic social ethics courses as the definitive Quranic text on the prohibition of slander (namima) and backbiting (ghiba). The specific mention of slander with the tongue and slander with the eye (winking — 104:1) covers both verbal and non-verbal mockery, giving the surah comprehensive scope in Islamic interpersonal ethics. The description of Hutamah (104:4–9) is studied in Islamic eschatology as one of the Quran's most unique descriptions of a specific punishment in Hell.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ وَيْلٌ لِكُلِّ هُمَزَةٍ لُمَزَةٍ 1
Woe to every scorner and mocker
الَّذِي جَمَعَ مَالًا وَعَدَّدَهُ 2
Who collects wealth and [continuously] counts it.
يَحْسَبُ أَنَّ مَالَهُ أَخْلَدَهُ 3
He thinks that his wealth will make him immortal.
كَلَّا ۖ لَيُنْبَذَنَّ فِي الْحُطَمَةِ 4
No! He will surely be thrown into the Crusher.
وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْحُطَمَةُ 5
And what can make you know what is the Crusher?
نَارُ اللَّهِ الْمُوقَدَةُ 6
It is the fire of Allah, [eternally] fueled,
الَّتِي تَطَّلِعُ عَلَى الْأَفْئِدَةِ 7
Which mounts directed at the hearts.
إِنَّهَا عَلَيْهِمْ مُؤْصَدَةٌ 8
Indeed, Hellfire will be closed down upon them
فِي عَمَدٍ مُمَدَّدَةٍ 9
In extended columns.