Surah 104. Al-Humazah

WOE unto every slanderer, fault-finder!¹

  - Mohammad Asad

Not available.

Woe to every slanderer and defamer,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Woe to every backbiter, slanderer,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Woe unto every slandering traducer,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Woe to every (kind of) scandal-monger and backbiter ⁶²⁶⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Three vices are here condemned in the strongest terms: (1) scandal-mongering, talking or suggesting evil of men or women by word or innuendo, or behaviour, or mimicry, or sarcasm, or insult; (2) detracting from their character behind their backs, even if the things suggested are true, where the motive is evil; (3) piling up wealth, not for use and service to those who need it, but in miserly hoards, as if such hoards can prolong the miser's life or give him immortality: miserliness is itself a kind of scandal.

[Woe unto him²] who amasses wealth and counts it a safeguard,

  - Mohammad Asad

This repetitive interpolation is necessary because the blameworthy attitude spoken of in verses {2-3} obviously belongs to a category entirely different from the two mentioned in verse {1}.

who amasses wealth and keeps on counting it.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

who amasses wealth 'greedily' and counts it 'repeatedly',

  - Mustafa Khattab

Who hath gathered wealth (of this world) and arranged it.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Who pileth up wealth and layeth it by

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

thinking that his wealth will make him live forever!³

  - Mohammad Asad

This is a metonym for the tendency to attribute an almost "religious" value to the acquisition and possession of material goods and facilities - a tendency which precludes man from giving any real importance to spiritual considerations (cf. note [1] on 102:1 ). My rendering of 'addadahu in the preceding verse as "[he] counts it a safeguard" is based on Jawhari's explanation of this term.

He thinks that his wealth will insure his status forever!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

thinking that their wealth will make them immortal!

  - Mustafa Khattab

He thinketh that his wealth will render him immortal.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Thinking that his wealth would make him last for ever!

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Nay, but [in the life to come such as] he shall indeed be abandoned to crushing torment!⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

Al-hutamah - one of several metaphors for the otherworldly suffering comprised within the concept of "hell" (see note [33] on {15:43-44}.

By no means! He shall be thrown into Hotamah.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Not at all! Such a person will certainly be tossed into the Crusher.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Nay, but verily he will be flung to the Consuming One.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

By no means! He will be sure to be thrown into that which breaks to pieces. ⁶²⁶⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Hutama: that which smashes or breaks to pieces: an apt description of the three anti-social vices condemned. For scandal-mongering and backbiting make any sort of cohesion or mutual confidence impossible; and the miser's hoards up the channels of economic service and charity, and the circulation of good-will among men.

And what could make thee conceive what that crushing torment will be?

  - Mohammad Asad

What will make you understand what Hotamah is?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And what will make you realize what the Crusher is?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Consuming One is!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And what will explain to thee That which Breaks to Pieces?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

A fire kindled by God,

  - Mohammad Asad

It is the fire kindled to a blaze by Allah Himself.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

'It is' Allah's kindled Fire,

  - Mustafa Khattab

(It is) the fire of Allah, kindled,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

(It is) the Fire of (the Wrath of) Allah kindled (to a blaze)

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

which will rise over the [guilty] hearts:⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., originating in their hearts - thus clearly alluding to the spiritual nature of the "fire" in the sinners' belated realization of their guilt.

The one which will rise right to the hearts,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

which rages over the hearts.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Which leapeth up over the hearts (of men).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

The which doth mount (Right) to the Hearts: ⁶²⁶⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Fire of Punishment mounts right up to the hearts and minds of such men, and shuts them out of the love of their fellows. "Heart" in Arabic means not only the seat of affection, pity, charity, etc., but also of understanding and intelligent appreciation of things.

verily, it will close in upon them

  - Mohammad Asad

closing in upon them from every side

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

It will be sealed over them,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Lo! it is closed in on them

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

It shall be made into a vault over them

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

in endless columns!⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "in extended columns", i.e., overwhelming with despair.

in outstretched columns.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

'tightly secured' with long braces.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Other possible translations: 1. “The Fire will be in towering columns.” 2. “They will be tied to long pillars.”

In outstretched columns.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

In columns outstretched. ⁶²⁶⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Those guilty of these vices will be choked and suffocated, for this Vault of Fire will cover them all over, and its scorching columns will extend over a far wider area than they imagine.