Tafsir of Hud 11:77

It is narrated from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with both of them) that they set out from [the presence of] Ibrahim (peace be upon him). There were four farsakhs between the two villages. They entered upon him in the form of beardless youths with beautiful faces. For that reason, he was troubled by them—meaning their arrival caused him distress because he assumed they were [mortal] men, and he feared that his people would target them, leaving him unable to defend them. It is said there were eight miles between the two villages, and they arrived at nightfall, though it is also said they arrived at midday and found Lut on his farmland.

It is also said that they found a daughter of his drawing water from the river of Sodom, which was the greatest place of residence for the people. They asked her to direct them to someone who would host them. She saw their appearance and feared for them from her father’s people, so she said to them, "Stay where you are," and went to her father and informed him. He came out to them, and they said, "We wish for you to host us tonight." He replied, "Have you not heard of the deeds of this people?" They said, "And what is their deed?" He answered, "I bear witness by Allah the Exalted that they are the worst people on earth."

Allah the Exalted had said to the angels, "Do not punish them until Lut testifies against them four times." When he said this, Jibril (peace be upon him) said, "This is the first." This exchange was repeated until Lut repeated his testimony, and thus the four [witnessings] were completed. Then he entered the city, and they entered his house with him.

{And he was straitened for them}—that is, in his ability and effort. The term dhara’ is originally a verbal noun relating to a camel stretching out its forelimbs while walking, derived from the dhirā' (the well-known limb). It was then used metaphorically to denote capacity and strength, just as the hand is used metaphorically to signify power. In Al-Sihah, it is said: "I was straitened (diqtu) for the matter dhara'an" means you could not endure it or find strength for it. The root of dhar' is the extending of the hand, as if to say, "I stretched my hand toward it but could not reach it." Sometimes they say, "I was straitened for it dhirā'an." Humayd ibn Thawr said, describing a wolf: "And if it spent a night hungry, it was not straitened (dhirā'an) by it, nor did it awaken humble because of it."

In Al-Kashshaf, it is noted that the Arabs used "narrowness of dhirā' or dhar' to express the lack of ability, just as they said, "wide of dhirā' for such-and-such" when one is capable of it. The origin is that if a man has long arms, he reaches what one with short arms cannot reach; thus, it became a proverb for incapacity and capability. Its accusative case is because it is a tamyīz (specification) transformed from the agent, meaning: "His dhar' (capacity) was straitened by their affair and their state."

It is also suggested that dhar' is a metonymy for the chest or the heart, and its narrowness is a metonymy for the extreme contraction [of the heart] due to the inability to repel the evil or devise a stratagem against it. According to some, this is a metonymy branching off from another well-known metonymy. Others suggested it is a metaphor, as the literal meaning is not intended here. Some have gone to great lengths in interpreting this phrasing, concluding that it means his physical capacity could not bear what had occurred.

{And he said, "This is a difficult day."}—meaning intense. Its origin is from al-'asb, which means binding or tightening, as if, due to the intensity of its evil, it binds things together. Abu Ubaydah said: It is so named because it "binds" (ya'sibu) people with evil. A rajaz poet said: "A difficult day that binds the heroes, As strong, long ropes bind." Similar in meaning are the words 'asbasab and 'ususub.