Al-Hujurat, "The Chambers," is the forty-ninth surah — 18 verses revealed in Medina.1 It is named for the private rooms of the Prophet's ﷺ household, and in a few short passages it gives one of the Quran's most complete codes of conduct for living together.
What it is about
The surah begins with courtesy toward the Prophet ﷺ — do not raise your voices above his, and do not call to him from outside his chambers — and moves outward to the whole community.2 Its instructions are practical and immediate: check your information, settle disputes, guard your tongue and your suspicions. It ends with a verse addressed not to believers but to all humanity.
Key themes
Verify before acting. "If there comes to you a disobedient one with information, investigate, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and become, over what you have done, regretful."3
Make peace. "If two factions among the believers should fight, then make settlement between the two... The believers are but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers."4
Guard the tongue and the heart. "Let not a people ridicule [another] people; perhaps they may be better than them; nor let women ridicule [other] women... And do not insult one another and do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames." Then: "avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it."5
One humanity. "O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you."6
Submission and faith. "The bedouins say, 'We have believed.' Say, 'You have not [yet] believed; but say [instead], "We have submitted," for faith has not yet entered your hearts.'"7
Why it matters
Al-Hujurat is among the most cited surahs on everyday Muslim ethics: its rules against rumor, mockery, suspicion, spying and backbiting are as relevant to social media as to the markets of Medina. Its verse 49:13 — that people were made different "that you may know one another," and that the only nobility is righteousness — is a foundation of Islamic teaching against racism and tribalism. To read Al-Hujurat in Arabic with translations and recitation, open it on Quran.com.