111- AL-MASAD
HE PALM FIBRE
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL
# May the hands of Abū Lahab perish, and may he perish! # His wealth avails him not, nor what he has earned. # He shall enter a blazing Fire. # And his wife, carrier of firewood, # upon her neck is a rope of palm fiber.
Commentary
1. May the hands of Abū Lahab perish, and may he perish!
Abū Lahab was the wealthiest of the Prophet’s uncles and one of the Qurayshī leaders who most opposed the Prophet and persecuted his followers. “May [his] hands perish” is an idiomatic expression meaning, “May his power perish and all that he possesses.” Abū Lahab did not go forth to the Battle of Badr, but is reported to have died soon thereafter from a festering wound inflicted by his sister-in-law Umm al-Faḍl in retaliation for his abuse of one of her slaves who had become Muslim.
2. His wealth avails him not, nor what he has earned.
What he has earned, or “what he has committed,” is interpreted by many to mean his children (IK, Q, Ṭ). This verse is said to be a response to Abū Lahab’s remark, “Even if what my nephew says is true, I will ransom myself . . . with my wealth and my children”
3. He shall enter a blazing Fire.
4. And his wife, carrier of firewood,
3–4 Abū Lahab’s wife, Umm Jamīl bint Ḥarb, was said to support fully his position and to have mocked the Prophet when he was ill and unable to offer supererogatory prayers, saying, “O Muhammad! I think that your satan has forsaken you” (see the introduction to Sūrah 93). Therefore, just as she aided him in defying God’s Messenger, part of her punishment is to aid him in Hell, carrying the firewood that will feed the flames of his punishment. As she was among the leading women of the Umayyad clan, to carry firewood would also imply that she was now doing the work of those in a lower station. In a variant reading, v. 4 can be read, “And his wife is a carrier of firewood,” or “is carrying firewood.”
5. Upon her neck is a rope of palm fiber.
The palm fiber indicates a rope of palm fiber that has been put upon her neck in Hell and set aflame. This is said to be in retribution for her vow to sell a precious necklace in order to spend the proceeds on a campaign against the Prophet. Others say that it refers to an iron chain or heavy iron necklace that will be placed upon her neck in Hell.
(Source: The study Quran, by Sayyed Hossein Nasr and 4 others)
Comments
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John Doe
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