Recitation by Mishary Al-Alfasy
The Surah takes its name from verse 4 in which the word hujurat has occurred.
Period of Revelation
Traditions show and the subject
matter of the Surah also supports the same that this Surah is a collection of
the commandments and instructions sent down on different occasions, which have
been put together because of the relevancy of the theme. Moreover, the
traditions also show that most of these commandments were sent down during the
final stage of the Holy Prophet's life at Madinah. For instance, about verse 4
the commentators state that it was sent down concerning the Bani Tamim whose
deputation had arrived in Madinah and started calling out to the Holy Prophet
from outside the apartments (hujurat) of his wives, and according to all
biographical books on the Holy Prophet's life this deputation had visited
Madinah in A. H. 9. Likewise, about verse 6 a large number of the traditions of
Hadith confirm that it was sent down concerning Walid bin Uqbah whom the Holy
Prophet had sent to collect the zakat from the Bani al-Mustaliq, and it is well
known that Walid bin Uqabah had become a Muslim on the conquest of Makkah.
Subject Matter and Topics
The subject matter of this
Surah is to teach the Muslims the manners worthy of true believers.
In
the first five verses they have been taught the manners they should observe with
regard to Allah and His Messenger.
Then, they have been given the
instruction that it is not right to believe in every news blindly and to act
according to it, without due thought. If information is received about a person,
a group or a community, it should be seen carefully whether the means of the
information is reliable or not. If the means is not reliable, it should be
tested and examined to see whether the news is authentic or not before taking
any action on it.
Then, it has been told what attitude should the other
Muslims adopt in case two groups of the Muslims fall to mutual fighting.
Then the Muslims have been exhorted to safeguard against the evils that corrupt
collective life and spoil mutual relationships. Mocking and taunting each other,
calling others by nicknames, creating suspicions, prying into other people's
affairs and back biting are the evils which are not only sins in themselves but
they also corrupt society. Allah has mentioned all these evils separately and
forbidden them as unlawful.
After this, the national and racial
distinctions that cause universal corruption in the world have been condemned.
Nations and tribes and families pride of Ancestry and their looking down upon
others as inferior to themselves and their pulling down others only for the sake
of establishing their own superiority is an important factor that has filled the
world with injustices and tyranny. Allah in a brief verse has cut at the root of
this evil by stating that all men are descendants of the same one pair and their
division into tribes and communities is only for the sake of recognition, not
for boasting and pride, and there is no lawful basis of one man's superiority
over the other except on the basis of moral excellence.
In conclusion,
the people have been told that the real thing is not the verbal Profession of
the Faith but to believe in Allah and His messenger truly, to obey them in
practical life and to exert sincerely with one's self and wealth in the cause of
Allah. True believers are only those who adopt this attitude. As for those who
profess Islam merely orally without affirmation by the heart and then adopt an
attitude as if they had done someone a favor by accepting Islam, may be counted
among the Muslims in the world, may even be treated as Muslims in society, but
they cannot be counted as believers in the sight of Allah.