Surah Al-Masadd – Mahmoud El Sheimy

Al-Masadd (Al-Masad, "The Palm Fibre"), also called Al-Lahab ("The Flame") or Tabbat, is the 111th surah of the Quran, in Juz' Amma. Meccan, it has 5 verses and is the 6th surah in the traditional order of revelation, after Al-Fatiha. It condemns Abu Lahab, an uncle of the Prophet ﷺ, and his wife.

Ibn Abbas related that when the Prophet ﷺ was commanded to warn his nearest kin (26:214), he climbed the hill of as-Safa and called the clans of Quraysh to warn them. Abu Lahab retorted: "May you perish! Is this why you gathered us?" Then came: "May the hands of Abu Lahab perish, and he has perished" (111:1) (al-Bukhari, Muslim).

Neither his wealth nor his gains will avail him; he will burn in a fire of flame, an echo of his nickname, "father of flame" (111:2-3). His wife, Umm Jamil, the "carrier of firewood", said to have strewn thorns in the Prophet's path or spread slander, will have a rope of palm fibre around her neck (111:4-5).

Abu Lahab (Abd al-Uzza ibn Abd al-Muttalib) is the only contemporary opponent of the Prophet ﷺ named in the Quran. He died a disbeliever shortly after Badr.