# Surah Al-Humazah Meaning, Word by Word

> Surah Al-Humazah meaning word by word, with Arabic, transliteration and a plain English rendering of all nine verses.

Source: https://surahkids.site/blog/al-humazah/
Published: 3 September 2026

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Surah Al-Humazah is the 104th surah of the Quran, nine verses and thirty-three words long, and it falls into two unequal halves: three verses describing a person, then six describing what becomes of him. It takes its name from the third word of verse 1, هُمَزَةٍۢ (*humazatin*, "slanderer").

In the SurahKids learning order it is the eleventh surah, and the longest a learner has met by that point — nine verses, where nothing before it runs past seven. The lines are short, three or four words each, so its length is in the number of verses rather than their size. What makes it more work than Al-Fil before it is the vocabulary: thirty-three words across thirty-one distinct forms, so only two forms occur more than once.

The word-by-word breakdown below uses the Arabic exactly as it appears in the mushaf. The English is a plain rendering, one among many. Translations are interpretations, and the last two verses in particular use words that English handles only approximately.

## Surah Al-Humazah word by word

### Verse 1

| Arabic | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| وَيْلٌۭ | waylun | Woe |
| لِّكُلِّ | likulli | to every |
| هُمَزَةٍۢ | humazatin | slanderer |
| لُّمَزَةٍ | lumazatin | backbiter |


*waylun likulli humazatin lumazatin* — Woe to every slanderer backbiter.

### Verse 2

| Arabic | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ٱلَّذِى | alladhī | The one who |
| جَمَعَ | jamaʿa | collects |
| مَالًۭا | mālan | wealth |
| وَعَدَّدَهُۥ | waʿaddadahu | and counts it |


*alladhī jamaʿa mālan waʿaddadahu* — The one who collects wealth and counts it.

### Verse 3

| Arabic | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| يَحْسَبُ | yaḥsabu | Thinking |
| أَنَّ | anna | that |
| مَالَهُۥٓ | mālahu | his wealth |
| أَخْلَدَهُۥ | akhladahu | will make him immortal |


*yaḥsabu anna mālahu akhladahu* — Thinking that his wealth will make him immortal.

### Verse 4

| Arabic | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| كَلَّا ۖ | kallā | Nay |
| لَيُنۢبَذَنَّ | layunbadhanna | Surely he will be thrown |
| فِى | fī | in |
| ٱلْحُطَمَةِ | l-ḥuṭamati | the Crusher |


*kallā layunbadhanna fī l-ḥuṭamati* — Nay Surely he will be thrown in the Crusher.

### Verse 5

| Arabic | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| وَمَآ | wamā | And what |
| أَدْرَىٰكَ | adrāka | will make you know |
| مَا | mā | what |
| ٱلْحُطَمَةُ | l-ḥuṭamatu | the Crusher (is) |


*wamā adrāka mā l-ḥuṭamatu* — And what will make you know what the Crusher (is).

### Verse 6

| Arabic | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| نَارُ | nāru | A Fire |
| ٱللَّهِ | l-lahi | Allah |
| ٱلْمُوقَدَةُ | l-mūqadatu | kindled |


*nāru l-lahi l-mūqadatu* — A Fire Allah kindled.

### Verse 7

| Arabic | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ٱلَّتِى | allatī | Which |
| تَطَّلِعُ | taṭṭaliʿu | mounts up |
| عَلَى | ʿalā | to |
| ٱلْأَفْـِٔدَةِ | l-afidati | the hearts |


*allatī taṭṭaliʿu ʿalā l-afidati* — Which mounts up to the hearts.

### Verse 8

| Arabic | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| إِنَّهَا | innahā | Indeed, it |
| عَلَيْهِم | ʿalayhim | (will be) upon them |
| مُّؤْصَدَةٌۭ | mu'ṣadatun | closed over |


*innahā ʿalayhim mu'ṣadatun* — Indeed, it (will be) upon them closed over.

### Verse 9

| Arabic | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| فِى | fī | In |
| عَمَدٍۢ | ʿamadin | columns |
| مُّمَدَّدَةٍۭ | mumaddadatin | extended |


*fī ʿamadin mumaddadatin* — In columns extended.

## The surah in plain English

Woe to every slanderer and backbiter, the one who collects wealth and counts it, thinking that his wealth will make him immortal. Nay — surely he will be thrown in the Crusher. And what will make you know what the Crusher is? A Fire of Allah, kindled, which mounts up to the hearts. Indeed, it will be closed over them, in columns extended.

## What the words tell you

**Two names for one person, and they rhyme.** هُمَزَةٍۢ لُّمَزَةٍ (*humazatin lumazatin*, "slanderer" "backbiter") are the two words verse 1 pronounces woe over, and in Arabic they are one shape with a single letter changed. English reaches for two unrelated words; the Arabic gives the pair a pattern and a rhyme.

**Verse 2 is the same man, not a second one.** The person condemned in verse 1 for what he does with his tongue is joined to verse 2 by ٱلَّذِى (*alladhī*, "The one who") — a relative pronoun, which hangs a new description on an existing subject rather than starting a fresh one. Whatever the link between a sharp tongue and a hoarded fortune, the surah asserts it by grammar. And the hoarding is two verbs, not one: جَمَعَ ("collects") and then وَعَدَّدَهُۥ ("and counts it"). Nothing is said about spending it.

**One noun, twice, and the second time it is his.** مَالًۭا (*mālan*, "wealth") in verse 2 becomes مَالَهُۥٓ (*mālahu*, "his wealth") in verse 3, the same word with the attached pronoun for "his", and it is that possessive form which carries the mistake: يَحْسَبُ أَنَّ مَالَهُۥٓ أَخْلَدَهُۥ (*yaḥsabu anna mālahu akhladahu*, "Thinking that his wealth will make him immortal").

**كَلَّا is the hinge.** One word, glossed "Nay". Everything before it is description and everything after it consequence, and it falls in verse 4 of nine — almost exactly the middle.

**A question the surah answers itself.** Verse 4 names ٱلْحُطَمَةِ (*l-ḥuṭamati*, "the Crusher"); verse 5 asks وَمَآ أَدْرَىٰكَ مَا ٱلْحُطَمَةُ ("And what will make you know what the Crusher is"); verse 6 answers in three words glossed "A Fire", "Allah", "kindled". Verse 5 is also the one place the surah speaks to a "you" — أَدْرَىٰكَ carries the singular ending. The Crusher is one of only two repeated forms, appearing with a different final vowel each time as its grammatical role changes; the other is فِى (*fī*, "in"), in verses 4 and 9.

**The last three verses stay with the fire, and say only what they say.** ٱلَّتِى تَطَّلِعُ عَلَى ٱلْأَفْـِٔدَةِ ("Which mounts up to the hearts"), إِنَّهَا عَلَيْهِم مُّؤْصَدَةٌۭ ("Indeed, it will be upon them closed over"), فِى عَمَدٍۢ مُّمَدَّدَةٍۭ ("In columns extended"). A fire, hearts, something closed over, extended columns — that is the whole of the description. مُّؤْصَدَةٌۭ and مُّمَدَّدَةٍۭ are the hardest words here to bring into English, and translators handle them in more than one way. The surah sets the words down and draws no moral.

## Words you already know

This is where position in the order starts to pay. 8 of Al-Humazah's 31 distinct word forms — 26 per cent — have already appeared in a surah earlier in the learning order. Among the first eleven surahs only Al-Falaq, at 35 per cent, does better; Al-Fil just before it manages 14 per cent. The eight:

- ٱلَّذِى (*alladhī*, "The one who") — in An-Nas, Al-Ma'un and Quraysh
- فِى (*fī*, "in") — in An-Nas, Al-Falaq, Al-Masad, An-Nasr and Al-Fil
- مَا (*mā*, "what") — in Al-Falaq, Al-Kafirun and Al-Masad
- وَمَآ (*wamā*, "And what") — in Al-Masad
- مَالَهُۥٓ (*mālahu*, "his wealth") — in Al-Masad
- ٱللَّهِ (*l-lahi*, "Allah") — in Al-Ikhlas and An-Nasr
- عَلَى (*ʿalā*, "to") — in Al-Ma'un
- عَلَيْهِم (*ʿalayhim*, "upon them") — in Al-Fil

Al-Masad supplies four of the eight, including مَالَهُۥٓ: its second verse says of Abu Lahab that his wealth did not avail him, the same word Al-Humazah gives to the man who counts his.

Across the 37 surahs of Juz Amma, these forms from Al-Humazah turn up in three or more:

- مَا (*mā*, "what") — in 23 surahs
- فِى (*fī*, "in") — in 21 surahs
- أَنَّ (*anna*, "that") — in 21 surahs
- وَمَآ (*wamā*, "And what") — in 18 surahs
- ٱلَّذِى (*alladhī*, "The one who") — in 12 surahs
- ٱللَّهِ (*l-lahi*, "Allah") — in 11 surahs
- عَلَى (*ʿalā*, "to") — in 9 surahs
- كَلَّا (*kallā*, "Nay") — in 8 surahs

Seven of those eight are particles, pronouns and prepositions — the joints of the language rather than its furniture, which is the pattern behind [the most common words in the Quran](/blog/most-common-quran-words/).

## Al-Humazah and Surah At-Takathur

Two places later in the learning order, with Al-Asr between them, sits [Surah At-Takathur](/blog/at-takathur/). Al-Humazah watches a single man collect wealth and count it; At-Takathur addresses a crowd and names ٱلتَّكَاثُرُ (*l-takāthuru*), glossed "the competition to increase", which diverts them until they visit the graves. Both then turn on the same word, كَلَّا ("Nay") — and Al-Humazah is where a learner first meets it, so it is one of only two forms At-Takathur inherits from anything earlier.

## How long it takes to learn

Nine verses and thirty-three words is a week's work for the sound rather than an afternoon's, and the reason is the verse count, not the word count. No single line is hard at three or four words; there are simply nine of them to keep in order, and the rhyme carries you — verses 2 and 3 both end in *-dahu* (وَعَدَّدَهُۥ, أَخْلَدَهُۥ) and the other seven end on the same *-ah* family of sounds.

The meaning takes longer. Thirty-one distinct forms in thirty-three words means each verse is genuinely new vocabulary, and the words in verses 8 and 9 are difficult in any language. A verse a day, two whole-surah passes, then a return after a week and again after a month is a realistic schedule; those returns decide whether it holds, which is the argument in [spaced repetition for Quran memorisation](/blog/spaced-repetition-quran-memorization/). SurahKids has Al-Humazah with per-word audio, flashcards and quizzes on the words themselves, alongside the other 36 surahs of Juz Amma.

In the learning order it comes straight after [Surah Al-Fil](/blog/al-fil/), five verses and a completed story, and straight before [Surah Al-Asr](/blog/surah-al-asr-meaning/), three verses and the shortest argument in the Quran. [The order to learn the short surahs](/blog/order-to-learn-short-surahs/) sets out the whole sequence and the reasoning behind it.

## FAQ

### What is the meaning of Surah Al-Humazah?

Surah Al-Humazah pronounces woe over the slanderer and backbiter — the one who collects wealth and counts it, thinking his wealth will make him immortal — and says he will be thrown in the Crusher, which it then defines as a Fire of Allah, kindled, mounting up to the hearts and closed over them in columns extended. Nine verses: three on the man, six on the consequence.

### What does "al-Humazah" mean in English?

*Humazah* is rendered "slanderer" in the word-by-word above, and the surah pairs it immediately with لُّمَزَةٍ (*lumazatin*, "backbiter"). The two Arabic words share a pattern and rhyme with one another, so English translations use two words that sound nothing alike for a pair that in Arabic belongs together.

### How many verses does Surah Al-Humazah have?

Nine, made up of thirty-three words in total. It is the 104th surah of the Quran and sits in the last section, Juz Amma, among the short surahs usually learned first — though at nine verses it is one of the longer ones in that group.

### What is al-Hutamah in Surah Al-Humazah?

ٱلْحُطَمَةِ (*l-ḥuṭamati*) is rendered "the Crusher", and the surah does not leave the reader to work out what it means: verse 5 asks, and verse 6 answers, "A Fire of Allah, kindled". Verses 7 to 9 continue the description — mounting up to the hearts, closed over them, in columns extended.

### Is Surah Al-Humazah hard to memorise?

It is harder than its length suggests, though not by much. Nine verses of three or four words are individually easy and the rhyme is unusually helpful, with seven of the nine ending on the same family of sounds. The difficulty is vocabulary: thirty-one of its thirty-three words are distinct forms, so there is almost no internal repetition to lean on.