Why Wealth and Pride Led Abu Lahab to Hellfire

Allah subhanahaala tells us in the next verses of we have the description of a man that was one of the lead antagonists of our prophet sallall.aii Wasallam and his name was Alwi Mira. Alw was extremely wealthy. He was a very high ranking chieftain. He was considered the most wealthy man in Quraysh in Mecca in his time. And not only that, but he had some good qualities before Islam during the days of Jahyah. He was very just. He was very generous and he also had some ideals that reflected the true fra of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. for instance, he was known to have never drank, never dro never touched a drop of alcohol and viewed it as something that was deplorable, something that honorable people didn't engage in and didn't do. , and so he took care of the Kaa. He was one of the main contributors to the reconstruction of the Kaa. Not only that, but he used to cloak the Kaa and take care of the people that came to Hajj every single year. And so was not a monster. He wasn't a terrible evil villain. He was considered to be the best of the best of people before Islam. So much so that he anticipated that he was going to be the prophet. Yes. He thought he was going to be the prophet. Could you imagine somebody being so into themselves, so much hubris that they start to think that they are competing with the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam. This is very near insanity, right? And there were many you know more than a a few people when the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam was appointed by Allah as a messenger who fancied themselves more rightful to being a prophet than he was. And Muira had a lot of he had his fingers in a lot of pies as they say and he was an integral part of the Meccan society preIslnamic Meccan society and he felt that he should have been the prophet instead of the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions this in he mentions this in they said that if you are truly a prophet why didn't Allah send down the Quran to someone who's more rightful to prophethood than you are and this is What Allah mentioned in this was one of their arguments. Who were these people that they viewed were more rightful? Wellbi also from and from Mecca. He's the father of these were the nobility of Mecca. And so last night we discussed the the the ramifications of this and we mentioned a litmus test that we're supposed to test ourselves. How much of my ideas? How much of your ideas? How much of your opinions are actually your opinions? Would you have survived the propaganda machine of the mushri of Quraysh if you were around during that time? If you were around during that time and you grew up looking up to people Abu Jah and looking up to people like Abuahab and looking up to people Mu and looking up to people Ib and people like Khalif and Ib and others and they all collectively unite and turn against.

[Arabic recitation]

Would you have survived that propaganda? Would you have jumped on their bandwagon? Or do you have the strength of mind and strength of character to think for yourself? To think for yourself and to question authority. You grew up in Mecca looking up to these people. And these people now all point their finger unanimously and say that he is a liar, he is a madman, he is a poet, he is sick, he is a magician. Would you have survived it? It's the equivalent of today of all of the major news organizations turning against a person. If CNN and BBC and El Jazzer and Elam and NBC and C NBC, MSNBC and all of these groups and Twitter and Instagram and whatever else, if all of these liars would have gotten together and collaborated in telling every person and going out of their way to say, "This man is a liar. This man is a magician. This man is and pointing out the faults of every one of his followers. Look at the kind of people that are following him, right? People Ali, he's just a little boy or she's just a woman, right? orbel this loner, you know, Christian that, you know, for all intents and purposes, I mean, he's intelligent, but he's an old decrepit man who can't even see anymore, right? His followers are a bunch of slaves and would you have survived it? Would you survive that today? What makes you angry? Where do you get your anger from? Do you get it from the book of Allah and the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam or do you get it from Al Jazz on NBC? Where do you get it from? This is something that you have to ask yourself because the easiest thing to consolidate power is people's outrage and anger. Think about the last major cause you were outraged about. Where did you get that from? Whether domestic or international. If I say to you right now, who is the worst man to live in the past 100 years? Who just came into your mind? Not what you would say. I'm asking who just popped into your mind right now. What name? What character? What villain? Where did you get that from? Who taught you that? Right? These are the questions that we have to ask ourselves because propaganda is one of the strongest tools that a shan uses. Until today, every day the prophet sallall.aii said, he said, "Whomever Allah desires good for, he will give him enemies from amongst humanity. He will turn people against him." Not good people, bad people, not people of knowledge, people of ignorance. He will have enemies that will antagonize him. Why? Because an enemy is more beneficial to a hero than a friend. The prophets and messengers, they were all promised an enemy. But not all of them had friends. Not all of them had followers. Some of them will come on the day of judgment having no one accepted their da'wah. However, every one of them has an enemy as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said. Why? because things only come full circle and are clear in their entirety when their opposite is introduced. We only appreciate sun sunshine because of rainy days. We only appreciate comfort because of discomfort. We only appreciate day because of night. And we only understanded because of our understanding of shik and superstition. We only appreciate and understand fully the prophets and messengers because we are introduced to their opposites and their opposition. And so this question of who thinks for you, we're not speaking about taking and trusting the opinion of people who are trustworthy and and qualified. That's not what we're speaking about. So for instance, when I get on a plane, I trust the pilot. I trust the pilot. I trust thee. Does this mean I don't think for myself? No. I have to trust this person. But when we say, "Do you think for yourself?" Do you get your outrage and your love and hate and friend and foe from the Quran or do you get it from elsewhere? What we mean by this is something that you are able to think for yourself for yet in spite of that you allow someone else to do it for you. You hand over your free will and your intellect and you allow someone else to use you as a vessel for his or her ideologies or opinions. How many of your enemies are not really your personal enemies? They're the enemies of your friends. They were people that you were told to dislike. How many of your friends are not people that you particularly but you were told to them? You were told to accept them. This was the scene in the time of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam in Mecca. Now when we look at those first verses that were revealed in surah regarding him Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then speaks about a very specific incident that occurred with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us of the moment he chose to go to the hellfire. Allah tells us about the moment he chose to go to hell and to reject the prophet sallall.aii wasallam and it wasn't because he truly believed that he was not a prophet that's not why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said for.

[Silence]

These verses were revealed regarding the moment when the propaganda machine of the Mushrien started and began to rumble and began to steamroll over the salvation of the people of Mecca and their followers. Inb tells us that once the prophet sallam was reciting the Quran to some people in Mecca and one of those people was he sat and he listened to the Quran. He listened to it being recited and he was so mesmerized, so captivated, so enthralled by the Quran and its verses. So much so that the people of Mecca started to whisper that Ali is going to become Muslim and Abu Jah couldn't have that. And it was true. He was very near to accepting Islam. And so Abu Jahel, Abu Jahel is Alwi Mu's nephew. So Abu Jahel, his uncle is Ali Mu. He said, "Guys, don't worry about it. Let me take care of my uncle. I'll deal with it." So he went to his uncle and his uncle was a very proud man. He was very proud of his riches. We said he was the most wealthy person in Mecca, right? And that was a s that wasn't just a source of pride for him. That was his identity. He was the rich man, the wealthy man. And that's what that's what really gave him his identity and and sense of selfworth. So Abu Jahi knew exactly which button to push. He came to and he said uncle I am you know he he expressed that he wasn't feeling very good. He had something on his mind. And so Elw said you know what's what's going on nephew? He said in in so many words, obviously I'm paraphrasing. He said, "The people of Mecca, you know, the chieftains, , we were just talking and we are thinking about pulling some money together to give you a stipend because you've gotten so old and you seem to be in need of money." And so W immediately said, He said knows that I am the most wealthy man amongst them. What do you mean give me money? You're going to pull money together. He said, "Yeah, you know, they're saying you're so old now." Of course, he was in his 80s when this took place because died at the ripe old age of 95 years old, 3 months after hijah. So he was in his 80s when the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was appointed a prophet and messenger. So he said, "Yeah, they're saying that you're old now. You can't get around as you used to. They want to pull pull some money together and you know take care of you." He said, "How dare you even suggest such a thing? Why are they saying that?" He said, 'Well, you know, some people saw you sit in with Muhammad, and it seems they think you're being attracted to him because of some money that you'll get from him. And he said, "Absolutely not." And so Abu Jahan said, "Listen, well to clear this up, you should really say something absolute regarding Muhammad and cut all your ties with him 100%. State your position in no uncertain terms so that people, you know, will stop with these rumors." And so this is the incident when that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks about in these verses regarding and the propaganda that he started to turn out and he started to coordinate with the other chieftains of Mecca especially during Hajj season. We will discuss that tomorrow night inshallah.

[Silence]

Allah Subhanahu Allah Subhanahua Alhamdulillah.