Ala-Maududi
(49:11) Believers,[19] let not a group (of men) scoff at another group, it may well be
that the latter (at whom they scoff) are better than they;[20] nor let a group of
women scoff at another group, it may well be that the latter are better than
they.[20] And do not taunt one another,[21] nor revile one another by
nicknames.[22] It is an evil thing to gain notoriety for ungodliness after
belief.[23] Those who do not repent are indeed the wrong-doers.
19. In the preceding two verses after giving necessary instructions about the Muslim people’s
mutual fighting, the believers were made to realize that by virtue of the most sacred
relationship of the faith they were brothers to one another, and they should fear God and try to
keep their mutual relations right. Now, in the following two verses, they are being enjoined to
avoid and shun those major evils which generally spoil the mutual relationships of the people in
a society. Slandering and taunting the people and harboring suspicions and spying on others are,
in fact, the evils that cause mutual enmities and then lead to grave mischief. In this
connection, from the commandments that are being given in the following verses and the
explanations of these found in the Hadith a detailed law of libel can be compiled. The western
law pertaining to libel in this regard is so defective that a person who sues another under this
law may well cause some loss to his own honor. The Islamic law, on the contrary recognizes a
basic honor for every person and gives nobody the right to attack it, no matter whether the
attack is based on reality or not, and whether the person who has been attacked has a reputation
of his own or not. Only the fact that a person has debased and humiliated the other person is
enough to declare him a criminal unless, of course, it is proved that the humiliation caused had
a legal ground for it.
20. Mocking does not only imply mocking with the tongue but it also includes mimicking somebody,
making pointed references to him, laughing at his words, or his works, or his appearance, or his
dress, or calling the people’s attention to some defect or blemish in him so that others also
may laugh at him. All this is included in mocking. What is actually forbidden is that one should
make fun of and ridicule another, for under such ridiculing there always lie feelings of one’s
own superiority and the other’s abasement and contempt, which are morally unworthy of a
gentleman. Moreover, it hurts the other person, which causes mischief to spread in society. That
is why it has been forbidden.
To make mention of the men and the women separately does not mean that it is lawful for the men
to mock the women or the women to mock the men. The actual reason for making a separate mention
of the two sexes is that Islam does not at all believe in mixed society. Ridiculing each other
generally takes place in mixed gatherings and Islam does not permit that non-mahram males and
females should meet in such gatherings and make fun of each other. Therefore, in a Muslim
society it is inconceivable that the men would mock a woman, or the women would mock a man in an
assembly.
21. The word lamz as used in the original is very comprehensive and applies to ridiculing,
reviling, deriding, jeering, charging somebody or finding fault with him, and making him the
target of reproach and blame by open or tacit references. As all such things also spoil mutual
relationships and create bad blood in society, they have been forbidden. Instead of saying: Do
not taunt one another, it has been said: Do not taunt yourselves, which by itself shows that the
one who uses taunting words for others, in fact, taunts his own self. Obviously, a person does
not use invectives against others unless he himself is filled with evil feelings and is almost
in a state of bursting like a volcano. Thus, the one who nourishes such feelings has made his
own self a nest of evils before he makes others a target, Then, when he taunts others, it means
that he is inviting others to taunt him. It is a different matter that the other person may
evade his attacks because of a gentle nature, but he himself has opened the door to mischief so
that the other may treat him likewise.
22. This command requires that a person should not be called by a name or a title which may cause
him humiliation, e.g. calling somebody a sinner or a hypocrite, or calling someone a lame or
blind one, or one-eyed, or giving him a nickname containing a reference to some defect or
blemish in him, or in his parents, or in his family, or calling a person a Jew or a Christian
even after his conversion to Islam, or giving such a nickname to a person, or a family, or a
community, or a group, which may bring condemnation or disgrace on it. Only those nicknames have
been made an exception from this command, which though apparently offensive, are not intended to
condemn the persons concerned, but they rather serve as a mark of recognition for them. That is
why the traditionists have allowed as permissible names like Suleman al-Amash (the weak-eyed
Suleman) and Wasil al-Ahdab (the hunchbacked Wasil) among the reporters of the Hadith. If there
are several men of the same name and a particular man among them may be recognized only by a
particular title or nickname of his, the title or nickname can be used, even though the title by
itself may be offensive. For instance, if there are several men called Abdullah, and one of them
is blind, he may be called Abdullah the blind, for his recognition. Likewise, those titles also
are excluded from this command, which though apparently offensive, are in fact, given out of
love and the people who are called by those titles themselves approve them, like Abu Hurairah
(father of the kitten) and Abu Turab (father of the dust).
23. That is, it is very shameful for a believer that in spite of being a believer he should earn
a name for using abusive language and for immodest behavior. If a disbeliever earns reputation
for himself for mocking the people, or taunting them, or for proposing evil and offensive titles
for others, it may not be a good reputation from the point of view of humanity, but it at least
goes well with his disbelief. But if a person after affirming the faith in Allah and His
Messenger and the Hereafter earns reputation on account of these base qualities, it is simply
regrettable.
24. What is forbidden is not conjecture as such but excessive conjecture and following every kind
of conjecture, and the reason given is that some conjectures are sins. In order to understand
this command, we should analyze and see what are the kinds of conjecture and what is the moral
position of each.
One kind of conjecture is that which is morally approved and laudable, and desirable and
praiseworthy from religious point of view, e.g. a good conjecture in respect of Allah and His
Messenger and the believers and those people with whom one comes in common contact daily and
concerning whom there may be no rational ground for having an evil conjecture.
The second kind of conjecture is that which one cannot do without in practical life, e.g. in a
law court a judge has to consider the evidence placed before him and give his decision on the
basis of the most probable conjecture, for he cannot have direct knowledge of the facts of the
matter, and the opinion that is based on evidence is mostly based on the most probable
conjecture and not on certainty. Likewise, in most cases when one or the other decision has to
be taken, and the knowledge of the reality cannot possibly be attained, there is no way out for
men but to form an opinion on the basis of a conjecture.
The third kind of conjecture, which is although a suspicion, is permissible in nature, and it
cannot be regarded as a sin. For instance, if there are clear signs and pointers in the
character of a person (or persons), or in his dealings and conduct, on the basis of which he may
not deserve to enjoy one’s good conjecture, and there are rational grounds for having suspicions
against him, the Shariah does not demand that one should behave like a simpleton and continue to
have a good conjecture about him. The last limit of this lawful conjecture, however, is that one
should conduct himself cautiously in order to ward off any possible mischief from him; it is not
right to take an action against him only on the basis of a conjecture.
The fourth kind of conjecture which is, in fact, a sin is that one should entertain a suspicion
in respect of a person without any ground, or should start
