Ata said: It is for you to say to your brother, “O dog! O donkey! O pig!”

It is related from Ibn Abbas that he said: “Calling one another by offensive nicknames” refers to a man who had committed evil deeds and then repented of them, yet was forbidden to be reproached for his past conduct. (1)

“Evil indeed is the name of wickedness after faith.” That is, evil indeed is for one to say, “O Jew!” or “O wicked sinner!” after he has believed and repented. It was also said that its meaning is: whoever commits what has been forbidden of ridicule, defamation, and offensive name-calling is wicked; and evil indeed is the name of wickedness after faith. So do not do this, lest you deserve to be called wicked. “And whoever does not repent” of this—“then it is they who are the wrongdoers.”