His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Woe to every slanderer, sinning one. He hears the verses of Allah recited to him, then he persists in arrogance as if he has not heard them. So give him tidings of a painful punishment. And when he knows something from Our verses, he takes it in jest. For them is a humiliating punishment. Ahead of them is Hell, and what they earned will not avail them at all, nor will they take protectors besides Allah. And for them is a great punishment. This is guidance, and those who disbelieve in the verses of their Lord will have a punishment from a wretched source."

"Woe" in the speech of the Arabs means calamities, sorrow, grief, and hardship among these meanings. It is a word used in supplication against a person. It has been narrated in some reports that in Hell there is a valley named: Woe. Al-Tabari went to say that what is meant by the verse and the implication of the language is a supplication against the people of slander and sin with the aforementioned meanings. The slanderer is the liar from whom slander occurs repeatedly, and "the sinning one" is a form of exaggeration, a noun of the doer from: athima ya'thim.

It has been narrated that the reason for this verse was Abu Jahl, and it was said: Al-Nadr ibn Al-Harith. The correct view is that the reason includes both mentioned and others; it encompasses everyone who falls under the mentioned descriptions until the Day of Resurrection.

"He persists" means he remains steadfast in his belief of disbelief. And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "So give him tidings of a painful punishment," is good because it expresses the punishment. If the tidings were not restricted to something, they would not occur except for those who are favored.

The majority of people read: "And when he knows" with a فتح (fatḥ) on the 'ayn and a lightening of the lām. The meaning is: And when he informs of something from Our verses, he knows the essence of the report, not the meaning that the report contains. If he had known the meanings that the reports of the Shari'ah contain and the realities of their truths, he would have been a believer. Qatadah and Matar Al-Warraq read: "And when he is informed" with a ضم (ḍamm) on the 'ayn and a shaddah (gemination) on the lām. And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Those are" is a response to the term "every slanderer," because it is a generic noun that has the mentioned attributes thereafter.

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Ahead of them is Hell," some of the commentators said: Its meaning is: in front of them. This is like the disagreement in His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And there was behind them a king" [Al-Kahf: 79]. The speaker of this statement considers the matter from the perspective that a person is as if he is moving through his lifetime towards Paradise or Hell, and they are before him. The term "behind" in the language is not like that; rather, it is what comes after a person. If the matter is considered in terms of precedence or delay in existence, as time is like a path for things, the matter is correct. What comes after a thing in time is behind it. So it is as if the king and his taking of the ship is behind the riding of those who ride it, and Hell and its burning for the disbelievers comes after their disbelief and their deeds. This is like saying: Do such and such, and I am behind you as a support, and as you say that in a threat: I am behind the pursuit of you, and so on. And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And not what they took" means by that the idols.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿This is guidance﴾ is an indication of the Qur'an. Ibn Kathir and Asim - in the narration of Hafs - read: "painful" as an adjective for "punishment," and this is the reading of Ibn Muhaisin, Ibn Mutarif, and the people of Mecca. The others read: "painful" as an adjective for "torment," and this is the reading of Al-Hasan, Abu Ja'far, Shaybah, 'Isa, and Al-Amash. And "torment" is the most severe punishment. His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿And for them is punishment﴾ is like your saying: they have a share. From this perspective and from the perspective of the difference in the two words, His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿Punishment from torment﴾ is good, as torment is punishment.