Woe to every backbiter (humaza), [who is] a slanderer (lumaza),Humaza means a ‘backbiter’ (mughtāb), [a word which is used] when a person maligns someone in their absence; lumaza means a person who defames (ṭāʿin), [that is] he defames someone when he sees them. [The verse] was revealed with reference to al-Wālid b. al-Mughīra.