وَيْلٌ لِكُلِّ هُمَزَةٍ لُمَزَةٍ
WOE unto every slanderer, fault-finder! (1)
الَّذِي جَمَعَ مَالًا وَعَدَّدَهُ
[Woe unto him] who amasses wealth and counts it a safeguard, (2)
يَحْسَبُ أَنَّ مَالَهُ أَخْلَدَهُ
thinking that his wealth will make him live forever! (3)
كَلَّا لَيُنْبَذَنَّ فِي الْحُطَمَةِ
Nay, but [in the life to come such as] he shall indeed be abandoned to crushing torment! (4)
وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْحُطَمَةُ
And what could make thee conceive what that crushing torment will be? (5)
نَارُ اللَّهِ الْمُوقَدَةُ
A fire kindled by God, (6)
الَّتِي تَطَّلِعُ عَلَى الْأَفْئِدَةِ
which will rise over the [guilty] hearts: (7)
إِنَّهَا عَلَيْهِمْ مُؤْصَدَةٌ
verily, it will close in upon them (8)
فِي عَمَدٍ مُمَدَّدَةٍ
in endless columns! (9)
- WOE unto every slanderer, fault-finder!1
- 1 I.e., everyone who maliciously tries to uncover real or imaginary faults in others.
- Woe to every (kind of) scandal-monger and backbiter,6266
- 6266 Three vices are here condemned in the strangest terms: (1) scandalmongering, 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.
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                            Woe to every (kind of) scandal-monger and-backbiter,
                            — Abdullah Yusuf Ali 
- 
                            Woe unto every slandering traducer,
                            — Marmaduke Pickthall 
- 
                            Woe to every slanderer, defamer,
                            — M. Habib Shakir 
- 
                            Woe to every slanderer and backbiter.
                            — Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan 
- 
                            Woe Unto every slanderer, traducer,
                            — Abdul-Majid Daryabadi 
- 
                            Woe to every backbiter, slanderer
                            — Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish 
- 
                            Woe to every backbiter, slanderer,
                            — Ayub Khan 
- 
                            Woe to every backbiter, slanderer,
                            — Sher Ali 
- 
                            WOE unto every slanderer, fault-finder!
                            — Muhammad Asad 
- 
                            Woe unto every backbiter, slanderer,
                            — Arthur Arberry 
- 
                            Woe to every fault-finding backbiter;{{1}}
                            — Abu'l Ala Maududi