✦ AT A GLANCE ✦
المسد
Al-Masad
✦ Why this name
The Palm Fibre — al-Masad, the rope of twisted fibre described in the last verse.
✦ When it came
Meccan, early. Abu Lahab, the Prophet's ﷺ own uncle, publicly cursed him when he first called his family to Islam. His wife used to scatter thorns on the paths the Prophet ﷺ walked.
✦ The story
The only surah that condemns a named living opponent, and it carries a remarkable feature: it declared, years in advance, that he would die a disbeliever. He heard it recited for the rest of his life. All he had to do to embarrass the Quran was say the shahadah once, even insincerely. He never did.
*"May the hands of Abu Lahab be ruined, and ruined is he. His wealth will not avail him, or that which he gained."*
His name meant "father of flame". And his wife — who carried thorns to hurt a man on his way home — is described *carrying firewood, around her neck a rope of twisted fibre.* Carrying, in the next life, what she carried in this one.