'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Tafsir of Surah Al-Masad

And it is Meccan by consensus.

His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿May the hands of Abu Lahab perish, and may he perish﴾ ﴿His wealth and what he earned did not avail him﴾ ﴿He will enter a Fire full of flame﴾ ﴿And his wife, the carrier of firewood﴾ ﴿Around her neck is a rope of palm fiber﴾

It has been narrated in the hadith that when the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, received the revelation of ﴿And warn your closest relatives﴾ [Ash-Shu'ara: 214], he said: O Safiyyah bint Abdul Muttalib, and O Fatimah bint Muhammad, I cannot avail you from Allah at all. Ask me from my wealth whatever you wish. Then he ascended Safa and called out to the clans of Quraysh: O sons of so-and-so, O sons of so-and-so. It has been narrated that he shouted at the top of his voice: O morning! They gathered around him from every direction. He said to them: Do you see if I said to you that I am warning you of a cavalry at the foot of this mountain, would you believe me? They said: Yes. He said: I am a warner before a severe punishment. Then Abu Lahab said: May you perish today! Is this why you gathered us? So they dispersed from him and the Surah was revealed.

And

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿He will burn in a Fire of blazing flame﴾ is a certainty for him with the Fire. It is an indication that he will die upon his disbelief. The scholars of the fundamentals have derived from this verse the permissibility of imposing what cannot be borne. This is present in the story of Abu Lahab. This is because he is addressed and obligated to believe in Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and he is obligated to believe in this surah and its authenticity. It is as if he has been tasked with believing and believing that he does not believe. The scholars of the fundamentals said: Whenever there is an obligation of what cannot be borne, it is a sign from Allah, exalted is He, that He has decreed His punishment, meaning the punishment of that obligated person, in the story of Abu Lahab. The majority read: "He will burn" with a fathah on the yaa. Ibn Kathir, Al-Hasan, and Ibn Mas'ud read it with a dammah.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And his wife, the carrier of firewood﴾ is Umm Jamil, the sister of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, the aunt of Muawiyah ibn Abu Sufyan. His saying, exalted is He: "And his wife" is connected to the pronoun that is raised without confirming the pronoun due to the barrier that takes the place of confirmation. Umm Jamil was an adversary to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and to the believers with her tongue and to the utmost of her ability. Ibn Abbas said: She would come with thorns and throw them in the path of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and the path of his companions to injure them. For this reason, she was called the carrier of firewood. According to this interpretation, "carrier of firewood" is a definite noun intended to refer to the past. It is said that His saying, exalted is He: ﴿the carrier of firewood﴾ is a metaphor for her sins that she gathers upon herself for her Hereafter. Thus, "carrier of firewood" in this sense is an indefinite noun intended to refer to the future. It is also said that it is a metaphor for her striving against the religion and the believers, as one would say: "So-and-so is gathering firewood against so-and-so." She was gathering firewood against the believers and in support of the polytheists. And the poet said:

Indeed, the sons of Al-Adram are carriers of firewood, they are the informers in pleasure and in anger.

And Ibn Mas'ud read: "And his woman." The majority read: "the carrier" with a رفع, and Asim read: "the carrier" with a نصب as a form of blame. This is the reading of Al-Hasan, Al-A'raj, and Ibn Muhaysin. Ibn Mas'ud read: "the carrier of firewood" with a رفع and a لام of الجَرّ. Abu Qalabah read: "the carrier" with a kasrah on the meem after the alif.

His saying, exalted is He: ﴿In her neck is a rope of palm fiber﴾, Ibn Abbas, Al-Dahhak, Al-Suddi, and Ibn Zayd said: The reference to the rope is literal, and it is what the thorns and firewood were tied with. Al-Suddi said: And the مسد is palm fiber. It is said that it is the fiber of a tree in Yemen called مسد, from which ropes are made. And the poet said:

Cast away with the foulness of the neck, its sound is the sound of the rope with the مسد.

The قَعْو is the spindle, and the مسد is the rope. And Urwah ibn Al-Zubair, Mujahid, and others said: This saying is a metaphor, and what is meant is a chain of iron in Hell, its length is seventy cubits. And similar expressions were mentioned. And Qatadah said: "A rope of palm fiber" refers to a necklace made of gold. Ibn Al-Musayyib said: She had a beautiful necklace and said: I will spend it on opposing Muhammad.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "He expressed her necklace as a rope of palm fiber in a manner of optimism for her. He mentioned her displaying herself in this wicked endeavor. It has been narrated in the hadith that when this surah was revealed and recited, it reached Umm Jamil. She came to Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, while he was with the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, in the mosque. She said: 'O Abu Bakr, I have been informed that your companion has insulted me, and I will certainly do this and that. Indeed, I am a poet, and I have said about him:

Mudhammam we hate, and his religion we reject.'

Abu Bakr remained silent, and she went on. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Indeed, angels have concealed me from her, so she did not see me, and Allah is sufficient to protect from her evil.'"

The interpretation of Surah [Al-Masad] is complete, and all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.