heedless of what you are doing and what you advocate: rebellion against religion and against the traditions inherited from our forefathers. Take care, then, of yourself and your father’s offspring. To be certain, the Arabs will not leave you alone, and it will not be difficult for them to kill you. It is better for you that you revert to the religion of your fathers and grandfathers. Otherwise, we will have to put you in confinement until you are cured of the illness you are suffering so that we can spare you an attack by the Arabs. It is better that we deal with you until you have regained your mind and recovered from your illness. It is certainly better that your father’s offspring take you to task and put you in confinement if you persist with what you are doing. This is easier for you and them than an attack by other clans of Quraysh supported by other Arabs. I have never heard of anyone who caused his father’s offspring anything worse than you have done.4
As he said this, Abū Lahab was very excited, firing his words like serious threats. His cheeks were red with anger and when he finished he trembled because he could not control himself. The Prophet looked around. Everyone was silent and an air of depression and gloom prevailed. He, therefore, said nothing.
The usage of the phrase ‘your father’s offspring’ by Abū Lahab was a common usage in Arabia’s tribal society. The Prophet’s father, ʿAbdullāh, did not have any children other than him. It should be remembered that ʿAbdullāh was married for only a couple of months before he travelled on a journey to Syria and died on the way back. ‘Father’ in this sense does not mean the immediate father; in fact, it means the grandfather or great-grandfather after whom the clan is called. Therefore, ‘your father’s offspring’ means the whole clan, including cousins and second or third cousins.
Appeal Resumed
The Prophet allowed things to cool down for a few days before he invited his uncles and cousins to dinner again. One or two of the Prophet’s aunts suggested that he need not invite his uncle Abū Lahab but, having considered the matter carefully, the Prophet did invite him. For one thing, Abū Lahab was his next-door neighbour and he could not leave him out when he was inviting second or third cousins. For another, Abū Lahab might have been tempted to create trouble if he was left out. More importantly, however, the Prophet never despaired of a change of heart taking place, even in the case of a determined enemy. So Abū Lahab was among the Prophet’s guests. This time, however, the Prophet took the initiative and spoke to his relatives immediately after they finished eating. He said:
Praise be to God! I praise Him, seek His support, believe in Him and rely on Him. I bear witness that there is no deity other than God, the only God who has no partners. A forerunner does not tell lies to his own people. If I were to tell lies to all mankind, I would not tell one to you. By God who is the only deity, I am God’s Messenger to you in particular and to mankind in general. He has commanded me to call on you to believe in Him, saying: “Warn your immediate kinsfolk.” I am calling on you to say two words which are easily pronounced but weighty in God’s scale: to bear witness that there is no deity other than God and that I am His Messenger. By God, you will die as you sleep, and will be resurrected as you wake up, and you will be held to account for what you do, and you will be rewarded well for your good actions and suffer retribution for your bad ones. It will be either heaven forever or hell forever. Children of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, by God, I know no one who has brought his people anything better than I am bringing you. I am offering you the happiness of this world and of the life to come. Who will accept my call and support me in furthering it?
Abū Ṭālib, the Prophet’s uncle who had taken care of him ever since he was a child, the grand old man of the Hāshimite clan, said: “We dearly love to help you and we certainly accept your advice and believe what you have said. Assembled here are your father’s offspring and I am but one of them, although I am the quickest with my favourable response. Go ahead with what you have been bidden and I pledge to continue to give you my support and protection. I find it hard, however, to abandon the faith of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib.”
It was perhaps this answer by Abū Ṭālib that infuriated Abū Lahab more than the Prophet’s own words. In a burst of temper, he said, “What shame! Stop him before he is stopped by someone else. If it comes to that and you abandon him, then you will be overwhelmed with shame; and if you try to protect him you will all be killed.” There were apparently further heated remarks by Abū Lahab, who could not control his temper. Abū Ṭālib, however, maintained his positive attitude. All those who were present inclined towards Abū Ṭālib’s view, realizing that it was their duty to protect Muhammad and that they could not put their clan to the shame of abandoning him. Abū Lahab, on the other hand, went out, still furious, threatening and pledging to do everything in his power to stop his nephew from accomplishing his mission and changing the religion of the Quraysh.5
These incidents help us to understand the forces that were at play in Arabian society. Abū Lahab, the conservative, hot-headed dignitary, did not stop for one minute to consider the merits of what his nephew, Prophet Muhammad, said. He looked at the whole issue only from the narrow angle of what was likely to happen as a result of it to the clan of Hāshim and more narrowly to its sub-clan of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. Viewed from this very narrow angle, Muhammad’s call spelled disaster for his people. Abū Lahab was not even prepared to look further than that. He considered it his duty, and the duty of the children and the grandchildren of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, to stop Muhammad from pressing ahead with his call.
On the other hand, the wiser and older brother, Abū Ṭālib, looked at his tribal duty from a different angle. His nephew, Muhammad, did not mean any harm and did not call for anything wrong. He was only advocating an idea. If it transpired that the idea was met with opposition, then so be it. The Hāshimites and, more particularly, the smaller clan of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib had no option but to extend their support to their man, Muhammad. After all, Arabian tribes fought fierce and long wars to protect or avenge their sons for matters which were much less important than that. Indeed, even when a tribesman committed a crime, his tribe gave him protection.
Abū Lahab continued with his hostility. He took immediate action to demonstrate his disavowal of his nephew. His two sons, ʿUtbah and ʿUtaybah, were married to the Prophet’s two daughters, Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthūm. He ordered his sons to divorce the Prophet’s daughters and they complied. These two daughters of the Prophet were then married, one after the other, to ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān.
In his hostility to the Prophet and to Islam, Abū Lahab was supported by his wife, Umm Jamīl Arwa bint Ḥarb, the sister of Abū Sufyān, who was later to become the leader of the Quraysh in its determined opposition to Islam until Makkah fell to the Prophet and its population accepted the new faith. Umm Jamīl was perhaps even more hostile to the Prophet than her husband. She would ridicule him and throw dust and harmful objects in his path; she composed songs abusing him and sang them on occasions.6
The hostility of Abū Lahab and his wife to the cause of Islam and their active opposition to it, and abuse of the Prophet, brought them denunciation by God Himself, who revealed a powerful short sūrah of the Qur’ān, mentioning Abū Lahab by name and warning him and his wife of their approaching doom. The sūrah may be rendered in translation as follows: “May the hands of Abū Lahab perish: doomed he is. His wealth and his gains shall not avail him. He shall be plunged in a flaming fire, and his wife, the carrier of firewood, shall have a rope of palm fibre round her neck.” (111: 1-5)
It may be true that the Prophet encountered some hostility when he proclaimed his message on the top of the hill of al-Ṣafā. He might have been confronted by an arrogant uncle who could not see further than the end of his nose. But the effect of that proclamation was tremendous. Every household in Makkah was talking about the new message and what change it would bring about in the lives of the Arabs. The fact that there was a nucleus of a community of believers made it easy for the Makkan people to take a reasonably correct measure of the implications of the new call. They realized that the change it was sure to bring about would be total. Hence, the elders of Makkah were soon in council discussing what steps they needed to take.
The Quraysh’s Complaint
It should be said in fairness that the chiefs of Makkah did not take any action worth noting against