Surah Al-Masad (The Palm Fiber): (3) He will be burned in a Fire...

Issues Discussed:

After Allah informed [the Prophet] about Abu Lahab's past state—his ruin (tabāb) and how his wealth and earnings would not avail him—He informed about his future state: {He will be burned in a Fire} (sayaslā nāran).

The word {سيصلى} (sayaslā) has been recited in several ways: with a fatḥa on the yā’ (open yā’), and with a ḍamma on the yā’, both un-geminated (mukhaffaf) and geminated (mushaddad).

These verses contain prophecies about the unseen (al-ghayb) in three aspects:

1. Prophecy of Ruin and Loss: This indeed occurred, as he was ruined.
2. Prophecy of the Futility of His Wealth and Children: This also occurred. Abu Rafi', the freed slave of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), narrated:

   I was a young boy serving Al-'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib, and Islam had entered our household. Al-'Abbas, Umm al-Faḍl, and I embraced Islam. Al-'Abbas feared the people and concealed his Islam. Abu Lahab refrained from participating in the Battle of Badr, sending Al-'As ibn Hishām in his place. Every man who stayed behind sent another in his stead.

   When the news of the Badr incident arrived, we felt strengthened in our hearts. I was a weak man, and I was making arrows in the enclosure of Zamzam. I was sitting there with Umm al-Faḍl beside me, rejoicing in the news we had received, when Abu Lahab came shuffling his feet and sat down at the edge of the enclosure, with my back to his.

   While he was sitting, people announced: "Here is Abu Sufyān ibn Al-Ḥārith ibn Al-Muṭṭalib." Abu Lahab asked him, "What is the news, nephew?" He replied, "We met the people, and they turned their backs to us; they killed us as they wished. By Allah, despite that, I observed the people—we met white-faced men on white horses between heaven and earth."

   Abu Rafi' said: I lifted the edge of the enclosure and said: "By Allah, those are the angels!" He [Abu Lahab] seized me, threw me onto the ground, pinned me down, and struck me, as I was a weak man. Umm al-Faḍl stood up, took a tent pole, struck him on the head, wounding him, and said: "Do you abuse him because his master is absent? By Allah, we have been believers for many days, and what he said is true!"

   So he departed humiliated. By Allah, he lived only seven nights afterward until Allah afflicted him with the ‘adassah (a contagious, ulcerous disease) which killed him. His two sons left him for two or three nights without burying him until he began to stink in his house. The Quraysh tribe avoided the ‘adassah and its contagion as people avoid the plague, saying, "We fear this sore." Then they buried him and left him.

   This is the meaning of His saying: {What availed him neither his wealth nor what he earned}.

3. Prophecy of Being an Inhabitant of the Fire: This also occurred, as he died upon disbelief (kufr).

The People of the Sunnah used this as evidence against the validity of imposing obligations that are impossible to fulfill (taklīf mā lā yuṭāq). They argue:

Allah obligated Abu Lahab to believe (īmān). Part of belief is affirming everything Allah has informed about. Allah informed that Abu Lahab would not believe and that he is an inhabitant of the Fire. Thus, Abu Lahab became obligated to believe that he would not believe. This is an obligation to combine two contradictory states (jam' bayn al-naqīḍayn), which is impossible.

The Response of Al-Ka'bī and Abu Al-Ḥusayn Al-Baṣrī: If Abu Lahab had believed, then Allah's statement would have been a report that he did believe, not that he did not believe.

The Response of Al-Qāḍī (Al-Bāqillānī): When asked, "If Allah did what He informed He would not do, how would the situation be?" the answer must be either "Yes" or "No."

Analysis of These Responses (By Al-Rāzī):

Both of these responses are extremely weak (fī ghāyat al-suqūṭ).

1. Critique of the First Response (The Conditional Outcome): This verse proves that Allah's report about Abu Lahab's non-belief is a factual occurrence. A true report about his non-belief inherently contradicts the existence of his belief (īmān) with an essential contradiction that cannot be removed. Therefore, if Allah obligated him to bring about belief while this report (of non-belief) was true, He obligated him to combine two mutually exclusive things.

2. Critique of the Second Response (The Verbal Affirmation): This response is even weaker than the first. We are not seeking a verbal "Yes" or "No" from the opponent. Plain reason (ṣarīḥ al-'aql) demonstrates that there is an essential contradiction between the report of non-belief being true and the existence of belief. Thus, obligating the attainment of one opposite while the other opposite is present is an obligation to combine two opposites. This problem remains whether the opponent verbally states something or remains silent.

{And his wife, the carrier of the firewood}