In sum, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ persisted in calling people to Allah—night and day, in secret and in public. Nothing could divert him from his mission, nothing could turn him back, and nothing could block his way. He would follow people to their clubs, gatherings, and assemblies, during the trade seasons and at the pilgrimage stations, inviting everyone he met—free and slave, weak and strong, rich and poor. All human beings were equal in his eyes when it came to this call.

The powerful idolaters of Quraysh vented verbal and physical abuse upon him and upon the handful of weak followers who believed in him. The harshest of them was his uncle Abū Lahab—whose personal name was ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib—and Abū Lahab’s wife, Umm Jamīl Arwā bint Ḥarb ibn Umayyah, the sister of Abū Sufyān.

By contrast, another uncle, Abū Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, took the Prophet’s side. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was naturally the dearest of all people to him. He cared for him, treated him kindly, defended him, and stood against his own clan for his sake, even though he himself remained on their religion and their way. Allah, exalted is He, tried Abū Ṭālib’s heart with a natural, familial love rather than a faith-based love. His persistence in the religion of his people was part of Allah’s wisdom and a means of protecting His Messenger; for had Abū Ṭālib embraced Islam, he would have lost all standing with Quraysh, and they would no longer have feared or respected him. They would then have dared to extend their hands and tongues in harm against the Prophet. Yet your Lord creates what He wills and chooses.

Of the various kinds of people Allah has decreed, these two uncles were disbelievers—Abū Ṭālib and Abū Lahab. In the Hereafter, however, Abū Ṭālib will be placed in a shallow part of the Fire, while Abū Lahab will be in the lowest depths. Concerning Abū Lahab, Allah revealed a sūrah in His Book—recited from pulpits and read in sermons—affirming that he will “enter a fire of blazing flame,” and that his wife will be “the carrier of firewood.”

Imām Aḥmad said: Ibrāhīm ibn Abī al-ʿAbbās narrated to us, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī al-Zinād related to us from his father, who said: A man named Rabīʿah ibn ʿIbād of Banū al-Dīl—who had lived in the pre-Islamic era and later accepted Islam—told me: “I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the Days of Ignorance at the marketplace of Dhū al-Majāz, proclaiming, ‘O people, say: There is no god but Allah, and you will prosper!’ The people crowded around him, and behind him was a handsome, light-skinned, cross-eyed man with two braids saying, ‘He is an apostate liar!’ and shadowing him wherever he went. I asked about him—[they informed me of the Messenger of Allah’s lineage]—and they said, ‘That is his uncle Abū Lahab.’”