Getting to Know Allah - Legacy Edition

Book excerpt: ""111:1-5 Perish the hands of Abu Lahab, and may he perish too; neither his wealth nor what he has earned will avail him anything. He will roast in a flaming fire, and his wife will be a carrier of fire-wood, she shall have a rope of fibre around her neck."" The phrase ""In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful"" launches 112 of the 114 chapters of the Koran. If compassionate is defined as being aware of the suffering of an other and wishing to relieve it, and merciful as being unconditionally kind and forgiving, then these are not the qualities we would associate with the Author of verses about roasting a man over an open fire, with his wife, tethered like an animal, supplying the firewood fueling the flame that is burning her husband. Does it matter that Abu Lahab and his wife did not hide their disdain for the Prophet Muhammad and his new religion? It matters to Allah, and what matters to Allah is what Getting to Know Allah is all about.