Al-Humazah الهمزة
The Slanderer
Al-Humazah opens with a warning — "woe to every fault-finding backbiter" — aimed at someone who hoards wealth, counts it obsessively, and believes it will make him live forever. The surah's answer to that belief is the Hutamah, "the Crusher," a fire described as rising over the heart itself and closing in on those inside it in towering columns — a punishment matched precisely to the offense, since a life spent accumulating and counting is met by a fire that closes in and presses down rather than simply burning. Commentators differ on whether a specific Meccan opponent known for mocking the Prophet ﷺ and hoarding wealth is meant, or whether the surah names a type of person rather than an individual; either way, the target is the same pattern the Quran returns to often in this part of the Mushaf — mistaking wealth counted for security earned.
وَيْلٌ لِّكُلِّ هُمَزَةٍ لُّمَزَةٍ
Woe to every fault-finding backbiter
ٱلَّذِى جَمَعَ مَالًا وَعَدَّدَهُۥ
who amasses riches, counting them over,
يَحْسَبُ أَنَّ مَالَهُۥٓ أَخْلَدَهُۥ
thinking they will make him live for ever.
كَلَّا ۖ لَيُنۢبَذَنَّ فِى ٱلْحُطَمَةِ
No indeed! He will be thrust into the Crusher!
وَمَآ أَدْرَىٰكَ مَا ٱلْحُطَمَةُ
What will explain to you what the Crusher is?
نَارُ ٱللَّهِ ٱلْمُوقَدَةُ
It is God’s Fire, made to blaze,
ٱلَّتِى تَطَّلِعُ عَلَى ٱلْأَفْـِٔدَةِ
which rises over people’s hearts.
إِنَّهَا عَلَيْهِم مُّؤْصَدَةٌ
It closes in on them
فِى عَمَدٍ مُّمَدَّدَةٍۭ
in towering columns.
Arabic text and translation (M.A.S. Abdel Haleem) via the Quran.Foundation API.
Frequently asked
Nine verses.
Meccan, revealed in Makkah.
"The slanderer" or "the fault-finding backbiter" — someone who criticizes and demeans others behind their back, the person the surah opens by condemning.
"The Crusher" — a description of Hellfire given in verses 4–9, said to rise over the heart and close in on those inside it, matching the hoarding and fault-finding it punishes.