Surah Ash-Shu'ara: (160 - 175) The People of Lot...

Regarding His saying, the Exalted: {Do you approach males among the worlds?}

This phrase can be interpreted in two ways:

1. It refers back to the people being addressed (the addressees): Meaning, out of all the worlds/people, you have become singled out by this characteristic—approaching males.
2. It refers back to what is approached (the object): Meaning, you choose males from among the people instead of females.

Regarding His saying, the Exalted: {from among your wives}

This phrase can serve as an explanation of what God created (i.e., the permissible spouses) or as an indication of partiality (selecting only some of what was created). What was created refers to the permissible sexual partners among them (the women). It is as if they were also committing similar acts with their own wives.

The term 'Ādūn (transgressors) means those who exceed the limits in their wrongdoing. Its meaning here could be: Do you commit this great sin? Rather, you are a people who are transgressors in all sins, and this act is part of that general transgression. Or, it means: You are people deserving of being described as transgressors because you committed such an obscenity.

They said to him (Lot, peace be upon him): {If you do not desist, O Lot, we will surely expel you.} Meaning, you will be among those whom we expel from our town. Perhaps they used to expel those they expelled under the worst conditions.

Lot, peace be upon him, replied: {Indeed, I am, of those who detest your actions.} Al-Qālīn means intense hatred, a hatred that seems to "fry" the heart and liver. Saying {I am of those who detest} is more emphatic than saying, "I detest your actions." Just as saying, "So-and-so is among the scholars" is more emphatic than saying, "So-and-so is a scholar." It could also mean: I am among those who have perfected their detestation of your deeds.

Then the Exalted said: {So We saved him and his family}—meaning, We saved him and his family from the punishment of their deeds—{except for an old woman among those who remained behind.}

If one asks: Is {among those who remained behind} an adjective describing her, as if it means "except for an old woman who remained behind," even though remaining behind was not her state at the time of their salvation?

The answer is: It means an old woman whose remaining behind was decreed. It is said that she perished with those who remained in the town when stones rained down upon them.

Al-Qadi Abd al-Jabbar, in his Tafsir, mentioned concerning His saying, the Exalted: {And do you leave what your Lord has created for you of your wives?} that it indicates the invalidity of Jabr (predetermination/compulsion) in several ways:

1. The term "Do you leave" is only used when one has the power to do otherwise. Therefore, one is not told, "Why didn't you leave ascending to the sky?" as one is told, "Why didn't you leave entering or exiting?"
2. He said: {what your Lord has created for you}. If the creation of the action belonged solely to God, then what He created for them would be what He created in them and necessitated, not what they did not do.
3. His saying: {Rather, you are a transgressing people}. If God created within them what they were doing, how can they be attributed with transgression? Can one say to a black person, "You are transgressing in your color"?

The summary of these points reverts to the fact that if the servant were not the originator of his own actions, praise, blame, command, and prohibition directed toward him would be meaningless. This verse has a special significance in this regard, exceeding the commands, prohibitions, praise, and blame mentioned in the stories of Moses, Abraham, Noah, and others. Why was this story singled out with these arguments?

If these arguments prove the invalidity of compulsion, then the well-known argument remains. We respond to it with the two famous answers:

The First Answer: Since God Almighty knew these things would occur, their non-occurrence is impossible, because their non-occurrence implies that His knowledge turns into ignorance, which is impossible. That which leads to the impossible is impossible. If their non-occurrence is impossible, then commanding their abandonment is commanding the impossible.

The Second Answer: Since the capable being (God) is capable of opposites, it is impossible for one of the two possible things to be favored over the other except by a deciding factor (murajjiḥ), which is the incentive (dā'ī) or the will (irādah). This deciding factor is a newly created thing, so it has an agent. If that agent is the servant, it necessitates an infinite regress (tasalsul), which is impossible. If that agent is God, then that is Jabr (compulsion), according to your claim. Thus, by these two decisive proofs, the claims made are refuted. And God knows best.

The Seventh Story: The Story of Shu'ayb (Peace Be Upon Him)

{The companions of the thicket denied the messengers, when Shu'ayb said to them, "Will you not fear God? Indeed, I am to you a trustworthy messenger. So fear God and obey me. And I ask of you no reward for it. My reward is only from the Lord of the worlds. Give full measure and be not among those who cause loss. And weigh with an even balance. And do not deprive people of their things, and do not spread corruption in the land, acting as evildoers. And fear the One Who created you and the former generations." They said, "You are only one of those who are deluded. And you are nothing but a human being like us, and indeed, we think you are one of the liars. So cause a piece of the sky to fall upon us, if you are truthful." He said, "My Lord is most knowing of what you are doing." But they denied him, so the punishment of the Day of the Canopy seized them. Indeed, it was the punishment of a great Day. Indeed, in that is a sign, but most of them were not to be believers. And indeed, your Lord—He is the Exalted in Might, the Merciful.}