The Father Of Flames

Abu Lahab was the uncle of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). His real name was Abd al-'Uzza. The Qur’an names him as “Father of Flames” which means “Abu Lahab” because of the radiant look on his face. The wife of Abu Lahab was Umm Jamil. Every night, Umm Jamil bunched cockleburs, thorns and thorny branches and knit them together on her neck, threw and spread them on the way of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) so that they would sting on his foot and thus hurt him at night.

Together with his wife, Abu Lahab was one of the most hostile opponents of Prophet Muhammad and the ideas he propagated. Abu Lahab is the only person from the enemies of Islam who has been cursed by name in the Holy Qur’an. Although he was an uncle of the Holy Prophet (pbuh), he staunchly opposed Islam from the very beginning.

Rabi’ah, son of `Abbad, recalls: “When I was young, I once watched, with my father, God’s Messenger preaching Islam to the Arab tribes, saying: ‘O sons of…  (calling their respective tribal names), I am God’s Messenger sent to order you to submit to, and worship Him alone, invoking nothing else beside Him, and to believe in me and protect me until I carry out what God has entrusted to me.’

A cross-eyed, bright-faced man was behind him, who used to say, after he had finished:

‘O sons of…  this man wants you to forsake al-Laat and al-`Uzza (two idols worshiped by the pagan Arabs) and your allies of the jinn, the children of Malik ibn Aqmas, and to substitute for them these innovations and nonsense he has come up with.  Do not listen to him, nor follow what he preaches.’ I asked my father who that man was and he told me that it was Abu Lahab, the Prophet’s uncle.”

His wife, Arwa bint Harb ibn Umayyah gave him unfailing support in his virulent, relentless campaign.

One day the Prophet went out to a large square in Makkah, climbed a hill and summoned the people of the Quraysh.  When they came to him, he addressed them, saying:

‘Were I to tell you that an enemy is drawing near and will attack you tomorrow morning or evening, would you believe me?’

‘Yes,’ they replied.

‘O listen to me,’ he went on, ‘I am warning you of (God’s) gruesome torment.’

Abu Lahab was there and snapped at him:

‘Damn you! For this have you called us?’

Then this chapter was revealed.

Another instance was when the clan of Hashim, under Abu Ţalib’s leadership, decided on grounds of tribal loyalty to protect the Prophet despite their rejection of the religion he preached.

Abu Lahab was the only one to take a different stand.  Even though he belonged to the same clan, he joined with the opposing Quraysh instead, and was with them in signing the document imposing a complete social and business boycott on the clan of Hashim to starve them out unless they delivered the Prophet to them.

Abu Lahab also ordered his two sons to renounce Muhammad’s two daughters to whom they had been engaged before Muhammad’s prophetic assignment.  His aim was to burden the Prophet with their living and welfare expenses.

Thus, Abu Lahab and his wife continued with their persistent onslaught against the Prophet and his message. The fact that they were close neighbours of the Prophet made the situation worse. Umm Jameel used to carry thorns and sharp wood and place them along the Prophet’s path.

God revealed this chapter as a counterattack against Abu Lahab’s and his wife’s hostile campaign. God took it upon Himself to say the final word on behalf of His Messenger.

Verses 1-3 – The punishment of Abu Lahab

The Arabic term, tabba, rendered as ‘doomed’ also signifies failure and cutting off.  The term is used twice in two different senses.  It is used first as a prayer, while in the second instance it implies that the prayer has been already answered.  So, in one short verse, an action is realized which draws the curtains upon a battle scene.  What later follows is merely a description of what took place with the remark that:

{his wealth and his gains shall avail him nothing.} (Verse 2)

He can have no escape.  He is defeated, vanquished and damned.  This was his fate in this world, but in the Hereafter:

{he shall have to endure a flaming fire.} (Verse 3)

The fire is described as having flames in order to emphasize that it is raging.

Verses 4-5 – The punishment of the wife of Abu Lahab

{And his wife, the carrier of firewood,} will reside there with him having, {a rope of palm-fiber round her neck,} with which she is being dragged into Hell, or which she used for fastening wood bundles together, according to whether a literal or metaphorical interpretation of the text is adopted.

The language of this chapter achieves remarkable harmony between the subject matter and the atmosphere around it.  Hell, with its fiercely burning lahab, or flames, will be inhabited by Abu Lahab.

At the same time his wife, who collects thorns and sharp woods, materials which can significantly increase the blaze, will meet the same fire with a rope tied round her neck, bundled like firewood.

How perfectly matched are the words and the pictures portrayed. God will punish her with the same nature as her deed: wood, rope, fire and lahab!

How did Abu Lahab, the ferocious enemy of Islam, die?

Abu Lahab had not participated in the expedition of Badr and stayed in Makkah, sending Asi b. Hisham instead of him.

When the Qurayshi army was defeated by the Islamic army and returned to Makkah, Abu Lahab called Abu Sufyan b. Harith and said to him, “O my nephew! What happened in Badr? Tell me”

Abu Sufyan b. Harith said: “By Allah, we were completely defeated when we faced them. They killed some of us and took some of us captives. However, I cannot blame or condemn people because we saw a regiment of cavalries on dapple grey horses; it was impossible to fight against them!”

Meanwhile, Umm Fadl, the wife of Hazrat Abbas and Abu Rafi, his slave, were there, too. Abu Rafi said, “By Allah, the cavalries you saw were angels!” Abu Lahab got very angry and slapped Abu Rafi severely; then, he started to beat him by swooping down on him.

Umm Fadl was moved and said, “You are beating a poor slave because his master is not here!” Then, she hit the head of Abu Lahab with a tent pole.

Abu Lahab was wounded and left that place in a terrible situation.

He got very ill due to his sorrow and grief. He died a week later without being accounted for his severe enmity against the Messenger of Allah and Muslims in this world. 

His sons kept his dead body for two or three days. The dead body started to stink. Nobody wanted to approach him because they were afraid that they would be infected.

One day, a Qurayshi man said to his sons, “Woe on you! Shame on you! Your father’s dead body is in your house but you do not go near him.”

They said, “We are afraid of his disease!” The man said, “Come on! I will help you.” They went to the house. However, it was impossible to approach him. They neither washed nor touched his dead body. They sprinkled some water on the dead body. Then, they dragged it to the upper part of Makkah and buried the body there. Then, they covered it with stones.

The surah of Tabbat informed us that Abu Lahab and his wife would die on disbelief. And this turned out to be true as it had been informed. This surah gives news from the Ghayb (the unseen). It is not possible for a person to know the Ghayb and future on his own and to inform about the end of some people. Since it is not possible, we can say that the Qur’an which informs about the Ghayb is the book and word of Allah.