Tafsir of Surah Hood - Verse 77

The Coming of the Angels to Lut, His Grief, and His Discussion with His People

Allah, the Exalted, informs about the coming of His messenger angels. After they informed Ibrahim of their mission to destroy the people of Lut, they left him and set out to destroy Lut's people that very night. After leaving Ibrahim, they came to Lut. Some say that they came to him while he was on a piece of land that belonged to him. Others say that they came to him while he was in his home. They approached him while they were in the most handsome of forms. They appeared in the forms of young men with handsome faces. This was a test from Allah that contained much wisdom and a firm evidence. Their appearance saddened him (Lut) and he felt grief in his soul because of them. He was afraid that if he did not host them as his guests, someone else of his people would host them and harm them.

وَقَالَ هَـذَا يَوْمٌ عَصِيبٌ

(He said: "This is a distressful day.") Ibn `Abbas and others said that this means, "A severe test for him." This was because he knew that he would have to defend them and it would cause great problems for him. Qatadah said, "They came to him while he was on a piece of land that belonged to him. They requested him to host them. He agreed, but he was shy of them and he walked in front of them. On the way to his home he said to them in attempt to convince them to go away, `By Allah, I do not know any people on the face of the earth more wicked and disgusting than these people of this town.' Then he walked on a little further. Then he repeated the same statement to them. He continued doing this until he had repeated the same thing four times." Then Qatadah said, "They were ordered not to destroy them until their Prophet testified against them of this." Concerning Allah's statement,

يُهْرَعُونَ إِلَيْهِ

(rushing towards him.) meaning, they made haste and rushed due to their delight of this (new young men). Concerning the statement,

وَمِن قَبْلُ كَانُواْ يَعْمَلُونَ السَّيِّئَاتِ

(and since aforetime they used to commit crimes.) This means that this did not cease being their behavior until they were seized (by Allah's torment) and they were still in the same condition.

قَالَ يقَوْمِ هَـؤُلاءِ بَنَاتِى هُنَّ أَطْهَرُ لَكُمْ

(He said: "O my people! Here are my daughters (the women of the nation), they are purer for you...") This was his attempt to direct them to their women, for verily the Prophet is like a father for his nation. Therefore, he tries to guide them to that which is better for them in this life and the Hereafter. This is similar to his statement to them in another verse,

أَتَأْتُونَ الذُّكْرَانَ مِنَ الْعَـلَمِينَ - وَتَذَرُونَ مَا خَلَقَ لَكُمْ رَبُّكُمْ مِّنْ أَزْوَجِكُمْ بَلْ أَنتُمْ قَوْمٌ عَادُونَ

(Go you in unto the males of the nation, and leave those whom Allah has created for you to be your wives Nay, you are a trespassing people!)26:165-166 Allah said in another verse,

قَالُواْ أَوَلَمْ نَنْهَكَ عَنِ الْعَـلَمِينَ

(They (the people of the city) said: "Did we not forbid you from entertaining any of the `Alamin")15:70 This means, "Didn't we forbid you from hosting men (male) guests"

قَالَ هَـؤُلآءِ بَنَاتِى إِن كُنْتُمْ فَـعِلِينَ - لَعَمْرُكَ إِنَّهُمْ لَفِى سَكْرَتِهِمْ يَعْمَهُونَ

(Lut said: "These (the girls of the nation) are my daughters, if you must act (so)." Verily, by your life, in their wild intoxication, they were wandering blindly.)15:71-72 Then, Allah said, in this noble verse,

هَـؤُلاءِ بَنَاتِى هُنَّ أَطْهَرُ لَكُمْ

(Here are my daughters, they are purer for you.) Mujahid said, "Actually, they were not his daughters, but they were from among his nation. Every Prophet is like a father to his nation." A similar statement has been reported from Qatadah and others. Concerning the statement,

فَاتَّقُواْ اللَّهَ وَلاَ تُخْزُونِ فِى ضَيْفِى

(So have Taqwa of Allah and disgrace me not with regard to my guests!) This means, "Accept what I command you by limiting the fulfillment of your desires to your women."

أَلَيْسَ مِنْكُمْ رَجُلٌ رَّشِيدٌ

(Is there not among you a single right-minded man) This means, "Is there not a good man among you who will accept what I am enjoining upon you and abandon what I have forbidden for you"

قَالُواْ لَقَدْ عَلِمْتَ مَا لَنَا فِى بَنَاتِكَ مِنْ حَقٍّ

(They said: "Surely, you know that we have no need of your daughters...") This means, "Verily, you know that we do not want our women, nor do we desire them."

وَإِنَّكَ لَتَعْلَمُ مَا نُرِيدُ

(and indeed you know well what we want!) This means, "We only want males and you know that. So what need is there for you to continue speaking to us about this"

قَالَ لَوْ أَنَّ لِى بِكُمْ قُوَّةً أَوْ آوِى إِلَى رُكْنٍ شَدِيدٍ

Commentary

Surah Hud (علیہ السلام) carries an account of different kinds of Divine punishments sent over past peoples because of their antagonism to prophets of the time. Described in the verses cited above is the moral condition of the people of Sayyidna Lut (علیہ السلام) and the severe punishment given to them.

Besides being disbelievers, the people of Sayyidna Lut (علیہ السلام) were involved in the practice of such abject evil and immodesty as was not found in the world before them, something even wild animals hate. That a man would pollute his honor and dignity with another man is a curse the fallout from which is far more injurious than common forni-cation. Therefore, the harsh punishment that descended on these people had never hit known practitioners of common acts of immodesty.

The event relating to Sayyidna Lut (علیہ السلام) as it appears in the cited verses tells that Allah Ta` ala sent some angels, including Sayyidna Jibra'il علیہ السلام to execute the punishment against these people. They first went to Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) in Palestine, the account of which has appeared in previous verses. After that, they came to Sayyidna Lut (علیہ السلام) whose abode was located at a distance of ten or twelve miles from there.

Certainly great is the majesty of Allah Ta'ala. When He seizes a people in punishment, the punishment that he makes descend upon them is chosen to be congruous to their misdeed. On this occasion too, these angels of Allah were sent in the form of handsome young men. When they reached the home of Sayyidna Lut he too took them to be visiting guests for they had come in human form. He found himself in a fix. If he backed out from entertaining guests, it would be against his dignity as a prophet. If he took them in as his guests, then, he knew how evil and dirty his people were. The danger was that they might storm his home and hurt the guests while he failed to defend them. So, in his heart, he said, ` this is a very hard day.'

Allah Ta` ala has, in His great design, made this world of ours an open gallery of lessons full of the countless exhibits of His perfect power and eloquent wisdom. He made His friend Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) come out as a prophet from the home of Azar, the idol-worshipper. In the home of the highly revered prophet, Sayyidna Lut (علیہ السلام) there was that wife of his who worked in league with disbelievers and opposed her prophet husband. When these honored guests in the form of handsome young men came to stay at the home of Sayyidna Lut (علیہ السلام) his wife passed on the information to perverted hoods from these people telling them about the kind of guests they had in their home on that day. (Qurtubi, Mazhari)

The angels who had come to Lot were the angels of retribution. But they entered the town in the shape of very handsome youths. This was intended to establish the guilt of Lot’s community quite finally. When a man continuously indulges in an evil, he becomes completely insensitive about it. This was the case with Lot’s community. They were now openly indulging in evil deeds. So, when they saw that handsome young men had come to Lot’s house, they rushed to his house full of lustful, lewd feelings. With utter shamelessness, they started demanding that the young men be handed over to them. When Lot saw the miscreants coming in this manner, he was extremely ashamed. He said, ‘Here are the daughters of the community. You may marry any of them you like and satisfy your natural instincts.’ The elderly persons of a community speak of the daughters of the community as if they were their own offspring. In this sense, Lot referred to the daughters of the community as his own daughters. But they rejected Lot’s legitimate offer, and continued to press for what was illegitimate. This finally established that these were evil, guilty people and certainly deserved to be destroyed. So, thereafter, all of them were annihilated. ‘Is there not a single right-minded man among you?’ This is generally the last utterance of a servant of God who has no material power to restrain miscreants, when all rational persuasion has failed to hold them back. At that time, by uttering such words, he invokes the prestige of the community and awakens its conscience. In spite of this, if his hearers remain insensitive, it means that there is not an iota of humanity or honour left in them.