Tafsir of Al-Hijr 15:65

(So set out with your family): This begins the arrangement of the means of salvation, meaning: depart with them during the night.

The two Hijazi readers read it with a wasl (connecting the letter hamza), taking it from sara (to travel) rather than asra (to cause to travel), as is the reading of the majority. Both are synonymous according to Abu Ubaydah, meaning night travel. Al-Layth said: "It is said asra in traveling at the beginning of the night, and sara at the end of it." The author of Al-Iqlid narrated fa-sir (so travel) from sara, and Ibn Atiyyah and the author of Al-Lawamih reported it from al-Yamani, which is a general term. It is also said that it is specific to daytime travel and is not an inverted form of sara.

(By a portion of the night): With a group of it, or from its latter part. From this is the saying: "Open the door and look at the stars; how much of a pitch-black night’s portion remains for us?" It is also said: it is after a significant part of it has passed. There is emphasis or tajrid (abstraction) in the statement according to the reading of the group as stated, and according to the reading sir (travel), there is none of that. This will have a supplement, if Allah Almighty wills. Mundhir ibn Sa’id narrated that a group read it as bi-qata’in (with a fatha on the ta).

(And follow their backs): Be in their tracks, driving them, speeding them up, and overseeing their states. Perhaps the preference for itba’ (following) over sawq (driving)—even though driving is what is intended by the command—is for the sake of hyperbole. For sawq might involve being in front of some while being behind others, which usually necessitates negligence of the state of those behind, and the iltifat (looking back) which is forbidden by His saying: (And let not any of you look back)—meaning: none of you—is forbidden. Or perhaps the meaning is: none of you should turn away or lag behind for a purpose, for then the punishment will befall him. Thus, "looking back" is a metaphor, because looking toward a thing requires loving it and not parting from it, so one would lag behind because of it.

Jarallah mentioned that when Allah Almighty sent destruction upon his (Lot’s) people and saved him and his family in response to his prayer against them, and he left as an emigrant, there was no alternative for him but to strive in thanking Allah Almighty, maintaining His remembrance, and clearing his mind for that. Thus, he was commanded to place them in front so that his heart would not be occupied with those behind him, and to be in charge of them and their states so that no look of hesitation or other slips might escape them during that horrifying, dreaded situation, and so that none of them would lag behind for a purpose and be struck by the punishment. It was also so that his journey would be the journey of a fugitive who places his dependents ahead and escapes with them. They were forbidden from looking back so that they would not see what was descending upon their people and thus feel pity for them, and so that they might reconcile their souls to emigration, be content with leaving their dwellings, and move forward without looking back at what is behind them, like one who laments the departure from his homeland and constantly turns his neck toward it. Or, the prohibition of looking back is a metonymy for maintaining the journey and abandoning hesitation and stopping, because whoever looks back must necessarily have a slight pause.

The researcher said: The summary of this is that the benefit of the command and the prohibition is for him—upon him be peace—and his family to emigrate in a manner that enables them to gird themselves for the remembrance of Allah Almighty and dedicate themselves to thanking Him. In this, there is also guidance toward what is more prudent for travel, the etiquette of the traveler, what is incumbent upon the leader and the led therein, and an alert to the nature of true travel—that it is more deserving of cutting off obstacles and prioritizing attachments. It is an indication that turning completely toward Allah Almighty is sincerity. How excellent is the Revelation and its countless subtleties!

You know that the notion that the benefit of the emigration is that it enables one to gird oneself for the remembrance of Allah Almighty and dedicate oneself to His thanks is not readily apparent, as is not hidden. Perhaps for this reason, some who abridged his book omitted it. Allah did not exclude the wife from the departure or the prohibition of looking back, as it is sufficient to have mentioned it in another place, and such things are not novel in the Revelation.

(And go where you are commanded): It is said: meaning to where Allah Almighty commands you to go, which is Syria, as narrated from Ibn Abbas and al-Suddi. It is also said: Egypt, or Jordan, or an unspecified place of salvation. Thus, imdu (go) is transitive to haythu (where), and tu’maruna (you are commanded) is transitive to the omitted pronoun based on linguistic expansion (ittisa’).

This was objected to, noting that this is accepted in the transitivity of tu’maruna to haythu, for its link—the ba (in bihi)—is omitted, as the original is tu’maruna bihi (you are commanded to it, i.e., to go). Thus, it was connected directly. As for the transitivity of imdu to haythu, there is no ittisa’ in it; rather, it is on the original construction because it (the verb) is among the vague nouns of place, unless what was mentioned is considered a generalization (taghlib). It was replied that the connection of haythu to the verb here is not the connection of a circumstantial adverb so that it would be acceptable for the verb to be transitive to it directly by virtue of it being a vague adverb; rather, it is an indirect object, like surtu ila al-kufa (I traveled to Kufa). Grammarians have stipulated that it can be treated as such, so the omitted element is not in imdu but rather ila (to), and thus there is no problem.

It is mentioned in Arabic books that the origin of haythu is to be a locative adverb, and it rarely refers to time according to al-Akhfash. It is generally not used except as an adverb. It is rare for it to be governed by the ba (preposition) or ila or fi. Ibn Malik said: Its variation (grammatically) is rare.

The objection to what the responder mentioned is that even if it resolves the problem of transitivity, it is incorrect because they have stated that no pronoun from the sentence to which it is attached returns to the antecedent. Najm al-A’imma said: Know that the adverb attached to a sentence, since it is an adverb for the masdar (verbal noun) contained in the sentence, it is not permissible for a pronoun to return to it from the sentence. Haythu, as they mentioned, generally necessitates attachment to a sentence, and its attachment to a verbal sentence is more frequent. And it is stated that haythu cannot be a subject or an object.

The appearance of haythu here is that it is a vague locative adverb to which imdu is transitive directly. It appears that the connection of the verb to it—as the responder said—is not the connection of an adverb. Perhaps this is based on implying a verb suitable for the adverb to connect to, such as hulul (settling) or tawattan (taking up residence). It is narrated from some that haythu here is a temporal adverb, meaning "go when you were commanded." This command refers to what preceded: "So set out with your family by a portion of the night." This was countered by the fact that the apparent phrasing would be umirtum (you were commanded) rather than tu’maruna (you are being commanded), and furthermore, it involves using haythu in its least frequent meaning without necessity. The apparent meaning of some prominent scholars is that the imperfect tense is used in the place of the past tense for the meaning alluded to first, which necessitates a prior command to move to a place. If so, then the imperfect form is to visualize the scene, and preferring "moving toward it" (as some say) rather than "reaching it and joining it" is to signal the importance of salvation and to observe the harmony between him and the preceding mentioned (the destroyed nations).