The Household of Abū Lahab

Abū Lahab was one of those who stayed behind, but he sent somebody in his place to fight. Rāfiʿ says: I was a servant of al-ʿAbbās, and our household was Muslim — me, and al-ʿAbbās, and Umm al-Faḍl.^* We were Muslim, and I used to make arrows. So I was sitting in the pavilion around the Kaʿbah, sharpening arrows, while Abū Lahab was sitting with his back towards me, when one of the fighters from Quraysh approached. So Abū Lahab said: come and tell us the news of what happened. So the man came and he said: as soon as the fighting started, we handed them over ourselves to be killed and to be taken as captives — but I don't blame them for it, because we were facing men in white clothes, on horses, between the heavens and earth, and nothing can stop them. So he was saying that it is true that they were defeated by the army of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), but they don't give credit to them — it was some other people wearing white who defeated them, and nothing could stop that force. When Rāfiʿ heard that, he said: in the name of Allah, those are the angels. Abū Lahab turned around and punched him in the face, such a blow. Rāfiʿ said: so I started fighting back, but Abū Lahab was stronger than me, and I was a weak man, so he was sitting over me and beating me hard, when Umm al-Faḍl came with a rod, and she hit Abū Lahab on the head and told him: you are taking advantage that his master isn't around. Then Abū Lahab left.

Rāfiʿ says that Abū Lahab was afflicted by a disease after that and died a week later, and he said this particular disease would terrify the people of Quraysh, and if somebody's inflicted with that disease, they wouldn't want to go next to him. So Abū Lahab died and remained in his house for three days, until his body was decomposing, and nobody wanted to bury him. So the people of Quraysh went to his two sons and said: shame on you — your father's body is decomposing and you don't want to bury him. They said: well, we're afraid of that disease. So what they ended up doing is they ended up dragging him and placing him next to a wall — they didn't even dig a grave for him, they placed him next to a wall, and then they threw stones over him to cover his body. This is the humiliation that he suffered even in his death.