Surah Al-Masad (111) — Ayah 2

(Ayah 2) {مَاۤ اَغْنٰى عَنْهُ مَالُهٗ وَ مَا كَسَبَ:} "Neither his wealth availed him nor what he earned." By "what he earned," the commentators have meant his sons, and besides this, the deeds which he considered good in his own view did not benefit him at all. In Sahih Bukhari: [ قَالَ عُرْوَةُ : وَ ثُوَيْبَةُ مَوْلَاةٌ لِأَبِيْ لَهَبٍ وَ كَانَ أَبُوْ لَهَبٍ أَعْتَقَهَا فَأَرْضَعَتِ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، فَلَمَّا مَاتَ أَبُوْ لَهَبٍ أُرِيَهُ بَعْضُ أَهْلِهِ بِشَرِّ حِيْبَةٍ ({بِشَرِّ خَيْبَةٍ}) قَالَ لَهُ مَاذَا لَقِيْتَ، قَالَ أَبُوْ لَهَبٍ لَمْ أَلْقَ بَعْدَكُمْ غَيْرَ لَمْ أَلْقَ بَعْدَكُمْ خَيْرًا غَيْرَ أَنِّيْ سُقِيْتُ فِيْ هٰذِهِ بِعَتَاقَتِيْ ثُوَيْبَةَ ] [بخاري، النکاح، باب: «وأمھاتکم الاتي أرضعنکم» : ۵۱۰۱] "Urwah said that Thuwaybah was Abu Lahab's slave woman whom Abu Lahab had set free, then she suckled the Prophet (peace be upon him). When Abu Lahab died, someone from his household saw him in a dream in a very bad state. He was asked: 'What did you encounter?' Abu Lahab said: 'I did not find any good after you except that I was given water to drink from this (the space between his finger and thumb) because I set Thuwaybah free.'" In Fath al-Bari, it is mentioned that Suhayli narrated that Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "When Abu Lahab died, I saw him in a dream a year later in a very bad state. He said: 'I did not find any comfort after you except that every Monday my punishment is lessened.' He said: 'The reason for this was that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was born on a Monday, and Thuwaybah gave Abu Lahab the good news of his birth, so he set her free.'" (Fath al-Bari) Those who celebrate the Prophet's (peace be upon him) birthday have taken this as evidence that celebrating the Prophet's birthday is permissible. These people did not consider that this is the dream of Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), who at that time was still a disbeliever and had not yet become Muslim. On one hand, Allah Almighty's statement is that neither Abu Lahab's wealth nor what he earned benefited him, and on the other hand, there is a dream from the time of disbelief that setting Thuwaybah free benefited him. It is agreed upon that the dream of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is a proof in Shariah because it is divine revelation, but the dream of any Muslim other than the Prophet is not a proof, let alone the dream of a non-Muslim being made a Shariah evidence, especially when that dream is clearly against the Noble Qur'an, because the Qur'an has warned of the perishing of Abu Lahab's hands by mentioning them. Then these people also did not consider that if there was any basis for celebrating the birthday, then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the Companions, and the Ahl al-Bayt would not have been deprived of this good deed every year. As for why Imam Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned this in his Sahih, the reason is that he mentioned it in {’’كِتَابُ النِّكَاحِ‘‘}, and his purpose was to prove that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was suckled by Abu Lahab's slave woman Thuwaybah, and she also suckled Abu Salamah (may Allah be pleased with him), so it was not permissible for the Prophet (peace be upon him) to marry the daughter of Abu Salamah (may Allah be pleased with him), because she was his milk niece. Imam Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) did not present this for celebrating the birthday, nor does any person of intellect derive Shariah from the dream of a non-Muslim, especially when it is clearly against the Noble Qur'an. According to this explicit verse of the Qur'an, Abu Lahab's freeing of the slave woman Thuwaybah will not benefit him at all.

2. 1. His wealth includes his aristocratic status, prestige and position, and his children as well, meaning that when Allah's punishment came, nothing benefited him.

2. His wealth and whatever he earned did not benefit him [2].

[2]
Abu Lahab’s Plan to Avoid Participation in the Battle of Badr:

Greed for wealth and miserliness together produce a third trait, which is cowardice. When the general announcement for recruitment for the Battle of Badr was made, Abu Lahab began to look for ways to escape it. He was owed four thousand dirhams by a man from whom he had no hope of recovering the debt, as that man was destitute. Abu Lahab bargained with him that if he would participate in the Battle of Badr in Abu Lahab’s place, Abu Lahab would not demand repayment of the debt. In this way, Abu Lahab achieved two goals with one move: he recovered his lost debt and also managed to avoid the battle. When he heard the news of the Quraysh’s crushing defeat at Badr, he was so grieved that he fell ill.

A Humiliating Death:

On the seventh day, this illness took the form of smallpox, and he began to see all his life’s earnings being ruined, because now he was certain of his death. Due to the contagiousness of the disease, even his sons stopped eating and drinking with him. In the end, he died a most helpless death. Even after his death, none of his sons went near him. For three days, his corpse lay rotting and decomposing without burial or shroud. Then, when people began to taunt his sons, they paid an Abyssinian some compensation to dig a pit, push the corpse into it, and cover it with earth, or to throw stones from a distance to cover the body. It should be noted that in this verse, ﴿ما كَسَبَ﴾ refers to his offspring, as is clearly established from authentic hadith. In this way, Allah’s statement was fulfilled that neither his wealth benefited him nor his children.