ﱥ ﱦ ﱧ ﱨ ﱩ ﱪ ﱫ ﱬ ﱭ ﱮ ﱯ ﱰ ﱱ ﱲ ﱳ ﱴ ﱵ ﱶ ﱷ ﱸ ﱹ ﱺ ﱻ ﱼ
And when Our messengers came to Lot, he was distressed for them and felt for them great discomfort. They said, "Fear not, nor grieve. Indeed, we will save you and your family, except your wife; she is to be of those who remain behind.
Tafsir
Verse range: 29:33-35
And when Our messengers came to Lot, they were brought in the form of men. He became distressed and felt constrained on their account, for he said, "This is a grievous day for you."
Then they came to him from Abraham to Lot in the form of human beings. So he thought they were human and feared for them from his people, because they were of the most beautiful human forms God created, and the people, as you know their condition, **were distressed by him** (i.e., what saddened him came to him), and he feared for them. Then he became incapable of managing their situation, so he grieved and became tight-chested concerning them, which is a metaphor for helplessness in managing their affair.
Al-Zamakhshari said: It is said, "His *dhir'a* (forearm/reach) lengthened" for the capable person, and "it became constricted" for the incapable. This is because one whose *dhir'a* is long can reach what the short-armed cannot.
The usage also admits a rational meaning other than that, which is that fear and grief necessitate the contraction of the spirit, followed by the heart encompassing it, so the heart contracts as well. The heart is what is considered of a human being. Thus, the human contracts and draws inward, and what is like that has its *dhir'a* and space diminished, so it becomes constricted. It is said of the grieving person, "His *dhir'a* constricted." Anger and joy necessitate the expansion of the spirit, so its place—the heart—expands, and it is said, **Page V25 P054** "His *dhir'a* expanded."
Then, when the angels saw his fear at first and his grief concerning their affair later, they said, "Do not fear for us, nor grieve concerning us." They mentioned what necessitates the removal of his fear and grief, for merely saying, "Do not fear," does not necessitate the removal of fear. So they said, alluding to their state: **{Indeed, we will save you and your family}**, and "We will send down the punishment upon them," until it became clear to him that they were angels, so his reach would lengthen and his terror would vanish.
In the verse are several issues:
**The First Issue:** Previously, the Almighty said: **{And when Our messengers came to Abraham}** (Al-Ankabut: 31), but here He says: **{And when *an* came to Our messengers}**. What is the wisdom behind this?
We say: There is a profound wisdom. What occurred at the time of arrival in the previous instance (with Abraham) was the angels' statement, **{We are...}**, which was not immediately connected to their arrival, because they first gave him glad tidings and then paused, before saying, "We are destroying..." Furthermore, pausing and lingering after arrival, and *then* announcing destruction, is appropriate. One who arrives bearing terrible news should not deliver it abruptly.
What occurred here is Lot's fear for them. A believer, upon sensing harm reaching an innocent party, should grieve and fear for them immediately, without delay, once he knows. Knowing this, His statement here, **{And when *an* came to Our messengers}**, implies immediacy—meaning he feared upon their arrival.
If you object, saying this is contradicted by the account in Surah Hud, where it says: **{And when Our messengers came to Lot}** without *an*, we reply: The account of Abraham there is phrased differently: **{And indeed Our messengers came to Abraham with good tidings}**. Thus, His statement there, **{And indeed Our messengers came}**, does not imply that their statement **{We have been sent}** occurred at the moment of arrival. His statement **{And when Our messengers came to Lot, he was distressed by them}** indicates that his grief occurred at the time of arrival.
Knowing this, we say: There (with Abraham), the purpose implied by **{And indeed Our messengers came to Abraham with good tidings}** was achieved, followed by discussions and offering food. Then they said, **{Do not fear, nor grieve, {We are sent to the people of Lot}}**, thus delaying the warning. But in Lot's account, **{And when Our messengers came}** clarifies the immediacy of the grief. As for here, when He mentioned the story of Abraham with **{And when Our messengers came}**, He mentioned Lot's story with **{And when *an* came to Our messengers}** due to the benefit we mentioned.
**The Second Issue:** Here He says: **{Indeed, We will save you and your family}** (using the future tense verb), but for Abraham, He said: **{We will surely save him}** (using the emphatic future tense). Is there a benefit in this?
We say: There is no letter or vowel mark in the Qur'an without a benefit. Human intellects grasp some of these benefits but cannot reach most of them. What has been given to mankind is but a little knowledge. What appears to the weak intellect is that there (with Abraham), when he told them, **{Indeed, Lot is among them}**, they promised him salvation, and the promise of the Generous One is binding. Here, when they spoke to Lot, and this occurred after a prior promise, they said: **{Indeed, We will save you}**, meaning that this is an established fact from Us, like His saying: **{Indeed, you are to die}** (Az-Zumar: 30), due to the necessity of its occurrence.
**The Third Issue:** The statement **{Do not fear, nor grieve}** seems inconsistent with **{Indeed, We will save you}**, since his fear was not for himself.
We say: There is an extremely beautiful correspondence between them. When Lot feared for them and grieved because of them, they told him, "Do not fear for us, nor grieve for our sake, for indeed we are angels." Then they told him: "O Lot, you feared for us and grieved for our sake. So, in exchange for your fear at the time of fear, we remove your fear and save you. And in exchange for your grief, we remove your grief and will not let you be afflicted by the loss of your family." Therefore, they said: **{Indeed, We will save you and your family}**.
**The Fourth Issue:** The people were punished because of the obscenity they committed, but his wife did not commit that. How then was she among those doomed with them?
We say: The one who points toward evil has a share like the doer of evil, just as the one who points toward good is like the doer of good. She used to point the people toward Lot's guests so that they would seek them out. By her guidance, she became one of them.
Then, after giving Lot the glad tidings of salvation, they mentioned that they would send down punishment upon the people of that town: **{Indeed, We will send down upon the people of this town a punishment from the sky}**. They differed regarding this punishment: some said stones, some said fire, and some said an earthquake (submergence). If it was an earthquake, the punishment was not literally from the sky, but the command for the earthquake was from the sky, or the decree for it was from the sky.
Furthermore, know that the angels' speech to Lot followed the pattern of their speech to Abraham: they presented the good tidings before the warning. They said: **{Indeed, We will save you}**, then they said: **{Indeed, We will send down upon the people of this town}**. They did not give a reason for the salvation—they did not say, "We save you because you are a Prophet or a worshipper"—but they explained the destruction by saying: **{Because they were habitually transgressing}**, saying *because they were*, just as they said there: **{Indeed, its people were wrongdoers}** (Al-Ankabut: 31).
Then the Almighty said: **{And We have left thereof a clear sign for people who use reason}**. Meaning, from the town. The town is known, and it had black water, situated between Jerusalem and Karak. In this verse are several issues:
**The First Issue:** God made the sign in Noah and Abraham's story one of salvation: **{So We saved him and the companions of the ark, and We made it a sign}** (Al-Ankabut: 15), and **{So God saved him from the fire; indeed, in that are signs}** (Al-Ankabut: 24). Here, He made the destruction a sign. Do you have anything to say about this?
We say: Yes. For Abraham, the sign was in the salvation because there was no destruction at that time. As for Noah, saving them from the flood that covered all the mountains is a divine marvel, and what saved them—the Ark—remained, while the drowning left no trace for those who came after. Thus, the remaining thing was made a sign. As for here, Lot's salvation was not by a matter that leaves a perceptible trace, but the destruction left a perceptible trace in the land. Therefore, the remaining sign was the land itself.
There is a subtlety here: God's sign of His power exists in both salvation and destruction. So, He mentioned a sign from each category, prioritizing the signs of salvation because they are the effect of Mercy, and delaying the signs of destruction because they are the effect of Wrath, and His Mercy precedes His Wrath.
**The Second Issue:** Regarding the Ark, He said: **{and We made it a sign}** (without *bayan* [clear]), but here He says: **a clear sign** (*āyatan bayyinatan*).
We say: This is because salvation by the Ark is a matter that every intellect can comprehend. A foolish person might imagine that salvation by the Ark does not require another command. However, the sign here—the earthquake and turning the inhabited land upside down—is not customary; rather, it is by the will of the Capable One, specifying a place over another and a time over another. Thus, it is *clear* (*bayyinah*), such that a fool cannot claim, "This is something that naturally happens." He could have said about the Ark, "Salvation by the boat is something that happens naturally," until it is said to him, "How would they have been saved if the water had lasted until their provisions ran out? If God had unleashed a violent wind upon them, what would have been their state?"
**The Third Issue:** There (regarding Noah), He said **{for all people}** (*lil-’ālamīn*), but here He says: **{for people who use reason}** (*li-qawmin ya‘qilūn*).
We say: This is because the Ark existed in all parts of the world, so every people had a model of Noah's Ark to remember his situation. When they rode it, they sought salvation from God, and no one trusted solely in the boat; rather, their hearts were always trembling, supplicating to God for salvation. As for the trace of destruction in Lot's land, it is in a specific location that only those who pass by it and reach it, and who possess intellect to know that this is from the intending God due to its specificity to a place and existence across time, can observe.
**{And to Madyan [We sent] their brother Shu'ayb, and he said, "O my people, worship Allah and hope for the Last Day, and do not commit evil upon the earth, spreading corruption."}**
**{But they denied him, so the earthquake seized them, and they became in their dwellings [dead], prostrate.}**
**{And [We destroyed] 'Ad and Thamud, and indeed, [the ruins of] their dwellings are evident to you. And Satan made their deeds pleasing to them and diverted them from the path, even though they were people of insight.}**
