Earthly Family and Property

March 24, 2009, 7:52 am by dc-agape.

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Surāh 111 – Al-Lahab: The Flame

In this surāh, without reading the commentaries, it seems like any other religious person’s hope that their adversary is consumed with fire.  Modern day Christians use these same epitaphs on their enemies.  But a closer look shows a distinct similarity to Jesus’ own life:

Mark 3:21 When his family heard this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

Mark 6:4 Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.”

What this show’s is that anyone who is attempting to create a paradigm shift (both Jesus and the Prophet) has a harder time convincing their relatives than the general public.  But this only makes sense.  Family members have known these men/women since childhood; the new adult role is more difficult for the family members to accept.  It takes a much longer time for family to see changes in relatives than people who have never met the individual.  That is why one of my mother’s sayings is so true:

“I would rather drown in water than in blood.”

The meaning of this quote is that being surrounded by friends is much more desired than being surrounded by family.  It incorporates the fact that friends can be so much more forgiving than family.  But it also incorporates that friends see the person you are today, where family sees you as the person you were.

Reading the commentary by M Muhammad Ali, there is a “higher” explanation than both of these.  Abū Lahab and his wife were the strongest vocal opposition that the Prophet faced in his lifetime.  But they also were opponents to the “Truth”.  The Prophet uses this surāh to explain how the forward motion of the “Truth” could not be stopped by human hands. 

With the wife of Abū Lahab there is an additional lesson.  Possibly the Prophet was describing how earthly riches were nothing compared to the inner worth that Allāh looks for.  This comes from the last verse:

111:5 Upon her neck a halter of twisted rope!

In the Prophet’s time it was known that Abu Lahab was rich.  The Prophet describes the necklaces worn by the wife of Abu Lahab as a “halter of twisted rope”.  How I wish the Christians in the US recognized this spiritual concept!  Jesus taught the same thing, yet no Christian in the US gives up their earthly possessions to find “spiritual meaning” in their lives.  I would not be surprised if it is not the same in most Islamic communities as well.

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