Al-Masad Surah
Two weeks ago, we began explaining the Al-Masad Surah, this is one of the short surahs of the Qur’an. The short chapters of the Qur’an have one interesting characteristic. Most of them have been transmitted by the Prophet when he was in Mecca, and mainly they infer matters regarding faith, belief. Whereas the long surahs of the Qur’an have descended during the Medina time and mainly focus on the social interaction, the human interaction and on the society of the Prophet. In this Surah Allah Almighty speaks of a unique event, speaks about an archetype of a person who is part of the Prophet’s family; we are talking about Abu Lahab here. From the start, when the Prophet openly called into religion, by going on top the Safa hill, his uncle replied to him, “may you be destroyed and perish from this world” and because of this event, the Qur’an has brought forth this surah. Each surah of the Qur’an has a specific reason why it has descended and the reason for the descent of the Al-Masad surah are the words of Abu Lahab. Through these verses of the Qur’an Allah Almighty informs us that because of Abu Lahab’s behavior the latter will face the punishment of God in this world as well. I would like to highlight that people who are not adherents might not believe in God and might not experience the punishment in this world, but people who want to prevent the truth, they face God’s punishment even in this world. Abu Lahab died in the battle of Uhud and his body was left unburied for 3 days in the heat of the desert and nobody dared to approach the body afterwards, they had just made some space in a hollow place nearby and have thrown the body of Abu Lahab there. This is another miracle by the Qur’an that warns of Abu Lahab destruction in this world, as well. The latter was not a random man, he was an aristocrat, he was a wealthy man. In the verse it is said: “His wealth did not save him, nor what he had gained in this world”. Because when the Prophet (PBUH) called into religion, this man openly said: “what my nephew is saying is not true. If what my nephew says is true, then I will be your savior from his punishment, with my own wealth”. Albeit, Allah Almighty says “Ma awgnaa anhu maaluhu wama kasab” “His wealth did not save him, nor what he had gained in this world”. This is how Allah Almighty speaks to us of the real wealth. The true wealth is not the material one, neither the social status is the real status in life. The true wealth of man is the spiritual platform, where that wealth can take place. Precisely to this it is said to Abu Lahab that “this is all a waste, because your wealth is not aiding you, neither will wealth assist any people when the Judgement day comes”. When Allah Almighty speaks of the Day of Judgement, He refers to the verse in the Az-Zalzalah Surah: “When the earth is shaken with its [final] earthquake, And the earth discharges its burdens, and man says, “What is [wrong] with it?” (Surah 99, verse 1-3). And if the same wealth has served humanity for good and for the truth, then that wealth is with the person who has dedicated his deeds to the righteous and good path. That is the reason why Abu Lahab’s wealth intended to be spent for preventing the truth, is not able to help the one who is consuming it; this a suggestion, a claim one identification of Allah Almighty. The opposite of this is the wealth spent on assisting the truth, that wealth is eternal; that type of wealth can bring abundance / goodness to man. What I mean by wealth (most of you know, but we have some young people here) the understanding of Fakir on wealth is not only referred to material wealth. The viewpoint on wealth for Fakir is the sacrifice of the person with what he has; the courageous are not only the wealthy. The virtue of courage is a virtue of all humankind. Someone is able to dedicate two hours of his time to speak with me and my problems, that other person might be able to help me with all his strength when I need help cleaning my house or garden, and maybe that other person might only spend 15 minutes explaining some English lessons to a child because tomorrow that child has an exam… all of these are elements of courage. The mosque preachers who mainly limit the virtue of courage in the aspect and frame of sharing wealth, commit to a great mistake. That’s why the spiritual platform which affirms that wealth will remain and become eternal, is very important to us. Each death is like an apocalypse, if we look at it from the physical aspect; the verse says that when the judgement day will come all the materials and substance based worth of the world will uncovered from earth. But if we die, and even if they gather all the wealth of the world in front of us, this will no longer hold value for us; in this moment the only thing that matters is the platform of the aqiqah “He will surely burn in the flame” , Abu Lahab on top of everything he did, he went even further: together with his wife, Um Jamil he would also throw garbage and tree sticks in the place where the Prophet (PBUH) would pass to prevent him from reaching his goals. Allah Almighty says that these sticks will become the burning flame that will burn Abu Lahab himself. In this case fire is used a metaphor, and the Qur’an oftentimes uses several synonyms for Jahannam and among them fire (nar) is used as one synonym. Fire is a metaphor and this fire might cause someone to burn even in this worldly life, but only if the concept and idea of Abraham (PBUH) is not within man. It is not a coincidence that Abraham (PBUH) was thrown into flame, because Abraham is considered as the father of religion in the domain of society. It is because religion in society, in the social dimension begins with Abraham, and fire does not burn him. Each one of us has an Abraham within and is surrounded with fire. Now when our inner dimension, inner self will turn into Abraham, at that point no flame can burn Abraham. What can this fire do to us? The same flame that was supposed to burn Abraham, appeared in front of Moses as well in the desert. And Moses (PBUH), after getting married to the Shu`ayb’s daughter, was going back to Egypt to save his people. He then lost his way in the desert and that’s when he saw some flame from fire coming from a distance, in the Taha Surah Allah Almighty says: “He told his family, his wife: “wait for me here, I will go and check if maybe there is a path way from this fire”. This same fire that refers to Abu Lahab here, as nar, is referred by Allah Almighty, as the fire that Moses saw in the desert, that did not burn Abraham (PBUH). When he approached the burning tree Allah Almighty called “I am your God, remove your footwear because you are in the sacred zone”. Note here how the fire was a burden for Abu Lahab, was not a burden for Moses (PBUH); for him it was a guidance. That’s why in some cases we are not fond of illnesses, sorrow, pain but in some cases stress, depression, worry becomes a reason for people to go to hidaya – to find the true path (guidance). Oftentimes when people become sick, they begin to remember Allah Almighty. If they are in good shape and wellbeing, have no pain or illnesses, they don’t realize that they are not going towards ahirah, very few of them remember Allah Almighty. And precisely to this, sometimes discomfort might be a reason for someone’s path to be shown; the right path. God says that Abu Lahab will burn in this world and the hereafter as well. Imagine Abu Lahab was an aristocrat who was a leader of Mecca (because of his wife Um Jamila, who was the sister of Abu Sufyan, the prime leader of Mecca), for 10 years, let’s say, he turned into a man who was most discounted as a family in Mecca. And why did this happen? Because he contradicted the truth. The same thing goes for us. This man contradicted and went against the righteous faith, the absolute truth. Oftentimes people merely seek to please their ego and contradict the truths that are more crucial for life, and this is one quality, a very obscure and ugly characteristic of a person who even if he sees the truth, will decide against it. This is not a quality of an adherent. The one who claims to be an adherent, attaches himself to the truth when he identifies it. Imam Al-Shafi‘I is one great imam, the founder of Shafi’i school Madh’hab or fiqh, says: “If you find one argument in the Qur’an or in the hadeeth of the Prophet (PBUH), which contradicts my beliefs, then have in mind that my Madh’hab, my path is in that hadeeth and in the verses of the Qur’an, that is my madh’ahab, and follow it”, and this was not a simple man, but a man who is considered as most influential Islamic thinker after the as’hab and taabi generations. I meant to say that for one to be a true adherent, to be human if not, we should not prevent the truth if we identify it, because then we might face the fire; it will burn us like it burn Abu Lahab. We should open the doors in order for it to show us the path, and what is even more important, to accept it and co-exist with it; life obtains a meaning only if it is lived with the truth “Abu Lahab’s wife will carry sticks” I mentioned it earlier that Abu Lahab together with his wife, used to throw tree branches, sticks on the street, when the Prophet (PBUH) used to go to Akram Ibn Akram’s house (I mentioned it in the previous lecture that Muslims used to gather at the latter’s house and the Prophet (PBUH) would preach and explain Islam to them). This verse here, highlights Abu Lahab’s wife as well. When it mentioned his family, that verse referred to his wife, but once anew it highlights his wife and there is one old saying hikma, that explains why she is mentioned. Do you have any idea why the Muslims are so weak nowadays? Because 50% of their strategy on representing religion is outdated, it is because the Muslim women are 50% not involved, whereas it is 70%, because 20% women have more responsibility in preparing the future generations. I recall one short story from a Turkish author, when he spoke about the martyrs that died in wars. In the old traditions (mainly the Osman period) when a soldier would go to war they would dye his hair with henna and when one young man went to battle, the commander had asked him why was his hair dyed in color, and the soldier had said: “when we prepare the kurban (sacrifice of animal), we mark him with henna, I am here to die for this truth” (regardless which truth he was defending). The soldier returned alive. When he arrived home after the battle, his mother was waiting for him at the door step. The commander had accompanied the soldier home, and when his mother saw him after 10 years, before she gave him a hug, she said to him “have you abandoned the other soldiers in battle? The author is trying to tell us that people are not strong only by themselves, but they are strong because it is their mothers who have raised them. And because of this, the mother, especially the Muslim mother is very important for transfer of the truth among Muslims. The male hegemony, in recent centuries and perhaps sometimes imposed by the outside players, has influenced us to the extent that even nowadays we exclude the woman, and this is one of the biggest mistakes. We have here a very adequate example of a woman who has played a negative role in this sphere, Um Jamal; she has played a negative role in the spread of Islam, and Allah Almighty mentions her name in the Qur’an as: “She will carry a neckless made of fire in her neck” since even in the days she lived she used to carry a neckless that was very valuable and she proclaimed: “I will support my husband by selling this neckless so we can stop these nonsense that Mohammed is spreading in our society”. Allah Almighty then says she will carry a neckless of fire in the hereafter precisely because of these words.
Surely that the Qur’an is an example for us and each personality mentioned in the Qur’an should be transferred to us, but not merely from the historic perspective. Everyone who thinks that we should speak about the Qur’an and Islam in general, from the historic domain, they cause the greatest damage to religion. As long as we are unable to transfer and bring to our reality, decipher Um Jamal in our society, to decipher Abu Lahab in our society, and decipher our Prophet (PBUH) in our society, then we have not succeeded to righteously reflect and present our religion. Religion, the Qur’an / revelation, life of the Prophet (PHUB), his sunnah / the constitutive tradition of the Prophet (PBUH) are universal both from the aspect of space and from the aspect of time; they are present in all times and all of these characters mentioned in the Al-Masad Surah provide us with an example on how we should behave. For instance, the neckless is mainly a symbol that represent cuffs that disable a person to act accordingly. By what were Abu Lahab and Um Jamal led? They didn’t really care about religion, neither the people of Mecca, because they had 360 gods. If the Prophet (PBUH) had told them: “proceed with your life; continue living in the slave era, Bilal will be your slave again, the wealthy families will keep their hands on the trade, we will continue to burry girls alive, the rich can use the slaves as they wish”, I am sure that if the Prophet (PBUH) would have said this, the people of Mecca would not oppose him. But instead the Prophet (PBUH) penetrated their everyday lifestyle and removed the chains of lust/ ego from their souls. The neckless in the neck of Um Jamal represents all our temporary desires. All our temporary desires distance us from the eternal desires. If we are led by these temporary desires, then the eternal desires will be intercepted. To achieve eternity, we ought to hinder some of our temporary desires, and through this we attain the human dimension; man is man only because he can reflect. One might decide rationally for certain matters, and when one makes decisions based on rational thinking, his human dimension comes into picture. If man allows for his feelings, intuit to guide him, then the human dimension might not be experienced. Religion is the only player that can channel the emotions, feelings, intuit and lust of humans. Expect for religion, expect the direct relationship between God and humans nothing can help. A person might be very rational, but he won’t be able to channel, limit or direct his emotions and feelings hither the good. Only religion, the direct link with Allah Almighty; by relying on Allah Almighty a person can direct these emotions towards the good. Not because they are evil, but if they are left unattended, they become evil. For example (there are many similar examples) many animals are wild and perhaps they might be very useful to man, maybe even more useful than cows, but because the cow is a soft nature, and it can be used and managed by people, we have succeeded to use it the most. Maybe up in the mountains and amid bushes we might come across some very sweet fruits even more than the ones in our gardens, but we mainly consume fruits from our surrounding, from the places from which they are cultivated. This applies to people as well; when one person will be nurtured, especially in the sphere of religion, it is then that he can experience the human dimension. He might then be useful for the society he lives in, otherwise he would not differ from other species. The Qur’an affirms this as well: “And indeed We have already propagated for Hell many of the jinn and humankind; they have hearts with which they do not comprehend, and they have eyes with which they do not behold, and they have ears with which they do not hear. Those are like the cattle; no indeed, they are further in error. Those are they (who are) heedless…” (Surah Al-A’raf, verse 179).
Al-Masad Surah gives us an example of how one family can be destroyed by fighting against the truth; how it destroys itself by fighting God. We have a lot of families like the one of Abu Lahab. People who have had a certain authority in certain periods, but because of the war they have conducted against God, have turned into an outrage throughout their life. We have many similar examples in our society, and because of this as believers we need to be smart and learn from other examples, especially from the examples that the Qur’an infers; we are convinced in the word of the Qur’an and the example resembled in the Qur’an is one truth for us on how we should or should not behave in certain occasions.
I will mention one more element and will finish here. People mainly fear things that are foreign to them, both from the positive and negative aspect. If we wish to lose this fear, we need to conduct an analysis of the circumstance. The mistakes that Abu Lahab and his family made are a mistake because it is a behavior that contracts a matter that he did not have enough knowledge on. It was not known to Abu Lahab what the Prophet (PBUH) was talking about, and even if he knew what the Prophet (PBUH) was saying, he still would not behave righteously. The Prophet (PBUH) appeared at the top of the hill and called: “if I now tell you that there is a runner up of horses approaching, will you believe me? The crowd said: “yes we believe you because you have not lied to us to ever before”; Then, here I am telling you that God is one and I am His messenger”, and here Abu Lahab automatically contradicted him “No, this cannot be so”. He is contradicting the Prophet with ignorance and one of the most dangerous disbelievers are those that do not believe from rancor / kufr disbelief. Neither good or evil take place because of rancor. And in the instance of Abu Lahab there is a contradiction in one specific matter for which he has no specific knowledge on. That’s why, those matters that are foreign to us, we should not fear them; if we think they should, then we should stop and analyze them properly and only then decide pro or against them. One of the mistakes that Abu Lahab committed to, was that he acted in a very appalling and disregarding way towards an element which in this case is the truth, for which he had no knowledge on whatsoever.
Thank you.