سورة المسد

Al-Masad means "The rope of fibre" (a rope plaited from palm fibre). It is also called Surah "Tabbat" or "Al-Lahab". It is surah 111. It has 5 verses.

The story: one day, the Prophet ﷺ climbed the hill of As-Ṣafaa, in Mecca, and called the people to pass on Allah's message. His uncle, Abu Lahab, became angry and insulted him in front of everyone. So Allah revealed this surah. (Bukhari 4971) [À VÉRIFIER : numéro]

1. تَبَّتْ يَدَا أَبِي لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ Tabbat yadaa abii lahabin wa tabb The two hands of Abu Lahab have lost, and he has lost too.

2. مَا أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُ مَالُهُ وَمَا كَسَبَ Maa aghnaa 'anhu maaluhuu wa maa kasab His money and all he earned were of no use to him.

3. سَيَصْلَىٰ نَارًا ذَاتَ لَهَبٍ Sa yaṣlaa naaran dhaata lahab He will go into a fire full of flames.

4. وَامْرَأَتُهُ حَمَّالَةَ الْحَطَبِ Wa mra'atuhuu ḥammaalata l-ḥaṭab And his wife too, the one who carried the wood,

5. فِي جِيدِهَا حَبْلٌ مِّن مَّسَدٍ Fii jiidihaa ḥablun min masad with a rope of fibre around her neck.

The little lesson: Abu Lahab was the Prophet's ﷺ uncle; he was rich and important. But being his family did not help him, because he chose to hurt him. With Allah, what counts is not who your family is or how much money you have: it is your heart and your deeds.

And the Prophet ﷺ? Even when people hurt him, he kept calling them with patience and gentleness.

Memorisation tip: look for the words about fire and wood: "lahab" (flame) comes twice, in verses 1 and 3. And the surah ends with its own name: "masad".

Understanding Surah Al-Masad

1. Explanation • Verse 1: Abu Lahab's efforts against the Prophet ﷺ are lost. He followed him in the markets to tell people not to listen to him (hadith reported by Ahmad) [À VÉRIFIER : référence], but all he did was in vain. • Verse 2: his wealth, and "what he earned" (commentators say: including his children, of whom he was proud), did not protect him. • Verse 3: he will enter a fire of flames (lahab): his nickname, "Abu Lahab", recalls this fire. • Verses 4 and 5: his wife, Umm Jamiil, helped him harm the Prophet ﷺ: she threw thorns in his path. Other commentators explain "carrier of wood" as her spreading nasty words, which light up quarrels the way wood lights a fire. An amazing sign: this surah was revealed while Abu Lahab was still alive. He could have said "I am becoming a Muslim" to show that the Qur'an was wrong. He never did: the Qur'an had told the truth.

2. Lessons to learn • What saves me with Allah is my faith and my deeds, not my money or my family. • Never harm someone who calls to what is good, even if we do not agree with them. • Bad words (mockery, rumours) do a lot of damage: I do not repeat what can hurt. • In a family, we help each other in good, not in wrong (meaning of verse 5:2).

3. To remember • Abu Lahab and his wife harmed the Prophet ﷺ: their efforts failed. • Neither money nor children help without faith and good deeds. • This surah foretold the future, and it came true.

4. The message of the surah Whoever fights the truth loses, even if they are rich and powerful; what counts with Allah is faith and good deeds.

Source: Al-Mukhtasar fi tafsir al-Qur'an (English translation), with well-known points from the tafsirs of Ibn Kathir and As-Sa'di.