Surah Al-Humazah — The Slanderer

Introduction to Surah Al-Humazah

Nine verses, Meccan, one hundred and fourth in the written order. It describes one kind of person.

The portrait

It opens on woe to every humaza lumaza — two words from two roots, generally distinguished as the one who slanders behind the back and the one who mocks to the face, though commentators have divided them the other way round as well. What the pairing establishes is that both are the same person.

Then the second half of the portrait: who piles up wealth and counts it over. The two halves are set side by side without a connective, and the surah’s claim is that they belong together.

The delusion underneath

The third verse names what the man believes: that his wealth will make him last forever. It is stated as a thought rather than a doctrine, and it is the thing the surah is actually arguing against. Nobody in Mecca held this as a position. The surah is describing a way of living rather than a thing anyone would say out loud.

The fire

The rest of it is the consequence, and the vocabulary mirrors the offence. He will be flung into al-Hutama — the crusher, from a root meaning to break into pieces. The surah asks what will make you know what that is, and answers: the fire of God, kindled, which rises over the hearts.

The detail about the hearts is the one that has drawn most comment; the fire is described as reaching the organ the mockery came out of. The surah ends with the image of it closed over them, in columns outstretched.