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Surah 111 · Makkah · 5 āyāt
Phase 01 · Ḥirāʾ and the first call(c. 13–11 BH) — view in timelineAl-MasadThe Palm Fibre
المسد
One of the earliest Makkan surahs, revealed shortly after the Prophet ﷺ first proclaimed his message publicly at Mount Ṣafā. It names and condemns Abū Lahab, his uncle, and his wife Umm Jamīl for their open hostility to the daʿwah, declaring in advance — as a miracle of the Qurʾān — that both would perish as disbelievers, which duly came to pass.
Why it was revealed
The Prophet ﷺ climbed Mount Ṣafā and called out to Quraysh by their clans, warning them of a severe punishment if they did not testify to lā ilāha illā Llāh. Abū Lahab, his own paternal uncle, responded with open contempt and cursed him in front of everyone.
Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما narrated: the Prophet ﷺ went out to al-Baṭḥāʾ and climbed the mountain, then called out, 'O ṣabāḥāh!' Quraysh gathered to him, and he said, 'Do you see — if I told you that horsemen were coming from behind this mountain to raid you, would you believe me?' They said, 'We have never known you to lie.' He said, 'Then I am a warner to you before a severe punishment.' Abū Lahab said, 'Tabban laka sāʾir al-yawm! Was it for this that you gathered us?' Then Allah revealed: 'Tabbat yadā Abī Lahabin wa-tabb.'
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4770, 4801; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 208In the Prophet's ﷺ life
Public daʿwah begins at Mount Ṣafā
Allah commanded 'And warn your closest kindred' (26:214). The Prophet ﷺ climbed Ṣafā and called Quraysh clan by clan to bear witness to lā ilāha illā Llāh.
Recalled in āyah 1
تَبَّتْ يَدَآ أَبِى لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ
May the hands of Abū Lahab be ruined, and ruined is he.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4770, 4801
The doom of Abū Lahab: wealth could not save him
Allah declares that Abū Lahab's own hands — the very instrument of his mischief — are ruined, and so is he. Neither his wealth nor what he earned availed him anything; he will enter a Fire of blazing flame.
تَبَّتْ يَدَآ أَبِى لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ
May the hands of Abū Lahab be ruined, and ruined is he.
مَآ أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُ مَالُهُۥ وَمَا كَسَبَ
His wealth will not avail him, nor what he has earned.
سَيَصْلَىٰ نَارًا ذَاتَ لَهَبٍ
He will [enter to] burn in a Fire of blazing flame.
From the tafsīr
'Tabbat yadā Abī Lahabin' — may his hands perish, i.e. may he himself perish, since the hands are named for the whole. He is cursed by name and by his very kunyah, which meant 'flame', fitting his fate.
— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
'Mā aghnā ʿanhu māluhu wa mā kasab' — his wealth and what he earned, including his children according to some commentators, did not repel from him anything of Allah's decree.
— Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān
The repetition of ruin — 'perished' then 'and he has perished' — is emphasis: his loss in this world (opposing the truth) is matched by his loss in the next (the Fire).
— Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān
Key takeaways
- Open hostility to the truth, especially from one's own kin, is condemned by name in the Qurʾān itself.
- Wealth and worldly standing are no shield against Allah's decree.
- The surah was revealed as an immediate, public response — the Qurʾān answered his curse before the gathering had even dispersed.
Reflect
What do you place your confidence in besides sincere submission to Allah?
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Question 1 of 2
According to āyah 2, what use was his wealth to him?
Question 2 of 2
How should 'Tabbat yadā Abī Lahabin' be understood?
His wife: a carrier of firewood, a carrier of malice
Abū Lahab's wife, Umm Jamīl, is condemned alongside him: a 'carrier of firewood' — understood both literally, as she scattered thorns on the Prophet's ﷺ path, and figuratively, as one who carried tales and stoked enmity.
وَٱمْرَأَتُهُۥ حَمَّالَةَ ٱلْحَطَبِ
And his wife [as well] - the carrier of firewood.
From the tafsīr
Ḥammālat al-ḥaṭab: she used to carry thorny branches and throw them in the Prophet's ﷺ path at night; it is also said to mean she carried gossip and slander between people, stirring up hatred.
— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
She was Umm Jamīl, Arwā bint Ḥarb ibn Umayyah, sister of Abū Sufyān — her partnership in his crime is named explicitly, showing that support for falsehood is not excused by kinship or gender.
— Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān
Key takeaways
- Harm to the daʿwah can take quiet, domestic forms — spite carried out with one's own hands, not only public speeches.
- The Qurʾān names her role as a partner in wrongdoing, not a bystander.
- 'Carrier of firewood' works on two levels at once: her literal deed and her habit of carrying malicious talk.
Reflect
Do you ever 'carry firewood' — spreading words that fuel discord — without realising it?
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Question 1 of 1
How is the phrase 'carrier of firewood' explained by the mufassirūn?
The rope of palm-fibre: fitting punishment for fitting crime
Around her neck will be a rope of twisted palm-fibre (masad) — the surah's closing image, giving it its name, and matching her deeds with a punishment suited to the tool of her harm.
فِى جِيدِهَا حَبْلٌ مِّن مَّسَدٍ
Around her neck is a rope of twisted palm-fibre.
From the tafsīr
Al-masad is a strong, twisted rope made of palm-fibre or fibrous plant material — used here as the cord that binds her in the Fire, just as she used cords to bundle her thorns in this life.
— Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān
It is said she used to carry the firewood tied with a rope of masad around her neck out of arrogance and spite; her punishment mirrors the very instrument of her transgression.
— Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān
Key takeaways
- Allah's justice fits punishment to the nature of the crime, even in fine detail.
- The surah closes with an image, not an abstraction — making the warning vivid and unforgettable.
- The surah's very name, al-Masad, is drawn from its final, most striking word.
Reflect
What small, habitual act of harm might you be carrying, unaware of the weight it adds?
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Question 1 of 2
What is 'al-masad' as described in the final āyah?
Question 2 of 2
Why is this surah called 'The Palm Fibre'?
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Roots from this surah
Learn the three-letter root and you unlock every word built from it — across the whole Qur'an, not just this surah.
ت ب ب
āyāt 1to perish, be ruined, cut off from all good
- تَبَّhe perished
- تَبَابutter ruin, loss
- تَبَّبَhe brought to ruin
ل ه ب
āyāt 1, 3flame, blazing fire
- لَهَبflame, blaze
- أَبُو لَهَبAbū Lahab, 'father of flame'
- مُلْتَهِبblazing, ablaze
ك س ب
āyāt 2to earn, acquire through effort
- كَسَبَhe earned
- كَسْبearning, gain
- مُكْتَسِبone who acquires
ح م ل
āyāt 4to carry, bear a load
- حَمَّالَةfemale carrier, habitual bearer
- حِمْلa load, burden
- حَامِلone who carries
ح ط ب
āyāt 4firewood, kindling
- حَطَبfirewood
- حَاطِبwood-gatherer
- ٱحْتَطَبَhe gathered firewood
م س د
āyāt 5twisted fibre, a strong cord of palm-fibre
- مَسَدtwisted palm-fibre rope
- مَسَّدَhe twisted (a rope) tightly
Carry this with you
- Wealth and status are no defence against Allah's decree.
- Opposing the truth openly, even from within one's own family, invites Allah's own rebuttal.
- Allah's justice matches punishment to the exact nature of a person's crime.
- Support for wrongdoing, even by a spouse, is named and held to account in its own right.
- The Qurʾān's prophecy about Abū Lahab's death as a disbeliever was fulfilled exactly, a sign of its truth.
- Small, habitual acts of malice — like carrying firewood to harm someone — are not overlooked by Allah.
- Kinship with a prophet or righteous person does not itself grant salvation.
- The earliest public daʿwah met immediate hostility, yet the Qurʾān answered it immediately too.
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Al-Masad — full exam
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Al-Masad · The doom of Abū Lahab: wealth could not save him
What is said about the benefit of his earnings?
Arabic (Uthmānī script) and the Ṣaḥīḥ International translation are fetched live from the Quran.com API (v4), sourced from the King Fahd Complex muṣḥaf — api.quran.com API docs · Translation: Ṣaḥīḥ International · Integrity & testing protocol