✦ AT A GLANCE ✦

الهمزة

Al-Humazah

The Traducer · 9 verses · meccan · 1 min read

✦ Why this name

The Slanderer — al-Humazah, the one who mocks with gestures and with words.

✦ When it came

Meccan. Directed at a specific kind of person in Makkah — wealthy, and cruel with it.

✦ The story

*"Woe to every scorner and mocker"* — one who backbites with the tongue, and one who mocks with the eyes and the face.

And then it connects the mockery to the money: *"who collects wealth and continuously counts it, thinking that his wealth will make him immortal."*

The counting is the tell. Someone who counts money over and over is trying to buy something money cannot buy.

And the punishment is described in a way that matches the crime exactly: a fire *which mounts directed at the hearts.* He hurt people's hearts; it reaches for his.

✦ How it unfolds

  1. AYAH 1

    The mocker

    Scorn by tongue and by gesture.

  2. AYAH 2-4

    Counting it over

    Wealth gathered and counted, mistaken for immortality.

  3. AYAH 5-9

    Directed at the hearts

    A fire that reaches for the part he used to wound.

✦ Verses to carry

Sources

Introductions to the surah in Tafsir Ibn Kathir and Mawdudi's Tafhim al-Qur'an; ayah numbering per the Madani mushaf.

Awaiting scholar review — please read alongside a trusted tafsir.