Tafsir of Al-Anbiya' 21:74

"And Lot" — it is said that it is in the accusative case, governed by an implied verb explained by His saying, "We gave him," meaning: "And We gave Lot." The sentence is a conjunction to "We bestowed upon him." The Glorified One grouped Abraham and Lot together in His saying, "And We saved him and Lot," then He explained the blessings bestowed upon each of them specifically, and what occurred in between is an explanation in a general sense. Al-Tabarsi held that the intended meaning of His saying, "And all [of them] We made," etc.—meaning all of Abraham and his two sons, Isaac and Jacob, We made [them leaders]—therefore, Lot, peace be upon him, is not included there, and this has its own justification. As for the claim that the intention is "all of Isaac and Jacob," there is no basis for it, and it would require laborious effort to justify the plural form that follows it. It is also said that "Remember" is the implied verb, and the sentence "We gave him" is a commencement.

"Judgment" — meaning wisdom, and what is intended by it is what must be done, or prophethood, for the prophet is a ruler over his nation, or the ability to arbitrate between disputants in judicial matters. It is also said that it refers to the preservation of the scrolls of Abraham, peace be upon him, but this is far-fetched.

"And knowledge" — of what prophets, peace be upon them, ought to know.

"And We saved him from the city that used to commit abominations" — it is said this means sodomy, and the use of the plural is due to the multiplicity of the instances. It is also said that the intended meaning is evil deeds in general, though the most heinous of them is sodomy. Ishaq bin Bishir, al-Khatib, and Ibn Asakir recorded from al-Hasan that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "There are ten traits for which the people of Lot were destroyed: men approaching one another, throwing pellets (with slingshots), playing games with dice, keeping pigeons, beating tambourines, drinking wine, trimming the beard, lengthening the mustache, whistling, clapping, and wearing silk. My nation will add one more to this: women approaching one another."

The action is attributed to the city by omitting the possessor and replacing him with the possessive (the people of the city), so it is an attributive adjective of cause, like the phrase "a man came to me whose servant committed adultery." If the attribution is considered metaphorical without supposition, or if the "city" is used metaphorically to mean its inhabitants, it is permissible. The name of the city was Sodom. It is said that their cities were seven, and the singular was used to refer to them because it was the most famous. In al-Bahr, it is mentioned that it was expressed in the singular because all its people were in agreement upon the abomination. It is narrated that it was turned over, except for al-Zughar, because it was the place of those who believed in Lot, peace be upon him, though the well-known view is that all of them were overturned.

"Indeed, they were a people of evil, disobedient" — meaning they were outside of obedience, not submissive to Lot, peace be upon him. The sentence is an explanation for "used to commit abominations." It is also said to be an explanation for "We saved him," and this, as you can see, is [less sound].