Al-Nur

Lessons from Chapter 24, Al-Nur lashes. Do not accept their testimony ever after, for they are transgressors, save those who afterwards repent and make amends, for truly God is forgiving and merciful. (24:4-5) Those who brought up that slander were a band from among you. Do not regard it as a misfortune, for it is good for you. Every one of them shall be held to account for the sin he has committed; and he who took the greater part in it shall have a terrible punishment. When you heard of it, why did not the believing men and believing women think well of their own people, and say, ‘This is a manifest slander?’ Why did they not produce four witnesses? If they could not produce any witnesses, they were indeed liars in the sight of God! Had it not been for the grace of God and His mercy on you in this world and the Hereafter, a terrible punishment would have afflicted you for your plunging headlong into slander. When you were spreading it with your tongues and saying with your mouths things of which you had no knowledge, you considered it to be a trivial matter, but, in God’s sight, it was very serious. When you heard it, why did you not say, ‘It is not right for us to speak of this. God forbid! This is a monstrous slander.’