Al-Hujurat (The Chambers): Verse 11

We mentioned that the believer is either present or absent.

If present, one should not mock them, nor should one disregard them in a manner inconsistent with reverence.

The verse alludes to three matters, ranked below one another:

1. Mockery (Sukhriyah): This is when a person does not view their brother with respect, disregards him, and lowers his status. In this case, one does not even mention the faults he possesses. This is like what some people say when their enemy is mentioned: "He is beneath mention, too insignificant to be paid attention to." Thus, the command is: "Let not a group scoff at another group."
2. Defamation/Slandering (Lamz): This is mentioning a fault in a person when they are absent. This is less severe than the first, because in the first case, the person was disregarded entirely, and one did not even permit mentioning them, treating them as something to be mocked, about whom one feels neither anger nor concern.
3. Taunting/Calling by Titles (Nabz): This is less severe than the second. In this stage, one attaches a permanent attribute to the person that necessitates hatred and lowering their status. As for Nabz, it is merely applying a name, even if the attribute is not truly present. This is because a good title or a pleasant name assigned to someone does not mean the underlying meaning exists. For instance, someone named Sa'id (Happy) or Sa'd (Felicity) might not actually be so. Similarly, someone titled Imam al-Din (Leader of the Faith) or Husam al-Din (Sword of the Faith) is not necessarily so; it is just a mark or an adornment. Nabz by Marwan or Marwan al-Himar (Marwan the Donkey) was not necessarily descriptive; it was a mark or an attribution. The word is not intended as a description if the description is not intended, just as proper names are. If you tell someone named 'Abd Allah (Servant of Allah), "You are 'Abd Allah," you are not intending to describe him by that name, but merely using his given name.

Therefore, the command implies: Do not be arrogant such that you look down upon and belittle your brothers to the point of completely ignoring them. If you descend from this level of disdain, then do not defame them by seeking to lower their rank and diminish their standing. If you refrain from looking at their faults and describing them with what blemishes them, then do not call them by names they dislike, nor should you use terrifying epithets. This is not a fault worth mentioning; it is merely a word uttered without the intention of clarifying an attribute.

The verse contains several issues:

The statement is: "Let not a group scoff at another group." Qawm is a noun applied to a gathering of men and does not apply to women or children, as it is a plural derived from a standing entity (qā'im), like ṣawm (fasting) from ṣā'im (one who is fasting). Those who manage affairs are men. Benefit: Disregard and contempt primarily originate from men towards other men, because women are inherently weak. If men disregard a woman, she has no significant standing. The Prophet (PBUH) said: "Women are like meat upon a hook, unless something wards it off." A woman is unlikely to show contempt or disregard for a man due to her need for him to fulfill her needs. However, among men concerning men, and among women concerning women, this type of ugliness is found, and it is more common.

In the highest degree of reprehensibility—mockery—Allah says: "Perhaps they may be better than them." This is to break the scoffing spirit and abhor the act. In the second degree—defamation—He says: "And do not defame yourselves." He equates the defamed person with the defamer, as if they were the same, because when they are lowered a degree, Allah raises them a degree. In the first case, the mocked person is made superior; in the second, the defamed person is made equal.

The wisdom in "Perhaps they may be better than them" is that the mocker finds something reprehensible in the mocked person, which leads to neglect. The mocker considers himself superior, just as Iblis did when he disregarded Adam and said: "I am better than him" (Al-A'raf: 12), and thus he became the inferior one. Alternatively, it can be said that the meaning of "they may be" is "they may become." For whoever scorns a person due to poverty, isolation, or weakness, he cannot be secure that he himself will not become poor while the poor person becomes rich, or that he will not become weak while the weak person becomes strong.

Allah said: "a group from a group" and not "a soul from a soul." This is an indication to prevent arrogance. The arrogant person usually displays his might in public gatherings. When he is in private with someone he disregards in the mosque, he acts humble. Mentioning them as Qawm prevents them from doing what they do.

There are two interpretations:

1. The fault of a brother returns to the brother. If a defamer faults a soul, it is as if he has faulted himself.
2. If he faults him, and the faulted person is not without fault, the faulted person will fight back by faulting the defamer. Thus, by his own fault, he incites others to fault him, making it as if he is the one faulting himself. This interpretation aligns with the verse: "And do not kill yourselves" (An-Nisa: 29), meaning if you kill a soul, you have killed, so it is as if you killed yourselves.

A third possibility: Do not fault yourselves (each one of you). If you do so, you have faulted yourselves, meaning every one of you has faulted every other one, so you become faulting in one sense and faulted in another. This third meaning is clearer here than in the verse "And do not kill yourselves."

If it is argued that this guidance is for the believer's presence, following the guidance for absence, but it is said that Lamz is faulting behind someone's back, while Hamz is faulting to their face, we say the opposite is more appropriate based on the root letters. Lamz (لمز) implies striking the heart, leading to hamz (همز) which implies crushing/breaking. The first suggests closeness, the second distance. If Lamz means striking/faulting to the face, that would be more fitting, although both words carry a similar meaning.

Allah said "And do not taunt one another" (wa lā tanābazū) and not "Do not taunt" (wa lā tanbuzū). If one person lamaza (defames), the person being defamed might not immediately find a fault to defame him back with; he has to search and follow up to find a fault. Thus, Lamz is one-sided initially. However, Nabz (taunting/calling by a title) is something anyone can do immediately. If someone calls another a donkey, the other might call him an ox. It seems Nabz immediately leads to mutual taunting (Tanābuz), which is not necessarily the case with Lamz.

It is said that b'is (evil) means: After one has believed, it is evil to call a Muslim "Jew" (or an unbeliever). A better interpretation is that this completes the prohibition. It is as if Allah said: O you who have believed, do not mock, do not defame, and do not taunt, for if you do, you become defiantly disobedient (fāsiq) after believing. It is ugly for a believer to commit transgression after his faith, aligning with the verse: "those who have believed and have not mixed their faith with injustice" (Al-An'am: 82). The meaning becomes: Evil is the transgression after faith, and evil is being named a transgressor because of these actions after you have been named believers.

This has two interpretations:

1. These actions are minor sins (ṣaghā'ir). Whoever persists in them becomes a wrongdoer (ẓālim) and a transgressor (fāsiq). One instance does not constitute being a wrongdoer. Thus, whoever does not cease these actions and makes them a habit is a wrongdoer.
2. The preceding verses "Let not a group scoff...", "And do not defame...", and "And do not taunt one another..." are prohibitions for the future. The statement "And whoever does not repent" commands repentance for past actions and showing remorse, as an emphasis on warning and severity in prohibition.

The original form of "And do not taunt one another" (wa lā tanābazū) is wa lā tatanābazū. One tā' was dropped, similar to dropping one hamzah in an interrogative sentence, like in "sawā'un 'alayhim" (Al-Baqarah: 6). Dropping the letter here is more appropriate because the tā' of address and the tā' of the verb are two letters of the same kind within one word, whereas the hamzah of interrogation is a separate word, and the hamzah in andhartuhum (did you warn them) is another. It is easier to have two identical letters in two words than in one word. This is why assimilation (idghām) is obligatory in "madad" (stretched) but not in "imdad" (stretching), and in "marr" (passed) but not in "amara rabbunā" (our Lord commanded).

Verse 12: "O you who have believed, avoid much of suspicion, indeed, some suspicion is sin. And do not spy, and do not backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would detest it. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance, Merciful."

This verse contains several commands:

1. Avoid much of suspicion (Ẓann): "Avoid much of suspicion."
2. Avoid some suspicion: "Indeed, some suspicion is sin."
3. Do not spy (Tajassus).
4. Do not backbite (Ightibāb).

The verse then presents a powerful analogy: "Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would detest it."

Finally, it concludes with the command to piety: "And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance, Merciful."