Tafsir of Al-Hijr 15:61

{منكرون} (We are strangers to you): Meaning, my soul does not recognize you and recoils from you; I fear you may bring me harm. This is evidenced by their saying: {Nay, we have come to you with that about which they were doubting}, meaning: We have not come with that which caused you to be wary of us, but rather we have come with that which brings you joy, happiness, and vindication against your enemy. This is the punishment you were threatening them with, while they doubted and denied it. {With the truth}—with the certainty of their punishment—{and indeed, we are truthful} in informing you of its descent upon them.

It was read as fa-asri (with a cut hamza) and fa-sri (with a connected hamza), from asra and sara. The author of al-Iqlid narrated: fasir, from al-sayr (traveling) and traversing the end of the night. He said: Open the door and look at the stars, How much of the dark night remains for us to traverse? It is said: This is after a significant portion of the night has passed.

If you ask: What is the meaning of commanding him to follow behind them and forbidding them from looking back? I say: God sent destruction upon his people and saved him and his family in response to his prayer against them. He departed as an emigrant, and he had no choice but to strive in thanking God, maintaining His remembrance, and clearing his mind for that. Thus, he was commanded to put them in front so that his heart would not be preoccupied with those behind him, and so he could observe them and their states. This ensures no one among them makes a glance out of shyness or any other lapse during that terrifying and perilous situation, and so that no one lags behind for some purpose and is struck by the punishment. It is also so that his journey is like that of a fugitive who puts his family ahead to ensure their escape.

They were forbidden from looking back so they would not see the punishment descending upon their people and feel pity for them. They were to settle their souls upon emigration, be content with leaving their homes, and move forward without looking back at what is behind them, like one who grieves over leaving his homeland and keeps turning his neck toward it, as the poet said: I kept turning toward my tribe until I found, My neck and nape aching from the constant turning. Or, the prohibition of looking back is a metonymy for continuing the journey and abandoning hesitation and stopping, because whoever looks back must necessarily pause, even if only slightly.

{Where you are commanded}: It is said this is a restriction and a promise. "Proceed to where you are commanded," using an indefinite adverb because haythu (where) is indefinite regarding places, as is the pronoun in tu'marun. Qadayna (We decreed) is linked with ila (to) because it implies the meaning of awhayna (We revealed), as if it were said: "And We revealed to him a decreed, finalized matter."

He explained {that matter} with His saying: {that the root of these people is cut off}. In its ambiguity and subsequent explanation, there is an intensification and magnification of the matter. Al-A'mash read it as inna (with a kasra) as an inception, as if someone asked: "Inform us of that matter," and He replied: "Indeed, the root of these people..." In the reading of Ibn Mas'ud: "And We said: Indeed, the root of these people..." Their dābir (root) is their last part, meaning: they will be eradicated to the last of them, so that not one of them remains.

{And the people of the city came, rejoicing. He said, "Indeed, these are my guests, so do not disgrace me. And fear God and do not put me to shame." They said, "Have we not forbidden you from [protecting] all people?" He said, "These are my daughters, if you must do [so]." By your life, indeed they were, in their intoxication, wandering blindly. So the shriek seized them at sunrise. And We made the highest part [of the city] its lowest and rained upon them stones of hard clay. Indeed in that are signs for those who discern. And indeed, it is [situated] on a road [still] remaining. Indeed in that is a sign for the believers.}