Abu Lahab was born in
Mecca in c. 549
CE, the son of
Abdul Muttalib, chief of the
Hashim clan, and the paternal uncle of
Muhammad. He was thus a paternal half-brother of
Abdullah, father of Muhammad. His mother,
Lubna bint Hajar, was from the
Banu Khuza'ah. People from the Banu Khuza'ah were the caretakers of the
Kaaba for several centuries before the Quraysh took over the responsibility through their ancestor
Qusayy ibn Kilab. Abu Lahab was also related to Muhammad as half-uncle in another way, since Muḥammad's grandmother was Fāṭimah bint ‘Amr of the
Banu Makhzūm. They lived next door to Muhammad and shared walls with his house. His original name was 'Abd al-'Uzzā, meaning slave/devotee of the goddess
al-ʿUzzā. But his father called him
Abū Lahab "Father of Flame" "because of his beauty and charm" and as "very generous".
Utaybah, Muattab, Abu Lahab had another son, also named Durrah, who may have been born by another woman. He may also have been the father of Masruh, a son born to his slave
Thuwaybah. His daughter Durrah embraced Islam and became a narrator of Hadīth. One is in Ahmad’s
Musnad, where she reports that a man got up and asked the Islamic prophet Muhammad, "Who is the best of the people?" He answered, "The best of the people is the most learned, the most Godfearing, the most to be enjoining virtue, the most to be prohibiting vice and the most to be joining the kin." ‘Utbah also embraced Islam after the conquest of Mecca and pledged allegiance to Muḥammad.
The Yā Ṣabāḥah (c. 613) When Muhammad announced that he had been instructed by
Allah to spread the message of Islam openly, the Quran told him to warn his kinsfolk about divine punishment. He therefore climbed
Mount Ṣafā and shouted: "
Yā ṣabāḥah!" which means, "O [calamity of] the morning!". In
Arabia, this alarm was traditionally raised by any person who noticed an enemy tribe advancing against his own tribe at dawn. On hearing this, the inhabitants of Mecca assembled at the mountain. Muhammad then addressed the clans by name. "O Banū Hāshim, O Banū 'Abd al-Muṭallib ... [and so on], if I were to tell you that behind this hill there is an enemy about to attack you, would you believe me?" The people responded that they would, since Muhammad was known to be very honest and was also given the title of
Al Amin. He continued saying: "Then I warn you that you are heading for a torment." At this point, Abu Lahab interrupted: "Woe be on you the rest of the day! Is that what you summoned us for?" Another tradition recalls Abū Lahab picking up a stone to throw at his nephew.. Abu Lahab rejected the claims of Muhammad and said: "Muhammad promises me things which I do not see. He alleges that they will happen after my death; what has he put in my hands after that?" Then he blew on his hands and said, "May you perish. I can see nothing in you of the things that Muhammad says." Abu Lahab had married two of his sons to the daughters of Khadija and Muḥammad, 'Utbah to
Ruqayyah and Utaybah to
Umm Kulthum. However, after Prophet of Islam openly started preaching verses of Quran and islamic Tawhid, Abu Lahab forced his sons to refuse marriage terms, thus the two daughters were divorced at an early age, and they returned to the family home. After the announcement of
Al-Masadd, Abu Lahab told his sons: "My head is unlawful to your head if you do not divorce Muhammad's daughters." They therefore divorced them. Abu Lahab's daughter Durrah was at some stage married to
Zayd ibn Haritha al-Kalbi, who was at that time regarded as Muhammad's son, and they were later divorced; but the timing of this marriage and divorce is not known. Later, she married Ḥārith ibn Naufal of Banu Hāshim; and after his death, she married Dihya ibn Khalifa.
Other acts of opposition (613–619) When the
Quraysh began to torture the Muslims, Abu Lahab's brother
Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib called upon the Hashim and al-Muttalib clans to stand with him in protecting his nephew. It was a custom among the Arabs to staunchly support their own clan. Despite the dissension between Muḥammad and some members of Banu Hashim and Banu Muṭṭalib, most of them stood by him in his predicament and provided him with protection and security, except Abu Lahab. While Muhammad was praying near the Kaaba,
Amr ibn Hisham once threw the entrails of a sacrificed camel over him. Muhammad later told
Aisha: "I was between two bad neighbours, Abu Lahab and
Uqba ibn Abu Mu'ayt. They brought excrements and threw them before my door and they brought offensive material and threw it before my door." Muhammad said he came out of his house, saying: "O sons of Abdumanaf! Is it the behaviour of a neighbour?" and threw the rubbish away. On the 7th year of preaching Islam, the Quraysh imposed a boycott on Banu Hāshim and Banu Muṭṭalib and forced them to live in a mountain gorge outside the city. Most of the members of Banu Hāshim had not accepted Islam at that time. Yet they stood by Muḥammad and suffered as much as he did. Abu Lahab was the only member of Banu Hāshim who supported the boycott and did not join his clan. Through a deep sense of animosity, Abu Lahab violated this ‘Arab tradition and took the side of non-Muslim Quraysh clans. Abu Lahab renounced his affiliation with the Hashim clan and remained in Mecca. Soon afterwards, he met his sister-in-law,
Hind bint Utbah, and said to her, "Haven’t I helped
Al-Lat and
Al-Uzza, and haven’t I abandoned those who have abandoned them and assisted their opponents?" She replied, "Yes, and may god reward you well, O Abu Utba." == Between the Boycott and Badr (619–624) ==