’Abasa (Surah 80)

Introduction

In a ḥadîth collected by At-Tirmiⱬi, a blind man by the name of ’Abdullâh ibn Um Maktûm, an early Muslim, came to the Prophet (ﷺ) seeking to learn more about the faith, while the Prophet (ﷺ) was in the middle of a discussion with an elite Meccan pagan, trying to convince him to abandon his idols and believe in the One True God. ’Abdullâh was so impatient that he interrupted the discussion several times. The Prophet (ﷺ) frowned and turned all his attention to the man he was already talking to. This Meccan sûrah was later revealed, telling the Prophet (ﷺ) that he should have tended to the faithful man who was eager to learn. After this sûrah was revealed, the Prophet (ﷺ) would honour ’Abdullâh, calling him ‘the man for whom my Lord rebuked me.’ He (ﷺ) even appointed him several times as his deputy over Medina. The sûrah calls upon the ungrateful disbelievers to reflect on how Allah produces plants out of the earth to realize how He can bring the dead out of their graves. The description of the horrors of the apocalypse is carried over to the next sûrah. In the Name of Allah—the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful