Abu Lahab
أبو لهب
c. 560 CE – 624 CE · 2 AH† †
† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.
An uncle of the Prophet who became one of his most vocal opponents in Mecca, alongside his wife Umm Jamil — the household singled out in Qur'an 111.
At a glance
- Roles
- Politician
- Era
- The Prophetic Era
- Region
- Arabia
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
In time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Anti-Muslim hatredFamily, marriage and kinship
Place in the story
- Family of the ProphetHistorical
- OpponenttowardMuhammad · c. 613 CEHistorical
- PersecutortowardThe early Muslim community · c. 613 CE – 622 CE · 1 BH†Tradition
Arabian polytheism (documented)
How others named them
- “Abu Lahab ('Father of Flame')” — usage in the sira tradition, possibly from a striking complexion
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Brief
Abu Lahab — Abd al-Uzza ibn Abd al-Muttalib — was an uncle of the Prophet who turned against him in public, with his wife Umm Jamil. The tradition preserves their hostility so vividly that sura 111 names them.
Life
A son of Abd al-Muttalib and brother of Abu Talib, Abu Lahab was close enough to the Prophet to be personally singled out: the sira records him following Muhammad through Mecca's markets, telling the crowds not to listen 1. During the boycott he sided against his own clan.
The Qur'an's sura 111 — read by all commentators as about him and his wife — is the only chapter of the book devoted to an opponent 1. He died of disease shortly after Badr, which the tradition reads as the sura's fulfillment 1.
Legacy
His story is the museum's sharpest case of the family's own divide: a nephew preaching, an uncle renouncing, in the same house of Banu Hashim.
For young visitors
The Prophet's own uncle stood against him — and the Qur'an has a whole chapter about him. Families don't always agree.
Connections
- Born in
- Mecca
- Died in
- Mecca
- Child of
- Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim
- Sibling of
- Abu Talib ibn Abd al-MuttalibArwa bint Abd al-Muttalib
- Spouse of
- Umm Jamil
- Member of
- Banu HashimQuraysh
- Mentioned in
- Qur'an 111:1
- Participated in
- The boycott of the Banu HashimAbu Talib gathers Banu Hashim and Banu al-MuttalibThe call to the nearest kinThe departure night of the HijraThe persecution of the vulnerable MuslimsThe proclamation on al-Safaal-Walid's council on how to brand the Prophet
- Parent of
- Durra bint Abi Lahab
People and things also explored
MeccaBanu HashimAbu Talib ibn Abd al-MuttalibMuhammadThe Prophetic EraAbd al-Muttalib ibn HashimQurayshAbu Jahl (Amr ibn Hisham)
Sources
- Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)
- Ibn Ishaq / Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (1955)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Abu Lahab”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/abu-lahab/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.