Tafsir of Hud 11:82

"When Our command came"—meaning Our punishment, or the command for it. In the first case, the word is singular, its plural being al-umur; in the second, it is singular, its plural being al-awamir. It is said that the attribution of "coming" to it in both senses is metaphorical, the intended meaning being "when its occurrence was due." There is no need to posit the word "time" [before "command"], as the [verb] "came" is indicative of it. It is also said that it is implicit in the second interpretation—i.e., "the time of Our command came"—because the command itself had already been issued beforehand, and we are in no need of assuming repetition.

The interpretation of "command" as the singular of awamir (the opposite of prohibition) is preferred, as it is the primary root sense, being the verbal noun of amara. As for it being in the sense of "punishment," this removes it from its original verbal-noun usage and its common, prevalent meaning, rendering the "punishment" as a result caused by it, [as indicated] by His saying—Exalted is He—"We made their high part their low part." For this is the answer to "when" (lamma), and the punishment is the very act of inflicting it, so it is not fitting to make it a result of that, but rather the opposite is more appropriate—unless "coming" is interpreted as "His will."

The pronoun in "their high part... their low part" refers to the cities of the people of Lot, known from the context, which are the overturned cities (al-mu’tafikat). They are five cities: Mi'ah, Sughrah, 'Asrah, Duma, and Sodom. It is also said they were seven, the greatest of which was Sodom—the village in which Lot (peace be upon him) resided. According to what is narrated from Qatadah, there were four million people in it, or whatever number Allah the Exalted willed. Others said that this number applied to all the cities combined, while others said the number in the cities was much greater than that; and Allah the Exalted knows best.

"Their high part" and "their low part" are in the accusative case as the two objects of the verb "to make" (ja'alna). The meaning is: We overturned them into that state, which is making the high into the low. They were overturned in this way—and not the reverse—to inspire awe regarding the matter and to emphasize the gravity of the event; for making their "high part," which was their residence and dwelling, into their "low part," is more severe than making their "low part" their high part, even if it entails it.

It is narrated that Lot (peace be upon him) traveled by night with those who were with him before dawn, and Allah the Exalted folded the earth for him until he reached Abraham (peace be upon him). Then, Gabriel (peace be upon him) uprooted the cities with his hand—and in one narration, he inserted his wing beneath the cities and lifted them until the inhabitants of the heavens heard the crowing of the roosters and the barking of dogs—and then he overturned them. How great is the wisdom of Allah the Exalted in this overturning, which is the most similar thing to what they were upon, in terms of committing abominations and turning away from what sound nature demands!

It is not appropriate to interpret the speech as a metonymy for bringing down a great calamity upon them, as a person might say, "Today the world has been turned upside down for so-and-so," because that involves departing from the apparent meaning and veering away from what the reports have clearly stated, without any justification other than considering such an event unlikely; and it is not unlikely. The attribution of the "making" to His own pronoun—Exalted is He—is in consideration of Him being the Causer; it is a metaphorical attribution in terms of language, even if He—Exalted is He—is the True Agent. The point of this is to magnify the matter and inspire awe, for whatever the Exalted One undertakes is itself exalted. The pronoun of greatness (al-'azamah) also strengthens this.

On this same model is His saying—Exalted is He—"And We rained upon them stones of Sijjil." This means upon the cities, or the scattered individuals among their people. This was an increase in the atrocity of their state, or to cut off their roots and exterminate them. It is narrated that a man among them was in the Sacred Precinct (al-Haram), and a stone remained suspended in the air until he exited from it, then it fell upon him and destroyed him.

Sijjil is petrified clay, according to His saying—Exalted is He—in the other verse: "Stones of clay." The Quran interprets itself, and it is necessary to refer parts of it to others regarding the same story. This is [the word] sank in Persian, as Abd ibn Humayd narrated from Ibn Abbas and Mujahid. Abu Ubaydah said: Sijjil is like sijjin (hard) of stones. It is also said that it comes from asjaltuhu (I sent it forth), as in "I sent it" or "I poured out my gift." The meaning would be stones that are like the thing sent forth, or like a gift in its outpouring—and in this case, it is a mockery. It is also said it comes from al-sijill (with a doubled lam), which means a written decree; the meaning being that it is from what Allah the Exalted had written for them, that He would punish them with it. It is also said its root is Sijjin, which is a name for Hell or a valley within it, and its 'nun' was replaced with a 'lam'.

Abu al-Aliyah and Ibn Zayd said: Sijjil is a name for the lowest heaven. Abu Hayyan said: This is weak, because it is described by His saying—Exalted is He—"layered" (mandud)—meaning piled up, one placed upon another, prepared for their punishment, or layered in the dispatching, sent one after another like raindrops. It is not hidden that these meanings, just as they reject what Abu al-Aliyah and Ibn Zayd said, also reject—in appearance—the view that the intended meaning is Hell. Some have labored to explain this, saying: It is possible to describe Hell as such based on the first meaning, on the basis that it has levels, one above another, or that the original word "layered" is implicit. Some labor to explain it similarly to what Abu al-Aliyah and Ibn Zayd said. It is also possible that "layered" is an adjective for "stones," based on the interpretation of al-hajr (the stone), and it is genitive due to proximity [to the word Sijjil]; in this case, the matter is clear, though it is a position of great strain.