Surah Al-Lahab (or also known as Surah Al-Masad) is one of the short Surah that I memorized for the first time and is also the most frequently read during prayer.
During this time, I read this Surah without exploring its meaning specifically. Well, from his interpretation I know that this letter tells about how unfortunate Abu Lahab, one of the uncles of the Prophet Muhammad, PBUH, because of his kufr, Allah sentenced him (and his wife) to go to hell, at that time, that was my only understanding of this Surah.
I was very amazed when I heard one of Dr. Zakir Naik’s lectures about this letter. Dr Zakir Naik interpret this Surah as one proof of the truth of the Qur’an. How so?
In the world of science, there is a standard method for proving the truth of a scientific theory, namely by providing a way to determine the theory’s errors. This is called a “falsification test” (can be interpreted as an error test or falsification test).
For example, when Albert Einstein came up with the theory of General Relativity (1915), that space and time are a unity and gravity is a manifestation of the curvature of space and time.
Einstein predicted that, based on his theory, the star’s light would be deflected by the shape of spacetime of a mass. Even in detail, Einstein calculated the bending of starlight around the sun is about 1.74 arc seconds.
In this way, it can be said that Einstein challenged the scientific community to prove the truth (or the error of his theory). Einstein seems to say, “this is my opinion about how the universe works, and please test it this way if my theory is wrong.”
And many scientists were provoked to prove the truth of the General Relativity theory, one of which was done by Eddington and Dyson, they measured the deflection of starlight in the Hyades cluster during the Total Solar Eclipse in 1919, and the results turned out to be very close to Einstein’s predictions.
The world immediately cheered, the news about Einstein filled all the leading newspapers at the time.
Back to the Surah Al-Lahab, according to Dr. Zakir Naik, in the Qur’an there are several verses that can be seen as such “falsification tests”, one of which is Al-Lahab’s letter.
(Of course we cannot equate the Qur’an with any scientific theory, because the theory is impermanent, a scientific theory is considered valid only as long as there is no evidence to suggest otherwise)
This Surah was revealed about 10 years before Abu Lahab died in the Battle of Badr, meaning there was quite a long time actually for Abu Lahab to prove the errors of the Qur’an.
If if Abu Lahab declared his Islam, or just pretended to convert to Islam, then the Qur’anic verse would be proven wrong !!
Only need one proof of the Qur’anic verse is false then it is enough to destroy Islam as a whole.
It is very interesting to see it from this point of view. Why did Abu Lahab, or the leader of the Quraysh who hated Islam so much at that time not see this verse as a simple way to stop the preaching of the Prophet?
This proves that the one who revealed the Qur’an is Allah, the Lord of Hosts, the All-knowing God, that Abu Lahab will die in disbelief, and make this Surah a guide for all humankind.
Subhanallah, the Most Holy of Allah, the Most True of Allah with all His words
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