المسد
Al-Masad
The Palm Fiber • makkah • 5 Verses
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تَبَّتْ يَدَآ أَبِى لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ
108:4.
Important Words:
یدان (two hands), is the dual form of ید which among other things means, power, influence; assistance, help, protection; troops, host, army; possession; wealth (Lane). See also 5:65, & 38:46.
تب (perish) means, he suffered loss; he became lost; he perished; he died. تباب , تبیب and تب (tabbun) are all infinitive nouns meaning, loss; death; destruction; perdition. They say تباله i.e. may he perish; may perdition be his lot. تبت یدہ also means, may he perish (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
ابولھب (Father of Flame) was the nick name of ‘Abdul-‘Uzza, the Holy Prophet’s uncle and his inveterate enemy and persecutor. He was so called either because his complexion and hair were ruddy or because he had a fiery temper. The Surah recalls an incident during the early preachings of the Holy Prophet. On being informed by God to call together his relatives and to deliver to them the Divine Message the Holy Prophet stood on the Mount Safa and called the different Meccan tribes by name—the tribes of Lawwi, Murra, Kilab and Qussayy, and his near relatives, and told them that he was God’s Messenger, and that if they did not accept his Message and did not give up their evil ways, Divine punishment would overtake them. The Holy Prophet had hardly finished his speech, when Abu Lahab stood up and said, تبالک ألھذا جمعتنا ھذا الیوم i.e. ruin seize thee, is it for this that thou hast called us together (Bukhari).
The sobriquet "Father of Flame" may either refer to the Holy Prophet’s uncle or to any hot tempered enemy of Islam or better still it may apply to the western powers of the latter days who own and control atomic and nuclear weapons—one group of them repudiating God altogether, and the other denying His Unity but both being equally opposed to Islam. In this sense "the two hands" would signify these two groups.
The verse purports to say that all endeavours and machinations of the enemies of Islam, particularly of the two groups of western powers and their satellites, would utterly fail and all their nefarious designs would recoil on their own heads; they would burn with rage at seeing Islam progressing, and their own wealth, power and possessions (أید) perishing before their very eyes.
108:4.
Abu Lahab (Father of Flame) was the nickname of ‘Abdul-‘Uzza, the Holy Prophet’s uncle and his inveterate enemy and persecutor. He was so called either because his complexion and hair were ruddy or also because he had a fiery temper. The Surah recalls an incident during the early preaching of the Holy Prophet. On being commanded by God to call together his relatives and to deliver to them the Divine Message, the Holy Prophet, one day, stood on mount Safa and called the different Meccan tribes by name—the tribes of Luwayy, Murrah, Kilab and Qusayy—and his near relatives, and told them that he was God’s Messenger, and that if they did not accept his Message and did not give up their evil ways, Divine punishment would overtake them. The Holy Prophet had hardly finished his speech, when Abu Lahab stood up and said, 'Ruin seize thee, is it for this that thou hast called us together' (Bukhari)? The nickname 'Father of Flame' may either refer particularly to Abu Lahab or to any hot-tempered ene
مَآ أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُ مَالُهُۥ وَمَا كَسَبَ
3:11; 58:18.
Commentary:
This verse appropriately may also apply to the wealthy western powers who have great material resources at their disposal. The words "his wealth" may mean the wealth produced in their own countries, and "what he has earned" may signify the riches they have earned by exploiting weaker nations and despoiling them of their natural resources.
سَيَصْلَىٰ نَارًا ذَاتَ لَهَبٍ
Commentary:
The expression أبولھب may also mean, one who invents something which produces fire and flames, or one who is himself consumed in the flames of fire. In this sense, the verse may be interpreted as predicting the destruction of the two major political Blocs of the latter days by their own fire-producing weapons, such as atom bombs and other nuclear weapons. The verse also shows that the day of reckoning for these nations is not far off. It seems to have already arrived.
The expression, Abu Lahab, may also mean, one who invents things which produce fire and flames, or one who himself is consumed in the flames of fire. In the latter sense, the verse may be interpreted as predicting the destruction of the two major political Blocs of the Latter Days by their own fire-producing weapons, such as atom bombs and other nuclear weapons. The verse also shows that the day of reckoning for these nations is not far off.
وَٱمْرَأَتُهُۥ حَمَّالَةَ ٱلْحَطَبِ
Commentary:
حمالة الحطب (the carrier of firewood). حطب is inf. noun from حطب (hataba) which means, he collected firewood, حطب به means he slandered him. They say ھو یحمل الحطب بین الناس i.e. he goes about spreading calumny or slander among the people (Lane & Aqrab).
امرأته (his wife) is syn. with زوج which among other things means, an associate, a comrade, wife (Lane).
Commentary:
The reference in the verse seems to be to Abu Lahab’s wife, Ummi Jamil who strewed the Holy Prophet’s path with thorns and went about spreading calumnies against him. The verse may also apply to people in Western democracies or in the Communist bloc who spread calumnies and false accusations against Islam and urge their leaders to break its power. The verse may also signify that these nations would be constantly engaged in manufacturing weapons for their own destruction.
The reference in the verse seems to be to Abu Lahab’s wife, Umm-e-Jamil who strew the Holy Prophet’s path with thorns and would go about spreading calumnies against him; Hatab also meaning calumny (Lane). The verse may also apply to those people who spread calumnies and false accusations against Islam and the Holy Prophet.
فِى جِيدِهَا حَبْلٌ مِّن مَّسَدٍۭ
Commentary:
Though apparently free, these nations will be so strongly tied to their respective political ideologies and systems that they will not be able to break away from them. Or like Ummi Jamil who is said to have become strangled by the very rope by which she carried firewood, these nations would perish by the very means by which they would seek to destroy others.
As a fitting postscript to the Surah two of the prophecies, one from the Quran and the other from the Bible which speak of the terrible fate of these nations may be given below:
But when the promise of My Lord shall come to pass, He will break it into pieces. And the promise of my Lord is certainly true. And on that day We shall leave some of them to surge against others and the trumpet will be blown. Then shall We gather them all together. And on that day We shall present Hell, face to face, to disbelievers (18:99-101).
And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that My fury shall come up in My face. For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath have I spoken. Surely, in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel. So the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the heaven and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at My presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall and every wall shall fall to the ground…And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood: and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands and upon the many people that are with him an overflowing rain, and great pestilence, fire and brimstone (Ezek. 38:18-22).
Though apparently free, these nations will be so strongly tied to their respective political ideologies and systems that they will not be able to break away from them. Or, like Umm-e-Jamil, who is said to have become strangled by the very rope by which she carried fire-wood, these nations will perish by the very means by which they would seek to destroy others.