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Sūrah Al-Muṭaffifīn
المطففين · Those Who Deal in Fraud · 36 āyāt · revealed in Makkah · #86 in the order of revelation
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Sūrah Al-Muṭaffifīn · reviewed end to end
Standard — themes, all takeaways and Allah's names
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Themes in order
01Woe to those who give lessāyāt 1–6
Woe to al-muṭaffifīn — those who, when they take a measure from people, demand full measure, but when they give by measure or weight to others, they give less. Do they not think that they will be resurrected for a tremendous Day, the Day when mankind will stand before the Lord of the worlds?
02The record of the wicked is in Sijjīnāyāt 7–17
No! Indeed the record of the wicked is in Sijjīn — a written, inscribed register. Woe that Day to the deniers who deny the Day of Recompense, denied by none except every sinful transgressor who, when Our verses are recited to him, says 'legends of the former peoples.' No! Rather, their hearts have been covered by that which they used to earn (rān). No! Indeed they will be veiled from their Lord that Day, then will surely enter to burn in Hellfire, then it will be said: 'This is what you used to deny.'
03The record of the righteous is in ʿIlliyyīnāyāt 18–28
No! Indeed the record of the righteous is in ʿIlliyyīn — a written, inscribed register, witnessed by those brought near [to Allah]. Indeed the righteous will be in pleasure, on adorned couches, observing; you will recognize in their faces the radiance of pleasure. They will be given to drink a pure sealed wine, whose seal is musk — and for that let the competitors compete — mixed with Tasnīm, a spring from which those brought near drink.
04Today the believers laugh at the disbelieversāyāt 29–36
Indeed, the criminals used to laugh at those who believed, and when they passed by them, they would exchange winks, and when they returned to their people, they would return jesting, and when they saw the believers, they said, 'Indeed, these are truly lost' — though they were not sent as guardians over them. So today those who believed will laugh at the disbelievers, on adorned couches, observing. Are the disbelievers [not] rewarded for what they used to do?
Allah's names in this sūrah
Which names Allah uses here, and why
Sūrat Al-Muṭaffifīn names Allah in 1 distinct ways across its āyāt, each one carrying part of what the sūrah is arguing. A name is never decoration: tafsīr reads the name chosen as part of the āyah's argument. Learn each one, where it falls in Sūrah Al-Muṭaffifīn, and what it asks of you.
Key takeaways
- Cheating in small, seemingly minor transactions is condemned with one of the Qur'an's strongest warnings.
- Double standards — demanding full for oneself while shortchanging others — reveal a deeper spiritual corruption.
- Belief in the Day of Standing before the Lord of the worlds is what should govern everyday commercial honesty.
- Sijjīn is a real, specific register for the deeds of the wicked, located in a confined, lowly place.
- Persistent sin accumulates as a covering (rān) over the heart until it can no longer perceive truth.
- The veiling of the wicked from seeing their Lord is used by scholars as evidence that the righteous will see Him.
- Denial of the Qur'an as 'legends of former peoples' is tied to habitual sin (iʿtidāʾ and ithm), not intellectual honesty.
- ʿIlliyyīn, the register of the righteous, is as elevated and honoured as Sijjīn is confined and lowly.
- The joy of the people of Paradise is visible on their very faces — outward radiance reflecting inward bliss.
- The Qur'an redirects competitive human ambition toward the pursuit of eternal reward rather than transient worldly gain.
- Reward in Paradise is graded — Tasnīm undiluted for the muqarrabūn, mixed for others — mirroring differing ranks of righteousness.
- Mocking believers for their faith has ancient precedent and is answered by the Qur'an with a promised reversal.
- The mockers had no religious authority to judge the believers as 'lost'; their scorn was baseless arrogance.
- Divine justice often takes the precise form of the original wrong — 'a punishment of the same kind as the deed.'
- The final rhetorical question closes the surah by affirming that requital exactly fits what was earned.