Ihyaaud Deen An Effort to Revive Deen in Totality
Abu Lahab was his title. His name was ‘Abdul ‘Uzza bin ‘Abdil Muttalib. He was the uncle of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) (the brother of Rasulullah’s (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) father).
In the very beginning, when Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) assembled the Quraish to preach the message of Islam to them, Abu Lahab was the first person to reject him saying:
تبا لك سائر اليوم ألهذا جمعتنا
May Allah destroy you! Did you assemble us here for this?
It was after this incident that Surah Lahab was revealed.
Since Abu Lahab was extremely wealthy, whenever he was warned about the punishment of Allah Ta‘ala, he would say, “If my nephew is true in his message, I will save myself from the punishment of the Day of Qiyaamah by paying money and giving my children in ransom.” The verse “Neither his wealth nor his earnings will avail him from the punishment” is referring to this statement of Abu Lahab.
(Extracted from Seeratul Mustafa 1/212)
