Who’s Abu Lahab? He is actually a paternal uncle of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), and despite the closeness, he was actually one of the most vile enemies of the Muslims.

In fact, during Hajj season, it is said that when the Prophet would go to people to tell them about Islam, Abu Lahab made sure to tell them not to listen to him, calling him a liar and a madman.

Abu Lahab was made an example in the Qur’an and that’s what makes this important. The Qur’an has an entire Surah – Surah Al-Masad – dedicated to him. It was revealed during his lifetime, and in it, it says,

“He will burn in a flaming Fire”

[Qur’an 111:3]

So what does that mean? That he will basically die a non-Muslim.

Why is this something Muslims call a miracle? Well, for one, to prove the Qur’an wrong, all Abu Lahab would’ve had to do was say, “I’m Muslim” and that’s it! It would’ve been the easiest way to prove the Qur’an wrong because in general, Muslims cannot question the intentions of another person. If he said he’s Muslim, that’s between him and Allah, and we cannot question his sincerity, unless his speech and actions are too obvious to ignore. Thus, Abu Lahab could’ve simply lied and had the last laugh. Yet, he didn’t.

As well, many of Prophet Muhammad’s enemies eventually accepted Islam. In fact, Abu Lahab’s daughter, Durrah, and his brothers Hamza and Al-Abbas, all accepted Islam. So too did people like Abu Sufyan, who became, after the death of earlier prominent Qurashis, THE leader of Makkah. It was not uncommon at all to hear news like that. However, Abu Lahab didn’t.

All this begs the question – if a human being wrote the Qur’an, how was he able to predict these things accurately? How was it “assumed” that an uncle of the Prophet, someone who knew his nephew and his noble characteristics up close, despite having years to rethink and statistics in favor of him becoming Muslim, did not accept the religion till his last breath?

“And thus We have made you a middle [i.e., just] nation that you will be witnesses over the people and the Messenger will be a witness over you… ”

– Qur’an 2:143

One “miracle” of the Qur’an I grew up hearing about is this Ayah¹ of the Qur’an. So what’s special about this? Well, in this Surah², there are 286 Ayahs. Where is this one? In the 143th Ayah. Right in the middle.

Now one can say that anyone can do that. After all, great books have gems hidden in them. However, the Qur’an wasn’t a book in its original form. It was all spoken by Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). It is well known that he didn’t know how to read or write. 

And when he recited the Qur’an till its completion, it was over a period of 23 years. To make matters more complicated, Surahs were not revealed by God all at once. Some were also revealed in parts and not necessarily in chronological order. Not til some Surahs were fully revealed did Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) know truly what the order what. Lastly, the Qur’an did not have a number scheme until after it was written down in a book form.

So Muslims ask – how is it possible that an unlettered man in 14th century Arabia put this Ayah right in the middle of a long Surah, even though the Surah was not revealed at once, nor was there a number scheme? In fact, was this Ayah even “necessary” for the impact of its message during his time? No. Perhaps early Muslims didn’t even realize the fact that it was in the middle. So doing this would have made Prophet Muhammad’s (ﷺ) job even harder if he was somehow the author. So it begs the question – how did it get there?

• This was taken from Nouman Ali Khan’s explanation of this Ayah, as explained beautifully in this video –

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1. “Verse” is a rough translation for Ayah.
2. “Chapter” is a rough translation for Surah. Both will be explained in a future article.