Umm Jamil bint Harb

Umm Jamīl bint Ḥarb was the wife of Abū Lahab and sister of Abū Sufyān. She was one of the most active opponents of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. Allah cursed her by role in Sūrat al-Lahab: وَامْرَأَتُهُ حَمَّالَةَ الْحَطَبِ, 'And his wife, the carrier of firewood.' The ḥaṭab (firewood) refers both to her literal act of carrying thorns and placing them in the path of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم at night to harm him, and as a metaphor for the fuel she added to the fire of persecution. فِي جِيدِهَا حَبْلٌ مِّن مَّسَدٍ, 'Around her neck a rope of palm-fiber', a description of how she will be in the fire of Hell. She was not only the wife of the Prophet's صلى الله عليه وسلم enemy but an active, independent persecutor herself.