Mustadrak al-Hakim — Hadith 5493

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Rafi' (may Allah be pleased with him): We, the family of al-Abbas (the household of Sayyiduna al-Abbas), had accepted Islam, but we kept our Islam hidden. I was a slave of Sayyiduna al-Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) and used to carve cups. When Quraysh set out for the Battle of Badr, we began waiting for news. Then al-Haysuman al-Khuza'i came with the news. That news made us feel strength within ourselves, and the report of the victory of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) made us very happy. By Allah, I was sitting on the platform of Zamzam carving cups, and Umm al-Fadl (may Allah be pleased with her) was sitting with me; we were delighted at the news of the victory of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), when that vile Abu Lahab came dragging his feet; Allah had humiliated and disgraced him through that news. He came and sat by the tent-rope of the chamber. The people said: "This is Abu Sufyan bin al-Harith who has come," and the people gathered around him. Abu Lahab said to him: "O my nephew, come to me." He came and sat in front of him. Abu Lahab asked: "Tell me how the people fared." He said: "Yes. By Allah, as soon as we faced those people, we handed them our shoulders; they struck us with their swords wherever they wished. But by Allah, I do not blame the people, because we were up against men clothed in white riding piebald horses. By Allah, they spared nothing." Abu Rafi' says: I lifted the tent-rope of the chamber and said: "By Allah, those were the angels!" Hearing this, Abu Lahab raised his hand and gave me a violent slap on the face. I grappled with him, but I was a weak man; he lifted me up, threw me to the ground, climbed onto my chest and began beating me. Seeing this, Umm al-Fadl (may Allah be pleased with her) rushed to one of the posts of the chamber, seized it and began saying: "Did you think him weak because his master is not present?" And she struck him on the head with that post, which gave him a very ugly wound. He went away from there humiliated, dragging his feet. Then Allah afflicted him with the disease of 'adasah', that is, a plague-like contagious pustule. By Allah, only seven days after this incident he died. His sons left him lying in the house for three days and did not bury him, until his corpse began to rot. The people of Quraysh feared this disease just as plague is feared, until a man of Quraysh said to his sons: "Woe to you! Are you not ashamed that your father is rotting in the house and you are not burying him?" They said: "We fear catching the contagion of this sore." He said: "Come, I will help you." By Allah, they did not wash him; rather they threw water on him from a distance, because they did not want to go near him. Then they carried him to the upper part of Makkah, propped him against a wall there, and piled stones over him.