Al-Ahzab · Madani · ayah 58 of 73

Al-Ahzab 33:58

وَٱلَّذِينَ يُؤْذُونَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنَـٰتِ بِغَيْرِ مَا ٱكْتَسَبُوا۟ فَقَدِ ٱحْتَمَلُوا۟ بُهْتَـٰنًا وَإِثْمًا مُّبِينًا

“And those who harm believing men and believing women for [something] other than what they have earned [i.e., deserved] have certainly borne upon themselves a slander and manifest sin.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Whoever hurts believing men and women for what they never did has not put a weight on them; he has lifted it onto himself.

A reflection

Not 'be nice': a load you pick up

Most of us carry a soft version of this ayah. Be kind. Don't hurt people's feelings. It sits in the mind beside a poster on a classroom wall, true and rather toothless.

The words are sharper than that, in two ways.

First, the ayah does not forbid every hurt. It says bi-ghayri mā iktasabū: without their having earned it. A doctor who gives a hard diagnosis hurts. A parent who says no hurts. The ayah is aimed at harm a person did nothing to deserve.

Second, it does not say such people have been unkind. It says they have iḥtamalū: lifted and carried. The root pictures lifting a thing off the ground. A ḥiml is a load on the back. Camels bred to carry were named from it. And what is lifted? Buhtān, a lie so outrageous it stuns, and a sin that is plain to see.

Here is the picture this entry will keep. The one who slanders thinks he is putting a weight on someone else's back. The ayah says he has hoisted it onto his own.

Years ago a woman forwarded a claim about a colleague: that he had faked his expenses. It was untrue. He left the company soon after, and she lost touch with him. She has forgotten his face. She has not forgotten the message. It comes back at odd moments, unasked, and she cannot return it to anyone.

That is iḥtamalū. The target walked away. The carrier is still carrying. What follows looks at why the ayah puts it this way, who first heard it, and how the load is set down.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.