diff --git a/instrumentation/aws-sdk/aws-sdk-1.11/library/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/awssdk/v1_11/SqsMessage.java b/instrumentation/aws-sdk/aws-sdk-1.11/library/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/awssdk/v1_11/SqsMessage.java
index 75cae1966963..9083f7293de5 100644
--- a/instrumentation/aws-sdk/aws-sdk-1.11/library/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/awssdk/v1_11/SqsMessage.java
+++ b/instrumentation/aws-sdk/aws-sdk-1.11/library/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/awssdk/v1_11/SqsMessage.java
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@
 
 import java.util.Map;
 
+/**
+ * A wrapper interface for {@link com.amazonaws.services.sqs.model.Message}. Using this wrapper
+ * avoids muzzle failure when sqs classes are not present.
+ */
 interface SqsMessage {
 
   Map<String, String> getAttributes();