Notes

Abu lahab converting would've proven Qur'an false? Claim

The claim:
The quran said that Abu lahab will go to hell. He could've just accepted islam and denied the prophecy but he didn't.

Our response:
Let's say that Abu Lahab had declared his conversion to Islam, would that have completely destroyed the credibility of the Qur'an and made Muhammad appear to his companions as a liar and so it can be said that the surah is indeed a great risk to him?

We say absolutely no because this matter wouldn't have undermined the credibility of Muhammad in the eyes of his followers in any way. Rather, if Abu Lahab had repented and believed, there would've been a gazillion ways and means for Muslims and Muhammad himself to avoid embarrassment and escape from such a predicament, and so I will list here some of those means:

1: If Abu Lahab had announced his conversion to Islam, Muslims could re-interpret the surah, then Muslims would be able to respond with the following answer, for example: “The verse actually says that Abu Lahab (will burn in Hell), but it didn't say that he will perpetuate in Hellfire a big difference! Therefore, Abu Lahab will indeed enter Hell for a temporary period, but in the end he will return to Paradise with the rest of the believers.”

2: If Abu Lahab had announced his repentance, Muhammad could've rejected it, or accused him of lying. We note that Surat Al-Masd didn't mention that Abu Lahab would never declare his conversion to Islam throughout his life, but rather said that he would enter Hell, so will everyone who declared his conversion to Islam necessarily escape from fire? No, it's not a condition, but there are two main exceptions to this according to Islamic thought: the first is for a person to become Muslim after what is called “the gate of repentance has been closed,” and the second is to consider a person a hypocrite, that is, he declared faith only with his tongue, but he is an infidel inside - in these two cases a person can be put in the fire even if he declares his conversion to Islam. So if Abu Lahab had declared his conversion to Islam, Muhammad could easily - to avoid embarrassment - continue to say that he was in Hell by classifying him in one of these two classifications - and thus the verse remains true! We have realistic examples of such, including Pharaoh Moses, who repented but his repentance was not accepted, and among them are the hypocrites in Medina such as Abdullah bin Abi Salul and others who were outspoken in Islam, but with that, the Qur’an considered them to be hypocrites at heart and placed them in the lowest pit of Hell.