Name

The Sūrah takes its name from the word Lahab in the first verse.

Period of Revelation

Although the commentators have not disputed its being a Makki Sūrah, yet it is difficult to determine in which phase of the life at Makkah precisely it was revealed. However, in view of Abu Lahab's role and conduct against the Holy Prophet's message of Truth, it can be assumed that it must have been revealed in the period when he had transgressed all limits in his mad hostility to him, and his attitude was becoming a serious obstruction in the progress of Islam. It may well

all around 'Utaibah and went to sleep. At night a tiger came which crossed the circle of the camels and devoured 'Utaibah tearing him to pieces. (Ibn 'Abdul Barr: Al-Istī'āb; Ibn Hajar: Al-Iṣābah; Abū Nu'aim al-Iṣfahānī: Dalā'il an-Nubuwwat; As-Suhaili: Rauḍ al-Unuf.. Here, there is a difference of opinion. Some reporters say that the divorce took place after the Holy Prophet's proclamation of Prophethood and some say that it took place after the revelation of Tabbat yadā' Abī Lahab. There is also a difference of opinion about whether Abū Lahab's this son was 'Utbah or 'Utaibah. But this much is confirmed that after the conquest of Makkah, 'Utbah embraced Islam and took the oath of allegiance at the Holy Prophet's hand. Therefore, the correct view is that it was 'Utaibah).

Abū Lahab's wickedness can be judged from the fact that when Ḥadrat 'Abdullah, also died, this man instead of condoling with his after the death of the Holy Prophet's son Ḥadrat Qāsim, his second son, nephew in his bereavement, hastened to the Quraish chiefs joyfully to give them the news that Muḥammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and blessings) had become childless that night. This we have already related in the commentary of Sūrah Al-Kauthar.

Wherever the Holy Prophet went to preach his message of Islam, this man followed him and forbade the people to listen to him. Rabī'ah bin 'Abbās ad-Dilī has related: "I was a young boy when I accompanied my father to the fare of Dhul-Majāz. There I saw the Holy Messenger (may peace be upon him) who was exhorting the people, saying: 'O people, say: there is no deity but Allah, you will attain success.' Following behind him I saw a man, who was telling the people:

'This fellow is a liar: he has gone astray from his ancestral faith.' I asked: who is he? The people replied: He is his uncle, Abū Lahab." (Musnad Ahmad, Baihaqi). Another tradition from Ḥadrat Rabī'ah is to the effect; "I saw that the Holy Prophet went to the halting place of each tribe and said: O children of so and so, I have been appointed Allah's Messenger to you. I exhort you to worship only Allah and to associate none with Him. So, affirm faith in me and join me so that I may fulfil the mission for which I have been sent.' Following close behind him there was a man who was saying: 'O children of so and so, he is leading you astray from Lāt and 'Uzzā and inviting you to the religion of error and innovation which he has brought. Do not at all listen to what he says and do not follow him.' I asked my father: who is he? He replied: He is his uncle, Abū Lahab." (Musnad Aḥmad, Ṭabarānī). Ṭāriq bin ‘Abdullah al-Muḥāribī's tradition is similar. He says: "I saw in the fare of Dhul Majāz that the Holy Messenger (upon whom be peace) was exhorting the people, saying: 'O people, say La ilāha ill-Allāh, you will attain success', and behind him there was a man who was casting stones at him, until his heels bled, and he was telling the people: 'Do not listen to him, he is a liar.' I asked the people who he was. They said he was his uncle, Abū Lahab." (Tirmidhī).

In the 7th year of Prophethood, when all the clans of Quraish boycotted the Banī Hāshim and the Banī al-Muṭṭalib socially and economically, and both these clans remaining steadfast to the Holy Prophet's support, were besieged in Shi'b Abī Ṭālib, Abū Lahab was the only person, who sided with the disbelieving Quraish against his own clan. This boycott continued for three years, so much so that the Banī Hāshim and the Banī al-Muṭṭalib began to starve. This, however, did not move Abū Lahab. When a trade caravan came to Makkah and a besieged person from Shi'b Abī Ṭālib approached it to buy some articles of food, Abū Lahab would shout out to the merchants to demand a forbidding price, telling them that he would make up for any loss that they incurred. Thus, they would demand exorbitant rates and the poor customer had to return empty handed to his starving children. Then Abū Lahab would purchase the same articles from them at the market rates . (Ibn Sa'd, Ibn Hishām).

On account of these very misdeeds this man was condemned in this Sūrah by name, and there was a special need for it. When the Holy Prophet's own uncle followed and opposed him before the Arabs who came for Ḥajj from outside Makkah, or gathered together in the fares held at different places, they regarded it as against the established traditions of Arabia that an uncle should run down his nephew without a reason, should pelt stones at him and bring false accusations against him publicly. They were, therefore, influenced by what Abū Lahab said and were involved in doubt about the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace). But when this Sūrah was revealed, and Abū Lahab, filled with rage; started uttering nonsense, the people realized that what he said in opposition to the Holy Prophet was not at all reliable, for he said all that in his mad hostility to his nephew.

Besides, when his uncle was condemned by name, the people's expectation that the Holy Messenger (upon whom by peace) could treat some relative leniently in the matter of religion was frustrated for ever. When the Holy Messenger's own uncle was taken to task publicly the people understood that there was no room for preference or partiality in their faith. A non-relative could become a near and dear one if he believed, and a near-relation a non-relative if he disbelieved. Thus, there is no place for the ties of blood in religion.

Broken were the hands of Abu Lahab and he was doomed to utter failure.¹ His wealth and whatever he earned did not avail him anything.² Certainly he shall be cast into a blazing Fire, and (along with him) his wife, too,³ the bearer of slander.⁴ Round her neck will be a rope of palm-fibre.⁵

1. His real name was 'Abd al-'Uzzā, and he was called Abū Lahab on account of his glowing, ruddy complexion. Lahab means the flame of fire, and Abū Lahab the one with a flaming, fiery face. His being mentioned here by his nickname (Kunyat), instead of his real name, has several reasons. First, that he was better known by his nickname than by his real name; second, that the Qur'an did not approve that he should be mentioned by his polytheistic name 'Abd al-'Uzzā (slave of 'Uzza); third, that his kunyat goes well with the fate that has been described of him in this Sūrah.

Some commentators have translated tabbat yadā Abī Lahab to mean: "May the hands of Abū Lahab be broken", and tabba to mean: "may he perish" or "he perished". But this, in fact, was not a curse which was invoked on him, but a prophecy in which an event taking place in the future, has been described in the past tense, to suggest that its occurrence in the future is certain and inevitable.

In actual fact, at last the same thing happened as had been foretold in this Sūrah a few years earlier. Breaking of the hands obviously does not imply breaking of the physical hands, but a person's utterly failing in his aim and object for which he has exerted his utmost. And Abū Lahab indeed had exerted his utmost to defeat and frustrate the message of Islam presented by the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace). But hardly seven or eight years after the revelation of this Sūrah most of the big chiefs of Quraish, who were a party with Abū Lahab in his hostility to Islam, were killed in the Battle of Badr. When the news of the defeat reached Makkah, he was so shocked that he could not survive for more than seven days. His death occurred in a pitiable state. He became afflicted with malignant pustule and the people of his house left him to himself, fearing contagion. No one came near his body for three days after his death, until the body decomposed and began to stink. At last, when the people began to taunt his sons, according to one tradition, they hired some negroes, who lifted his body and buried it. According to another tradition, they got a pit dug out and threw his body into it by pushing it with wood, and covered it up with earth and stones. His utter failure became manifest when the religion which he had tried his utmost to impede and thwart, was accepted by his own children. First of all, his daughter, Darrah, migrated from Makkah to Madinah and embraced Islam; then on the conquest of Makkah, both his sons, 'Utabb and Mu'attab, came before the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace) through the mediation of Hadrat 'Abbās, believed and took oath of allegiance to him.

2. Abū Lahab was a stingy, materialistic man. Ibn Jarir has stated that once in the pre-Islamic days he was accused of having stolen two golden deer from the treasury of the Ka'bah. Though later the deer were recovered from another person, the fact that he was accused of stealing indicates the opinion the people of Makkah held of him. About his riches Qāḍī Rashīd bin Zubair writes in his Adh-Dhakhā'ir wat-Tuḥaf. He was one of the four richest men of the Quraish, who owned one qintār (about 260 oz) of gold each. His love of wealth can be judged from the fact that when on the occasion of the battle of Badr the fate of his religion was going to be decided for ever, and all the Quraish chiefs had personally gone to fight, he sent 'Āṣ bin Hishām to fight on his own behalf, telling him: This is in lieu of the debt of four thousand dirhams that you owe to me. Thus, he contrived a plan to realize his debt, for ʿĀṣ had become bankrupt and there was no hope of the recovery of the debt from him.

Some commentators have taken ma kasaba in the meaning of the earning, i.e. the benefits that accrued to him from his wealth were his kasb (earning), and some other commentators have taken it to imply children, for the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace) has said that a man's son also is his kasb (earning). (Abu Da'ud, Ibn Abi Ḥatim). Both these meanings fully correspond to the fate met by Abu Lahab. For when he was afflicted with the malignant pustule, his wealth availed him nothing, and his children also left him alone to die a miserable, wretched death. They did not even bury him honourably. Thus, within a few years the people witnessed how the prophecy which had been made in this Surah about Abu Lahab was literally fulfilled.

3. Her name was Arwā' and her nickname (kunyat) Umm Jamil. She was sister of Abu Sufyan and was no less bitter than her husband, Abu Lahab, in her enmity to the Holy Messenger (upon whom be peace). Ḥadrat Abu Bakr's daughter, Ḥadrat Asmā', has related that when this Surah was revealed, and Umm Jamil heard it, she was filled with rage and went out in search of the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace). She carried a handful of stones and she was crying some verses of her own, satirizing the Holy Prophet. She came to the Ka'bah, where the Holy Prophet was sitting with Ḥadrat Abu Bakr. The latter said: "O Messenger of Allah, there she comes and I fear lest she should utter something derogatory to you." The Holy Prophet replied: "She will not see me." The same thing happened. She could not see the Holy Prophet although he was there. She said to Ḥadrat Abu Bakr: "I hear that your Companion has satirized me." Ḥadrat Abu Bakr replied: "No, by the Lord of this house, he has not satirized you." Hearing this she went off. (Ibn Abi Ḥatim, Ibn Hisham; Bazzar has related an incident on the authority of Ḥadrat 'Abdullah bin 'Abbas also, which closely resembles this). What Ḥadrat Abu Bakr meant was that she had not been satirized by the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace), but by Allah Himself.

4. The words in the original are bammālat al-ḥaṭab, which literally mean "carrier of the wood". The commentators have given several meanings of it. Ḥadrat 'Abdullah bin 'Abbas, Ibn Zaid, Ḍaḥḥāk and Rabi' bin Anas say: She used to strew thorns at the Holy Prophet's door in the night; therefore, she has been described as carrier of the wood. Qatādah, 'Ikrimah, Ḥasan Baṣrī, Mujāhid and Sufyān Thaurī say: She used to carry evil tales and slander from one person to another in order to create hatred between them; therefore, she has been called the bearer of wood idiomatically. Sa'īd bin Jubair says: The one who is loading himself with the burden of sin, is described idiomatically in Arabic as: Fulān-un yahtatibu 'alā zahri-hi (so and so is loading wood on his back); therefore, ḥammālat al-ḥaṭab means: The one who carries the burden of sin. Another meaning also which the commentators have given is: she will do this in the Hereafter, i.e. she will bring and supply wood to the fire in which Abū Lahab would be burning.

5. The word used for her neck is jīd, which in Arabic means a neck decorated with an ornament. Sa'īd bin al-Musayyab, Ḥasan Baṣrī and Qatādah say that she wore a valuable necklace and used to say: "By Lāt and 'Uzzā, I will sell away this necklace and expend the price to satisfy my enmity against Muḥammad (Allah's peace and blessings be upon him)." That is why the word jīd has been used here ironically, thereby implying that in Hell she would have a rope of palm-fibre round her neck instead of that necklace upon which she prides herself so arrogantly. Another example of this ironical style is found at several places in the Qur'ān in the sentence: Bashshir-hum bi-'adhāb-in alīm: "Give them the good news of a painful torment."

The words ḥabl-um-min-masad have been used for the rope which will be put round her neck, i.e. it will be a rope of the masad kind. Different meanings of this have been given by the lexicographers and commentators. According to some, masad means a tightly twisted rope; others say that masad is the rope made from palm-fibre; still others say that it means the rope made from rush, or camel-skin, or camel-hair. Still another view is that it implies a cable made by twisted iron strands together.