You Wasted My Time

Now, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) called the people, and the people assumed that this was something urgent and important — and it was. Abū Lahab responded and said, Tabban laka sāʾira al-yawm, a-lihādhā jamaʿtanā — "May evil befall you the rest of your day. Is this why you called us?" Abū Lahab was upset. He was angry. Why? Because the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) called for an urgent gathering during the official business hours, and, according to Abū Lahab, "he took me from my work and my business, and I came here not to hear something serious." He was talking about the afterlife, he's talking about religion, he's talking about spirituality, he's talking about things that are not tangible. "He's wasting my time. I could have made money in those valuable minutes that I spent listening to him." So Abū Lahab was upset. Abū Lahab is thinking that this is the material world, this is the real world: if you don't have a deal to discuss, some business, some money to make, don't waste my time. And he said, Tabban laka sāʾira al-yawm — "may evil befall you the rest of the day, you wasted my time."

Abū Lahab isn't alone in that. He's speaking on behalf of a lot of people. People don't want to listen about religion: "Don't, don't waste my time talking about this religion stuff. If you can promise me some money, if you can promise me something that will do me good in this world" — otherwise, don't waste my time. "Excuse me, sir, can I talk to you about religion for half an hour?" "No, I'm busy, I can't, I can't afford half an hour." And then what does that man in a rush do? He may be going to buy a refrigerator or an oven, or something — and asking such a person for half an hour of their time to talk about their salvation would meet with refusal. Nevertheless, they're willing to spend hours and hours: before buying a refrigerator or an oven they would look at all of the deals, they would visit all of the department stores. Before a person would buy a used car, they would spend days and days of research, they would go and consult the blue book. Such a person would consult the blue book, and go and read all of the classified ads. Days and days of valuable life would be spent just to save a few hundred dollars — and yet not be willing to give half an hour of that time to learn about what would save them in their eternal life.

So Abū Lahab was representing a lot of people when he said, Tabban laka sāʾira al-yawm. Allah (swt) revealed the sūrah:

The hands of Abū Lahab will perish, and perish he. And then the āyah says: his wealth will not do him any good. What was keeping Abū Lahab away from the truth? Business, his wealth. Allah (swt) is saying that his wealth will do him no good. The people who are rushing after dunyā — dunyā will do them no good if they don't have Islam in their heart.