al-Aḥzāb

وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْذُونَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ بِغَيْرِ مَا اكْتَسَبُوا فَقَدِ احْتَمَلوا بُهْتَاناً وَاِثْماً مُّبِيناً

58. “And those who annoy believing men and believing women without that they have earned it, have laid upon themselves a calumny and a manifest sin.”

The act of hurting and annoying others, in any form it may be, is among the sins which bring the Wrath of Allah. The most important hurt is sarcasm and slander. So, after the hurt of both Allah and the Prophet (S) this verse speaks about the hurt of the believers because of the extraordinary importance that it has. It says:

This is so because, by the way of Faith, a believer has a link with Allah and His Prophet, and for this reason he has been mentioned in the same line and in the row of Allah (s.w.t.) and His Messenger (S). The phrase ‘without that they have earned it’ points to this fact that they have not committed any sin for which they should be annoyed. This makes it clear that if they commit a sin for which they deserve a religious fixed punishment, just retaliation, and discretionary punishment the execution of these things upon them does not matter.

Again, the act of enjoining right and forbidding wrong is not inside the realm of this statement. Prior to /’iθman mubina/ because of its importance, since calumny is counted one of the greatest hurts, and the pain of the annoyance created by it is even more intensive than the pain of sword and dagger, because the pain of the wound of a dagger is reconcilable, but the wound of the tongue is not reconcilable. Islamic auspicious narrations also consider an extraordinary importance for this subject.

Imam Sadiq (as) in a tradition says:

“Allah, the Almighty, the Glorious says: ‘Whoever annoys My believing servant, he has announced declaration of war against Me.” ¹⁶

However, some of the commentators have said that it is understood from the style of the verse that there had been some rumourmongers in Medina who used to accuse unduly the believers, (and even the Prophet (S) was not secure from their tongues). Such persons are not scanty in the societies of today. Their job is to make plots against the righteous and pious ones, as well as to forge lies and slanders. The Holy Qur’an has seriously attacked them with the most grievous attacks and has introduced their deeds as calumny and a manifest sin.

The evidence for this statement will also be recited in later verses. Imam Ali-ibn-Mus-ar-Rida (as) has narrated a tradition from his grand father, the Prophet (S), in which he said:

“The one who calumniates a man believer or a woman believer, or he says something about him/her which does not exist in him/her, Allah, the High, will set him on a heap of Fire on the Day of Hereafter until he tolerates what he has said about him/her.” ¹⁷