Sūrat al-Muṭaffifīn

Classification: Meccan. It contains 36 verses. It was revealed after al-ʿAnkabūt and is the final surah revealed in Mecca.

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

1. Woe to the defrauders.

2. Those who, when they take a measure from people, demand it in full.

3. But when they measure for them or weigh for them, they cause them loss.

4. Do those not think that they will be resurrected?

5. For a Great Day.

6. The Day when mankind will stand before the Lord of the Worlds.

Al-Tatfif (Defrauding): It is the reduction in measure and weight, because that which is reduced is tafif (trivial/insignificant).

Historical Context:

• It is narrated that when the Prophet (ﷺ) arrived in Medina, the people were among the most corrupt in their measuring. This verse was revealed, and they subsequently improved their measuring.
• It is said he arrived when there was a man known as Abu Juhaynah who possessed two sa‘ (measuring vessels): he would measure out with one and measure in with the other.
• It is said the people of Medina were merchants who defrauded, and their transactions involved munabadha (throwing goods), mulamasa (touching), and mukhatara (gambling). When this was revealed, the Prophet (ﷺ) recited it to them and said: "Five for five." When asked what that meant, he replied: "No people break their covenant but that God empowers their enemy over them; no people judge by other than what God revealed but that poverty spreads among them; no people commit indecency openly but that death spreads among them; no people defraud in measure but that they are denied vegetation and seized by drought; and no people withhold Zakat but that rain is withheld from them."

Scholarly Traditions:

• Ali (ra): He passed by a man weighing saffron and saw him tipping the scale in his favor. He said: "Set the weight to the standard of justice, then tip it as much as you wish afterward." He commanded him to level it first so he would become accustomed to it and distinguish between the obligatory and the supererogatory.
• Ibn Abbas: "O you non-Arabs, you have been entrusted with two matters that destroyed those before you: the measure and the scale." He specified non-Arabs because they combine both, whereas in the two Holy Cities, they were separate: the people of Mecca weighed, and the people of Medina measured.
• Ibn Umar: He would pass by a seller and say: "Fear God and fulfill the measure, for the defrauders will be made to stand on the Day of Resurrection before the Majesty of the Most Merciful, until sweat bridles them."
• Ikrimah: "I bear witness that every measurer and weigher is in the Fire." When told his own son was a measurer/weigher, he replied: "I bear witness that he is in the Fire."
• Abu (ra): "Do not seek needs from those whose provision is in the heads of measures and the tongues of scales."

Linguistic Analysis:

• Alladhina idha ktalu ‘ala al-nasi yastawfun (Those who, when they take by measure from the people, take in full): Because their taking from people is a taking that harms them and is oppressive, the preposition ‘ala (upon) is used instead of min (from) to indicate this. It is also possible that ‘ala relates to yastawfun, with the object placed before the verb for exclusivity—meaning they take in full from the people specifically, but for themselves, they take in full.
• Kalu-hum aw wazanu-hum (They measure for them or weigh for them): The pronoun is in the accusative, referring to the people. There are two views: 1) It implies kalu lahum (they measured for them), where the preposition is omitted and the verb is connected directly. 2) It implies the omission of a genitive noun (the measured or weighed item). It cannot be a nominative pronoun for the defrauders, as that would corrupt the syntax.
• Yukhsirun (They cause loss): They diminish. It is said: khasara al-mizan (the scale was deficient) and akhsarahu (he made it deficient).

The Warning:

• Ala yazunnu (Do they not think?): This is a denial and an expression of great astonishment at their audacity in defrauding, as if they do not contemplate or estimate that they will be resurrected and held accountable for the weight of an atom or a mustard seed.
• Qatada: "Fulfill, O son of Adam, just as you love for it to be fulfilled for you; and be just, just as you love for justice to be shown to you."
• Al-Fudayl: "Defrauding the scale is a blackening of the face on the Day of Resurrection."
• Abd al-Malik b. Marwan: An Arab bedouin said to him: "I have heard what God said about the defrauders." He meant that the defrauder is subject to the great threat mentioned, so what does the Caliph think of himself, taking the wealth of the Muslims without measure or weight?

This denial, the astonishment, the word "think," the description of the Day as "Great," the standing of people before the Lord of the Worlds in submission—all serve as an eloquent declaration of the gravity of the sin of defrauding and the magnitude of the transgression in failing to uphold justice and equity in every taking and giving, indeed in every word and deed.