Pauses with Sūrat al-Masad: Recompense Matches the Deed

Occasion: Transcription of a khatira delivered on 16 April 2018 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Last week we spoke about the last three sūrahs of the Noble Qur'an, and we mentioned that Allah, blessed and exalted, established in the heart of His Prophet ﷺ the method of pure tawḥīd by His words to him, the Most High: ﴿قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ * اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ * لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ * وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ﴾ (Say: He is Allah, One. Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, and there is none comparable to Him)^[1].

Exalting Allah Above Having a Son

We mentioned that in this is the complete exaltation of Allah, blessed and exalted, and that the matter of denying a son to Him, glorified is He, was affirmed in many verses of the Qur'an and in different places. And why? Because it would be among the most frequent doubts to afflict the Muslim community throughout its life. And perhaps we now wrestle with this claim and struggle over it from time to time, whenever we speak with a Christian or with anyone who attributes a son to the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, far be He, mighty and majestic, above that. And we mentioned some of the verses of the Qur'an, and how Allah, the Most High, taught us that the natural reaction to the claim of a son for Allah may be the heavens and the earth being torn apart, glory be to Allah, the Most High, the Magnificent^[2].

Two Kinds of Seeking Refuge

Then Allah taught His Prophet ﷺ, and taught us after him, to seek refuge with this One God, the Only, the Unique, the Eternal Refuge, who neither begot nor was born and to whom none is comparable. From what do we seek refuge in Him? ﴿قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ الْفَلَقِ * مِن شَرِّ مَا خَلَقَ * وَمِن شَرِّ غَاسِقٍ إِذَا وَقَبَ * وَمِن شَرِّ النَّفَّاثَاتِ فِي الْعُقَدِ * وَمِن شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ﴾ (Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of the daybreak, from the evil of what He created, and from the evil of darkness when it settles, and from the evil of the blowers in knots, and from the evil of an envier when he envies)^[3]. Allah, the Most High, commanded us to seek refuge in Him, that is, to ask Him for help, mighty and majestic, from everything that is subject to change in life; for everything from which good and evil can be hoped, we seek refuge in Allah from its evil and ask Allah, the Most High, for its good.

Then the verses come to teach the Prophet ﷺ another kind of seeking refuge, and Allah, the Most High, says to him: ﴿قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ * مَلِكِ النَّاسِ * إِلَهِ النَّاسِ * مِن شَرِّ الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ * الَّذِي يُوَسْوِسُ فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِ * مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ﴾ (Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind, the Sovereign of mankind, the God of mankind, from the evil of the retreating whisperer, who whispers in the breasts of mankind, from among jinn and mankind)^[4]. So the Muslim seeks refuge in Allah, glorified and exalted, from the evil of everything he may meet in the life in which he lives, and seeks refuge in Allah from the evil of anyone who may surround him and instill whispering in his soul. So we have two kinds of seeking refuge: seeking refuge from things in themselves, and seeking refuge from persons.

As for things, they are in your hands as you walk through life: you walk on the road and ask Allah, the Most High, for the good of the road and seek refuge in Him from the evil of the road; you close your door behind you and ask Allah for the good of this dwelling and seek refuge in Him from the evil of this dwelling; you put on your clothes and ask Allah, the Most High, for the good of this clothing and seek refuge in Him from the evil of this clothing. Everything that exists in life, you seek refuge in Allah, glorified and exalted, from it. And what is the meaning of seeking refuge? As we said last time: that we ask Allah, blessed and exalted, to protect us and shield us from the evil of what we seek refuge from.

Sūrat al-Masad: The Occasion of Revelation and Recompense That Matches the Deed

So the order was thus: ﴿قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ﴾ (Say: He is Allah, One), then ﴿قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ الْفَلَقِ﴾ (Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of the daybreak), then ﴿قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ﴾ (Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind). And the sūrah before Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ is Sūrat al-Masad. The Lord of Might, glorified and exalted, says: ﴿تَبَّتْ يَدَا أَبِي لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ﴾ (May the hands of Abū Lahab be ruined, and ruined is he)^[5]. What is the story?

Abū Lahab was among the nearest of kin, of the Prophet's ﷺ paternal kinsmen, and among those from whom support for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would be most expected. And on the day the Prophet ﷺ went out calling people to tawḥīd, he climbed the mountain and called out to all the people, and asked them: If I told you that cavalry behind this valley wanted to raid you, would you believe me? They answered that they had never tried him in a lie. That is, whatever you say, we will believe you, because you are truthful in our eyes.

And we have often hummed around this matter, and said that your image that you leave with people is the credibility of what you claim. If you are truthful and then ask people for something, they will not betray you or call you a liar; but if you are a liar and afterwards claim something, then the basis with people is their impression of me that I am such and such, and on that basis they will not accept anything from me.

So when the Prophet ﷺ called out to the people and said that he was a clear warner to them, Abū Lahab answered him with the words: May you perish for the rest of this day, is this why you summoned us? And it was said that he took a handful of dust or pebbles and threw it in the face of the Prophet ﷺ, expressing the intensity of his anger at what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was calling to. So when the Lord of Might, glorified and exalted, said: ﴿تَبَّتْ يَدَا﴾ (May the hands be ruined), that is, the hands of Abū Lahab were destroyed, and he too, Allah, the Most High, had answered him in kind with what he did.

The Da'wah Point: The Wrongdoer's Wrong Does Not Go to Waste

So what da'wah point do you learn from this verse? Beware of thinking that the wrongdoer's wrong goes to waste; for the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, recompenses every person for what he did, in kind with what he did. Whoever was undutiful to his parents, his children will be undutiful to him; whoever wronged his neighbors, his neighbors will wrong him; and whoever did such and such, such and such will be done to him; as you do, so shall you be done to, and the matter is entirely settled. So whoever wants to secure good and safety for himself, let him keep people safe from his evil. Do you want to secure good and safety for yourself? Then you need only not do evil to people and be upright. If you are upright, Allah, the Most High, sets the universe upright around you.

And perhaps you will pass through situations you never imagined you would pass through, and the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, carries out His promise in you, high in His majesty. In proportion to how much you are mindful of Allah, and in proportion to how much the Lord of the worlds saves His servants from calamities; and in proportion to how much people wrong you, in that proportion they find the effect of this wrong and its consequence in their lives before they die or before they pass from this world to the Hereafter. ﴿تَبَّتْ يَدَا أَبِي لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ﴾ (May the hands of Abū Lahab be ruined, and ruined is he): recompense that matches the deed.

Why Was He Called Abū Lahab?

And without going into many details, this Abū Lahab, do you know why he was called by this name? They say he was among the most handsome of people, so much so that his face shone as though a flame (lahab) came out of him, and that was his kunya. So the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, described him with the best of what he was described with among his people. And some of the exegetes say that Allah, glorified is He, chose this title specifically to describe him with, because of what he was described with among his people, and because of what his wealth will come to: to where does he go in the Fire? He goes to the flame as well. As they used to describe him, as if that were a glad tiding for him from the viewpoint of these disbelievers, that he is luminous and enduring throughout his life, but it turned, by the words of the Qur'an, into a brand upon him that his destination is the Fire, may Allah protect us.

His Wealth and What He Earned Did Not Avail Him

Then the Lord of the worlds says in the noble sūrah: ﴿مَا أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُ مَالُهُ وَمَا كَسَبَ﴾ (His wealth and what he earned did not avail him)^[6]. And this too is a cause for more certainty among the people of faith that the victory of Allah, the Most High, is coming, and that these disbelievers who were pleased with their wealth and children and took pride in them, their wealth and their children will not avail them against Allah at all, and those are the fuel of the Fire. And this is a very important rule: whatever their capabilities, their numbers, their equipment, their currents, their bombs, their striking of lands and peoples and their annihilation of creation, all this does not avail against the decree of Allah, blessed and exalted.

So how does the believer receive these trials? He receives them as being the decree of Allah, blessed and exalted, and that He does with His servants what He wills, and that He chooses for me what I cannot choose well, glory be to Allah, the Most High, the Almighty. So if Allah, mighty and majestic, chooses for me, then without doubt that is the more fitting and the better.

Abū Lahab as an Example of All Wrongdoers

Imagine that Allah, glorified and exalted, gives you in Abū Lahab an indicator or example of all these wrongdoers; Abū Lahab is an example, and as it was done to him, it will be done to many today. And among the examples is that whenever the Prophet ﷺ walked among the people calling them to tawḥīd, Abū Lahab would walk behind him, and if he spoke to some people, he would say to them: Do not believe him, he has left the obedience of his forefathers, and the like. Imagine all the effort expended in da'wah, and then someone comes who follows him and nullifies it. So do not think your effort in the path of Allah, glorified and exalted, too great; because you are expending for Allah, and without doubt others will come to nullify what you have expended, because there is a rule that says: ﴿بَلْ نَقْذِفُ بِالْحَقِّ عَلَى الْبَاطِلِ﴾ (Rather, We hurl the truth against falsehood)^[7], and there is what is called the sunnah of mutual repelling between good and evil, between truth and falsehood, between faith and disbelief, between tawḥīd and shirk. And the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, made that among His laws.

So until when do we keep defending the truth? Either Allah gives it victory, or we die defending it. That is the rule. And if it is said: If we die defending it, should we not spare our effort? No, you must do what is upon you. And if you die on your bed without having defended the truth and its people and the good, then the person at that moment is like the cattle, which died in the places where they graze. So the basis for the believer is that he expends his effort to give the truth its due. And we ask Allah, the Most High, for blessing and well-being, O Lord of the worlds.

The Wealth of Falsehood and the Laws of Allah

﴿مَا أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُ مَالُهُ وَمَا كَسَبَ﴾ (His wealth and what he earned did not avail him): all the vast sums that are pumped in to spread falsehood, indecency and evil among people, his wealth and what he earned did not avail him. And look at the Qur'an: ﴿إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ لِيَصُدُّوا عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَسَيُنفِقُونَهَا ثُمَّ تَكُونُ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسْرَةً ثُمَّ يُغْلَبُونَ ۗ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِلَىٰ جَهَنَّمَ يُحْشَرُونَ﴾ (Indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to avert people from the way of Allah. So they will spend it; then it will be for them a regret; then they will be overcome. And those who disbelieve will be gathered to Hell)^[8]. And the meaning of ﴿فَسَيُنفِقُونَهَا﴾ (so they will spend it) is that they will actually carry out their projects, ﴿ثُمَّ تَكُونُ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسْرَةً﴾ (then it will be for them a regret), that is, the Lord of the worlds will show them their regret, and what matters is that what they spent did not fulfill its role in the fullest way. So the mistake would be ours if we were deceived by this nonsense. Then ﴿يُغْلَبُونَ﴾ (they will be overcome), and ﴿يُحْشَرُونَ﴾ (they will be gathered) to Hell. And why does that happen? So that Allah may distinguish the wicked from the good, and so that Allah may know those who strove in Him, and so that Allah may purge those who believed and destroy the disbelievers^[9]. Those are the laws of the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, concerning His people.

And His Wife: Choose Whose Womb Will Hold Your Seed

And Abū Lahab's second half was like the first: ﴿وَامْرَأَتُهُ﴾^[10] ... ﴿فِي جِيدِهَا حَبْلٌ مِّن مَّسَدٍ﴾ (And his wife … around her neck is a rope of palm fiber). So choose the one in whose keeping your seed will be, who will carry your child, who will help you toward the truth or toward other than it, who will push you to do good or to do evil; choose, and you are the one who decides. Whoever among us is granted a wife who helps him seek what is lawful has been granted all good, and whoever among us is granted a wife who helps him toward falsehood or evil has been tried with the greatest trial of his life; for she is your vessel, she is your covering, she is your support, so she is either for you or against you.

And it is mentioned of a woman that she used to stand at the door of the house before her husband, saying to him: Fear Allah regarding us, for we can bear the hunger of this world but cannot bear the heat of the Fire. She was charging him not to feed her what is unlawful. And this man who receives this charge before he leaves his house will not cheat a person, will not wrong anyone, will not lie in a transaction, will not forge papers, will not alter facts, will not deprive people of their rights; he will do none of that. Why? Because he took a full dose before heading off to his work^[11].

Summary of the Reflections

These are some pauses with this noble sūrah. And once again we say: Allah, glorified and exalted, gave the Prophet ﷺ a model that no one would stand in the way of this da'wah, so he devoted himself fully to the tawḥīd of Allah, blessed and exalted. And if you seek help, seek it from Allah, and seek refuge in Him from the evil of everything that turns about by night and by day, and seek refuge in Him from everyone from whom evil comes by night or by day. I ask Allah, blessed and exalted, to reward us and you with good for these times.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ, verses 1–4. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: The speaker referred to the verses about the heavens and the earth being torn apart by the claim of a son for Allah without specifying the verse; see Sūrat Maryam, verses 90–91. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Falaq, verses 1–5. In the transcript it is «وقع» and what is recorded is «وَقَبَ» according to the wording of the muṣḥaf. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat an-Nās, verses 1–6. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Masad, verse 1. The occasion of revelation is in the meaning of what is reported in the Ṣaḥīḥayn about the Prophet ﷺ climbing aṣ-Ṣafā and calling out to Quraysh, and the speaker narrated it by meaning. As for the throwing of dust or pebbles, the speaker related it in the form "they say" and its authenticity has not been verified. ^[6]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Masad, verse 2. ^[7]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Anbiyā', verse 18. ^[8]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Anfāl, verse 36. The speaker recited the verse with commentary pauses between its parts. ^[9]: Editor's documentation: The speaker's wording in the transcript: «ليعلم الله الذين جاهدوا فيه ليمحّص الله الذين آمنوا ويمحق الكافرين»; we have recorded it without verse marks because the joining of the phrases was not clear. It contains the meaning of His words ﴿لِيَمِيزَ اللَّهُ الْخَبِيثَ مِنَ الطَّيِّبِ﴾ (Sūrat al-Anfāl, verse 37), and His words ﴿وَلِيُمَحِّصَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَيَمْحَقَ الْكَافِرِينَ﴾ (Sūrat Āl 'Imrān, verse 141). ^[10]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Masad, verses 4–5. The transcript is limited to his words «وامرأته حمالة الح...» and then «في جيدها حبل من مسد», so the verse was not completed in the body. ^[11]: Editor's documentation: The speaker mentioned «الصحاب...» as a word unclear in the transcript, so the saying has not been attributed in the body to any particular person.