Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:148
Allah does not like the public mention of evil except by one who has been wronged. And ever is Allah Hearing and Knowing.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The discourse on the explanation of His statement: لا يُحِبُّ اللَّهُ الْجَهْرَ بِالسُّوءِ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ إِلا مَنْ ظُلِمَ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ سَمِيعًا عَلِيمًا (148) ("Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech, except by one who has been wronged; and Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differed concerning the recitation of this.
The generality of the reciters of the cities read it with a ḍamma on the "ẓāʾ" (ẓulima – "one who has been wronged").
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And some of them read it: (إِلا مَنْ ظَلَمَ) (ẓalama – "one who has done wrong"), with a fatḥa on the "ẓāʾ".
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Then those who read it with a ḍamma on the "ẓāʾ" differed concerning its explanation.
Some of them said: The meaning of this is: Allah, exalted be His mention, does not love that any of us should openly utter an imprecation against another, and that, according to them, is "the open utterance of evil, except by one who has been wronged." He says: except one who has been wronged and then utters an imprecation against the one who wronged him, for Allah, exalted be His praise, does not deem that blameworthy for him, because He has permitted him that.
* Mention of who said that:
10749 – Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: "Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech," he says: Allah does not love that anyone should utter an imprecation against another, unless he has been wronged, for He has permitted him to utter an imprecation against the one who wronged him, and that is His statement: "except by one who has been wronged"; but if he exercises patience, that is better for him.
10750 – Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: "Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech, except by one who has been wronged," for then He does love the open utterance of evil in speech.
10751 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: "Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech, except by one who has been wronged; and Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing," Allah excused the one wronged, as you hear: that he should utter an imprecation.
10752 – Al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: Abū ʿUbayd related to us, he said: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: it is the man who is wronged by a man and then does not utter an imprecation against him, but rather lets him say: "O Allah, help me against him; O Allah, bring forth for me my right; O Allah, come between him and what he wants," and the like of such imprecations.
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= So "man" ("one who") is, according to this statement of Ibn ʿAbbās, in the nominative position (rafʿ). For he directed it toward the open utterance of evil being in the sense of the imprecation, and he made the one wronged an exception from it. Thus the meaning of the speech according to his statement becomes: Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech, except [by] the one wronged, for as for him there is no objection to his uttering it openly.
And this is a view that the people of Arabic linguistics regard as faulty in Arabic. That is because "man," according to them, may not be in the nominative through "al-jahr" (the open utterance), since it is within the connective clause (ṣila) of "an," and the negation (al-jaḥd) has not reached it, so that it may not be connected to it. It is, with them, a fault to say: "it does not please me that any should stand, except Zayd."
And it is possible that "man" is in the accusative (naṣb), according to the interpretation of the statement of Ibn ʿAbbās, and that His statement: "Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech" is a complete sentence, after which it is said: "except one who has been wronged – for him there is no objection," so that it is an exception from the verb, even though there is, before the exception, no apparent thing from which the exception is made, as He, exalted be His praise, said: لَسْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ بِمُسَيْطِرٍ * إِلا مَنْ تَوَلَّى وَكَفَرَ [sūra al-Ghāshiya: 22-23] ("You are not over them a controller, except whoever turns away and disbelieves"), and as in their saying: "I truly abhor dispute and wrangling, O Allah, except a man who by it intends Allah," while before it none of the nouns has been mentioned.
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And "man" is, according to this statement of al-Ḥasan, in the accusative (naṣb), as being excepted from the meaning of the speech, not from the noun, as we mentioned earlier concerning the interpretation of the statement of Ibn ʿAbbās when "man" is directed toward the accusative, and as in the saying of one who says: "the matter was such and such, O Allah, except that so-and-so – may Allah reward him with good – did such and such."
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Others said: No, the meaning of this is: Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech, except [by] one who has been wronged and then gives a report about what was done to him.
* Mention of who said that:
10753 – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: it is the man who lodges with a man, who then does not host him well, whereupon he departs from him and says: he treated my hospitality badly and did not do it well!
10754 – Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: "except by one who has been wronged," he said: except one who recounts what was said against him.
10755 – Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, he said: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech, except by one who has been wronged," he said: it is the guest whose lodging has been turned away (refused), for he openly utters evil in speech against his companion.
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Others said: By this is meant the man who lodges with a man, who then does not entertain him, whereupon he speaks out against the one who did not entertain him.
* Mention of who said that:
10756 – Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His statement: "except by one who has been wronged," he said: except one who has been wronged and then defends himself; he utters evil openly.
10757 – Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, the like of it.
10758 – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Bakr, on the authority of Mujāhid = and on the authority of Ḥumayd al-Aʿraj, on the authority of Mujāhid: "Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech, except by one who has been wronged," he said: it is the man who lodges with a man, who then does not treat him well, whereupon Allah has permitted him to speak about him.
10759 – And Aḥmad ibn Ḥammād al-Dūlābī related to me, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Bakr, on the authority of Mujāhid: "Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech, except by one who has been wronged," he said: it concerns hospitality: a man comes to a people, lodges with them, and they do not entertain him. Allah has permitted him to speak about them.
10760 – Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: al-Muthannā ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ informed us, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His statement: "Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech," the verse, he said: a man was a guest of a man, and the latter did not show him the right of his hospitality, and when he departed he informed the people and said: "I was a guest of so-and-so and he did not show me the right of my hospitality"! That, then, is the open utterance of evil [that is permitted] except by one who has been wronged, when he did not show him his hospitality.
10761 – Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, he said: Ibn Jurayj said: Mujāhid said: except one who has been wronged and then defends himself; he utters evil openly. Mujāhid said: it was revealed concerning a man who was a guest of a man in a wasteland of the country, and the latter did not entertain him, whereupon there was revealed: "except by one who has been wronged"; he mentioned that he did not entertain him and nothing more than that.
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Others said: The meaning of this is: except one who has been wronged and then defends himself against the one who wronged him, for Allah has permitted him that.
* Mention of who said that:
10762 – Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech, except by one who has been wronged," he says: Allah does not love the open utterance of evil by any creature, but one who has been wronged and then defends himself with the like of the wrong done to him, upon him there is no blame.
= So "man" is, according to these statements which we have mentioned, with the exception of the statement of Ibn ʿAbbās, in the accusative position (naṣb), on account of its standing apart from the preceding. And it is a characteristic of the Arabs that they place what comes after "illā" ("except") in the accusative in the case of the disconnected exception (al-istithnāʾ al-munqaṭiʿ).
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Thus the meaning of the speech according to these statements, with the exception of the statement of Ibn ʿAbbās, becomes: Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech, but one who has been wronged, for him there is no objection that he should give a report about what was done to him, or that he should defend himself against the one who wronged him.
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And others read that with a fatḥa on the "ẓāʾ": (إِلا مَنْ ظَلَمَ) (ẓalama – "one who has done wrong"), and they explained it as: Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech, except [against] one who has done wrong, for then there is no objection to the open utterance of evil in speech against him.
* Mention of who said that:
10763 – Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said: my father used to recite: (لا يُحِبُّ اللَّهُ الْجَهْرَ بِالسُّوءِ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ إِلا مَنْ ظَلَمَ) ("Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech, except [against] one who has done wrong"). Ibn Zayd said: he says: except one who persists in that hypocrisy (nifāq); evil is then uttered openly against him until he desists from it. He said: and this is like: وَلا تَنَابَزُوا بِالأَلْقَابِ بِئْسَ الاسْمُ الْفُسُوقُ ("And do not address one another with offensive nicknames; wretched is the name of iniquity"), that you name him with iniquity (fisq) = بَعْدَ الإِيمَانِ ("after faith"), after he was a believer = وَمَنْ لَمْ يَتُبْ ("and whoever does not repent"), of that deed for which it was said against him = فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ [sūra al-Ḥujurāt: 11] ("then it is these who are the wrongdoers"), he said: he is worse than the one who said it.
10764 – Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: "Allah does not love the open utterance of evil in speech, except [against] one who has done wrong," and he recited: إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ فِي الدَّرْكِ الأَسْفَلِ مِنَ النَّارِ ("Indeed, the hypocrites will be in the lowest depths of the Fire") until he reached: وَسَوْفَ يُؤْتِ اللَّهُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا ("and Allah will give the believers a great reward"). Then He said, after He had said: they are in the lowest depths of the Fire = مَا يَفْعَلُ اللَّهُ بِعَذَابِكُمْ إِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ وَآمَنْتُمْ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ شَاكِرًا عَلِيمًا ("What would Allah do with your punishment if you are grateful and believe? And Allah is Appreciative, All-Knowing"), (لا يُحِبُّ اللَّهُ الْجَهْرَ بِالسُّوءِ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ إِلا مَنْ ظَلَمَ), he said: Allah does not love that it be said to this [repentant one]: "were you not a hypocrite? Are you not the hypocrite who did wrong and did this and that?", after he has repented = "except [against] one who has done wrong," except one who persists in hypocrisy. He said: and it was as though my father said that to him, and he recited it: (إِلا مَنْ ظَلَمَ).
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= So "man" is, according to this interpretation, in the accusative (naṣb), on account of its connection with "al-jahr" (the open utterance).
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And the explanation of the speech, according to the statement of the one who makes this statement: Allah does not love that anyone should openly utter evil in speech against any of the hypocrites, except one of them who has done wrong and persists in his hypocrisy, for then there is no objection to the open utterance of evil in speech against him.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the more fitting of the two recitations as regards what is correct herein is the recitation of the one who read: (إِلا مَنْ ظُلِمَ) (ẓulima) with a ḍamma on the "ẓāʾ," on account of the consensus of the authoritative proof of the reciters and the people of interpretation upon its correctness, and the anomalousness (shudhūdh) of the recitation of the one who read it with the fatḥa.
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Since that is the more fitting of the two recitations as regards what is correct, the correct view in its interpretation is: Allah does not love, O people, that anyone should openly utter evil in speech against another = "except by one who has been wronged," in the sense of: except one who has been wronged, for him there is no objection that he should give a report about the evil that was done to him.
And when that is its meaning, there falls under it the reporting of one who was not entertained, or whose entertainment was bad, or who was afflicted with wrong in his person or his property = to others of the rest of the people. And likewise his imprecation against the one who afflicted him with wrong: that Allah may help him against him, for in his imprecation against him there is a communication from him, to whoever hears his imprecation against him, of the evil [that was done to him].
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Since that is so, "man" is in the accusative position (naṣb), because it stands apart from what precedes it, and because there are, before it, no nouns from which the exception is made; it is thus comparable to His statement: لَسْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ بِمُسَيْطِرٍ * إِلا مَنْ تَوَلَّى وَكَفَرَ [sūra al-Ghāshiya: 22-23] ("You are not over them a controller, except whoever turns away and disbelieves").
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And as for His statement: "and Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing," by it He means: "and Allah is All-Hearing" of what you openly utter of evil words against those against whom you utter it openly, and of the rest of your voices and your words = "All-Knowing" of what you conceal of your evil words and your speech against those against whom you conceal it and do not utter it openly; He keeps an exact account of all that for you, until He gives you your recompense for all of that – the evildoer for his evildoing and the doer of good for his doing of good.
