Surah Al-Masad English Translation & Brief Tafsir

¹Abu Lahab, who rejects the order of life to which Allah invites and insolently attacks the Prophet, has surely deserved to be punished and destroyed in both worlds. And so his life in this world and in the Hereafter, which his two hands symbolize, and his economic and political power as well, are in any case doomed to perish. With all his might he was trying to prevent Our verses from being made known in society. To everyone who listened to the Prophet, he would say, “Do not believe this liar!” He was reaching out his hands in every direction and joining hands with those who deny the truth. For this reason he will not escape Allah’s wrath, and he will be punished with the fire of Hell.

²He thinks himself powerful because of the position, rank, and wealth he possesses. But this wrongdoer, who refuses to acknowledge Allah as God, will gain no benefit at all from the wealth he relies on, from his children, or from the prestige he has acquired. Neither the social status he relies on nor his blood relationship with the Prophet will be able to save him from the punishment Allah will inflict in this world and in the Hereafter.

³In any case, as the recompense for what he has done, he will soon be cast into a blazing fire and punished.

⁴His wife too, who gossips and spreads tales and acts with hostility toward the Prophet, will enter Hell carrying firewood for her husband’s fire, and will keep him company there. If only she knew that, while she thought she was helping her husband, she was in fact doing nothing but carrying the firewood of Hell for him! But she does not know!

⁵His wife too will enter a blazing fire with a thick rope, twisted like a cable, around her neck. She will end up in Hell with the evils she committed wound around her neck. For, to torment the Prophet, she carried thorny branches and piled them in front of his door. Coils of fire like palm fiber, wound around both their necks, will drag them down to the depths of Hell. Their every act that goes against Our verses is like fiery palm fibers binding them to Hell.