سُوْرَةُ المَسَدِ
Surah Al-Masad (111) — Ayah 2
مَآ أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُ مَالُهُۥ وَمَا كَسَبَ ﴿2﴾
Translation by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan & Dr. Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali
His wealth and his children will not benefit him!
Word by Word — Arabic, Transliteration & Meaning
مَآ
mā
Not
أَغْنَىٰ
aghnā
(will) avail
عَنْهُ
ʿanhu
him
مَالُهُۥ
māluhu
his wealth
وَمَا
wamā
and what
كَسَبَ
kasaba
he earned
Tafsir Taiseer ul-Quran — Maulana Abdul Rahman Kilani
Tafsir Taiseer ul-Quran (Facilitation of the Quran) is a comprehensive Quran commentary by Maulana Abdul Rahman Kilani, a renowned Salafi (Ahl al-Hadith) scholar from Pakistan. Known for his eloquent and accessible writing style, Kilani authored this tafsir with a focus on clarity — making Quranic meanings understandable to the common reader. The tafsir provides detailed historical context for verses related to battles and expeditions, and firmly refutes modernist ideologies using strong scriptural evidence. It is widely regarded as an invaluable resource for understanding the Quran and countering deviant interpretations. The tafsir is originally written in Urdu, translated to English by tohed.com.
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.
[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.
