The Palm Fibre

Al Masad

Also known as: Al-Lahab, Al-Masad

Verses

Revelation

Makki

Period

Early Meccan

Surah No.

111 / 114

Overview

Names one living opponent, Abu Lahab, the Prophet's ﷺ uncle, and his wife, and declares that his wealth and standing will not save him from the Fire. Because it foretold his death in unbelief while he still lived and could have feigned belief to falsify it, classical scholars treat the surah as a standing sign of the Quran's truth.

أسباب النزول

Occasion of Revelation (Asbab al-Nuzul)

When the Prophet ﷺ climbed Mount Safa and called the clans of Quraysh to warn them, Abu Lahab, his uncle Abd al-Uzza, answered: May you perish, is this why you gathered us? The surah was revealed in reply. His wife Umm Jamil, sister of Abu Sufyan, used to carry bundles of thorn branches at night and scatter them on the path the Prophet ﷺ walked.

Key Themes

Wealth and lineage cannot ransom a person from the consequences of rejecting truthThe prophecy of Abu Lahab's death in unbelief as an evidentiary signActive hostility to the message, not mere disbelief, singled out for condemnationA spouse who shares in wrongdoing shares in its outcomeProphetic precision: a named individual predicted to die in disbelief

Notable Verses

111:1-3

“May the hands of Abu Lahab perish, and may he perish. His wealth will not avail him, nor what he has earned. He will burn in a Fire of blazing flame.”

The name Abu Lahab, father of flame, was a byname given for his glowing complexion, and the surah turns it against him: the father of flame goes to a flame. Al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir note that Allah names him by the byname rather than his given name Abd al-Uzza, servant of al-Uzza, perhaps because that name itself carried the shame of an idol. The phrase what he has earned is read by many as his children, since a Prophetic report calls a person's child part of their earning.