Tafsir of Al-`Ankabut 29:28

{And Lot, when he said...} This is conjoined to [the mention of] Abraham, or to that which he was conjoined to.

{The indecency (al-fāḥishah)} The act that reaches the extreme in ugliness.

{Which no one among the worlds has committed before you} This is an independent sentence confirming the indecency of that act. It is as if someone asked: "Why was it an indecency?" So it was said to him: "Because no one before them had dared to do it, due to the natural revulsion in human dispositions toward its excessive ugliness, until the people of Lot dared to do it because of the corruption of their nature and the filth of their temperaments." It is said: "No male had ever mounted a male before the people of Lot."

• Regarding the recitation: "A-innakum" (Do you indeed...) is read without an interrogative in the first instance, but not the second. Abu Ubaydah said: "I found it in the Imam [Uthmanic codex] with one letter [alif] without a ya', and I saw the second with two letters, the ya' and the nun."

{And cutting off the way (wa-taqṭaʿūna al-sabīl)} This refers to the work of highway robbers: killing souls and seizing wealth. It is also said: it refers to them accosting travelers with indecency. According to al-Hasan: it is the cutting off of progeny by approaching that which is not a place of cultivation (tillage).

{And [you] commit the reprehensible (al-munkar)} According to Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both): it is throwing pebbles, shooting pellets, making popping sounds, chewing gum, using the siwak in front of people, unbuttoning shirts, cursing, and obscenity in jest. According to Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her): they used to engage in anal intercourse. It is also said: it is mocking those who passed by them. It is also said: it is the public display of that act in their assembly (nādī). Every sin is uglier when displayed than when concealed; hence it is said: "Whoever tears the veil of modesty, there is no backbiting against him." A gathering place is not called a nādī unless its people are in it; if they depart, it is no longer a nādī.

{If you are of the truthful} Regarding what you threaten us with concerning the descent of the punishment.

{They were corrupting the people} By compelling them toward the sins and indecencies they were upon, whether willingly or by force. Because they innovated this indecency and established it for those who came after them. Allah the Exalted said: {Those who disbelieved and averted [others] from the way of Allah - We will increase them in punishment over [their] punishment for what they were corrupting} (An-Nahl: 88). Thus, Lot (peace be upon him) wanted the wrath of Allah to intensify against them, so he mentioned the attribute of "the corrupters" in his supplication.

{And when Our messengers came to Abraham with the good tidings, they said, "Indeed, we will destroy the people of this city. Indeed, its people have been wrongdoers." He said, "Indeed, within it is Lot." They said, "We are more knowing of who is within it; we will surely save him and his family, except his wife; she is to be of those who remain behind."}