The Surah takes its name from the first Ayat, وَيْلٌ لِّلْمُطَفِّفِينَ “Woe to those who give less [than due],” [83:1]. The word mutafif (who gives less) is unique to this Surah and not mentioned elsewhere in the Qur’an. There are 36 Ayat in this Surah.click the button above to listen to the recitation of these Quranic verses againThe Surah warns those who commit fraud in business. It reminds about honest dealings. The righteous will prosper. Allah has the record of every person.The theme of this Surah too is the Hereafter. In the first six verses the people have been taken to task for the prevalent evil practice in their commercial dealings. When they had to receive their due from others, they demanded that it be given in full, but when they had to measure or weigh for others, they would give less than what was due. Taking this one evil as an example out of countless evils prevalent in society, it has been said that it is an inevitable result of the heedlessness of the Hereafter. Unless the people realised that one day they would have to appear before God and account for each single act they performed in the world, it was not possible that they would adopt piety and righteousness in their daily affairs. Even if a person might practice honesty in some of his less important dealings in view of “honesty is the best policy,” he would never practice honesty on occasions when dishonesty would seem to be “the best policy.” Man can develop true and enduring honesty only when he fears God and sincerely believes in the Hereafter, for then he would regard honesty not merely as “a policy” but as “a duty” and obligation, and his being constant in it, or otherwise, would not be dependent on its being useful or useless in the world. Thus, after making explicit the relation between morality and the doctrine of the Hereafter in an effective and impressive way, in v. 7-17, it has been said: The deeds of the wicked are already being recorded in the black list of the culprits, and in the Hereafter they will meet with utter ruin. Then in v. 18-28, the best end of the virtuous has been described and it has been laid that their deeds are being recorded in the list of the exalted people, on which are appointed the angels nearest to God. In conclusion, the believers have been consoled and the disbelievers warned, as if to say: “The people who are disgracing and humiliating the believers today, are culprits who, on the Resurrection Day, will meet with a most evil end in consequence of their conduct and these very believers will feel comforted when they see their fate.”
