This Surah (Revealed) Meccan, consisting of 5 verses. When the Prophet (s) summoned his people and said, âI am a warner to you,
[standing] before a terrible chastisementâ, his uncle, Abū Lahab, said, âMay you perish! Is that what you
have called us out for?â, whereupon the following was revealed: (Al-Masad)(Al-Masad)
Ayah 111:1 الأية
بِسْم ِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Ayah First 1 الأية
Tafseer
Perish, ruined be, the hands of Abū Lahab, in other words, all of him â the use
of âhandsâ here to denote [all of] him is figurative, and is because most actions are performed by them; the
statement is an invocation â and perish he!, may he be ruined! (this [tabba] is a predicate, as where one
says, ahlakahuâLlāhu wa-qad halak, âGod destroyed him and he indeed is destroyedâ. When the Prophet
threatened him with the chastisement, he said, âIf what my brotherâs son says is true, then I shall
ransom [myself] from it with my wealth and sons!â; so the following was revealed:
Ayah 111:2 الأية
Tafseer
His wealth will not avail him, nor what he has earned (wa-kasab means
wa-kasbihi, that is to say, his sons; mā aghnā means [mā] yughnī).
Ayah 111:3 الأية
Tafseer
He will [soon] enter a Fire of flames, that is to say, [a fire that is] flaming
and ignited (this [statement] is the source of his nickname, [which was given to him] on account of his flaming
reddish fair face),
Ayah 111:4 الأية
Tafseer
and his wife (waâmraâatuhu is a supplement to the person [of the verb] yaslā,
âhe will enterâ, separated by the clause of the direct object and its qualification) â and this was Umm Jamīl
â the carrier (read hammālatu or hammālata) of firewood, cactus and thorns which she used to fling
into the path of the Prophet (s).
Ayah 111:5 الأية
Tafseer
with a rope of palm-fibre around her neck (fī jīdihā hablun min masadin is a
circumstantial qualifier referring to hammālataâl-hatab, which in turn is [either] a description of imraâatahu,
âhis wifeâ, or the predicate of an implied subject).