Verses 14–40
Having mentioned at the beginning of the sūrah that testing people (fitna) is a divine habit (sunna ilāhiyya) which applied to nations past, God invokes the stories of seven previous prophets and their nations to illustrate this point: Noah, Abraham, Lot, Shuʿayb, Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, and Moses. God tried and tested them; some were saved and others perished. In the first three stories, God mentions both those who were saved and perished together, while in the latter four He only mentions those who perished.
Commentary
وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِ فَلَبِثَ فِيهِمْ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ إِلَّا خَمْسِينَ عَامًا فَأَخَذَهُمُ الطُّوفَانُ وَهُمْ ظَالِمُونَ ١٤
(29:14) Certainly We sent Noah to his people, and he remained with them for a thousand-less-fifty years. Then the flood overtook them while they were wrongdoers.
Majmaʿ al-Bayān says:
“A flood (ṭūfān) means a great overflowing mass of water. It is called ṭūfān because it flows over (yaṭūfu) all parts of the land.”
It is said that it is whatever covers a thing through its abundance and intensity, such as water, wind or darkness. However, it is most commonly used for water.
God says “a thousand-less-fifty years” rather than “nine-hundred and fifty years” to stress their quantity. The verse is clear that this “thousand-less-fifty-years” refers to the period in which Noah was preaching to his people, between the beginning of his mission and the time of the flood. So this differs from what we find in the Torah in its current form, namely that it is the length of his life. And we have already mentioned this in relation to his story in our commentary on Sūrah Hūd. The rest of the meaning is clear.
فَأَنْجَيْنَاهُ وَأَصْحَابَ السَّفِينَةِ وَجَعَلْنَاهَا آيَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ ١٥
(29:15) Then We delivered him and the occupants of the Ark, and made it a sign for all the worlds.
In other words, we saved Noah and the occupants of the ark who rode upon it with him, and they are his family and a small number of believers who were not wrongdoers.
And made it a sign for all the worlds: It appears as though “it” here refers to the event of the flood or to their deliverance from it; as for the suggestion that it refers to the Ark, this is somewhat implausible. “The worlds” (ʿālamīn) refers to many different groups of people from later generations.
وَإِبْرَاهِيمَ إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَاتَّقُوهُ ۖ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ١٦
(29:16) And Abraham, when he said to his people: Worship Allah and be wary of Him. That is better for you, should you know.
And Abraham, when he said to his people is semantically joined (maʿṭūf) to the word Noah, to render the meaning: “And we sent Abraham to his people [to say]…”
He said to his people: Worship Allah and be wary of Him: Based on the context of the forthcoming verses, this is an invitation to believe in divine unity and a warning of punishment, in which case the sentence implies that they should worship only God and be wary only of Him.
The idolaters do not worship God but rather worship other deities, claiming that God can only be worshiped by way of immediate causes in the cosmos which bring people near to Him, such as angels and jinn. And if he was worshiped, He alone would have been the object of worship without any partner. Therefore when he tells them: Worship Allah and be wary of Him, this is in the sense of being summoned to worship Him alone, even if no particles of exclusivity (adāt al-ḥaṣr) have been used.
إِنَّمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ أَوْثَانًا وَتَخْلُقُونَ إِفْكًا ۚ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ لَا يَمْلِكُونَ لَكُمْ رِزْقًا فَابْتَغُوا عِنْدَ اللَّهِ الرِّزْقَ وَاعْبُدُوهُ وَاشْكُرُوا لَهُ ۖ إِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ ١٧
(29:17) In fact, instead of Allah you worship idols (awthān), and you invent a lie (ifk). Indeed those whom you worship besides Allah have no control over your provision. So seek provision from Allah, and worship Him and thank Him, and to Him you shall be brought back.
Awthān is the plural of wathan, meaning “idol.” Ifk is something distorted in word or in deed.
In fact, instead of Allah you worship idols demonstrates the invalidity of worshiping idols and shows that the only real form of worship is worshiping God. Idols is left indefinite to indicate their weakness and that their supposed divinity is nothing more than an empty claim. In other words, “In fact, instead of God you worship idols which are such-and-such…”
This is why God follows the above sentence with the phrase and you invent a lie, meaning you concoct a falsehood by calling them gods and worshiping them, for there is a God who is worthy of worship but that is the One True God and not these idols.
Indeed those whom you worship besides Allah have no control over your provision: This explains why calling these idols gods and worshiping them is a lie. In short, you only worship these idols besides God, insofar as they are representations of angels and jinn that you claim bring you closer to God, in order to gain some benefit by propitiating them so that they guarantee your sustenance and provision. However, they do not have any control over your provision as it is only God who has this power; He is the one who sustains and maintains you because He created you and created your sustenance, and “control” (mulk) follows from creation and origination.
This is why God follows immediately by saying: So seek provision from Allah, and worship Him and thank Him…—in other words, ask God for your provision because He is the one who has control over it; do not worship your idols but worship God and give thanks to him for all the different kinds of provision and blessings He has already given you, as it is a moral duty to thank a benefactor for the benefit he brings.
…and to Him you shall be brought back: This explains why you should worship Him and thank Him. And this is why a normal conjunction (ʿaṭf) has not been used. This turns them from worshiping God for the sake of provision to worshiping Him because they will return to Him for judgement. After all, if there was no Resurrection, there would be no particular reason to worship God as things like a person’s provision have their own material causes besides worship and offerings to God; a person’s provision is not visibly increased or decreased by their faith or infidelity. However, a person’s happiness on the Day of Resurrection does vary according to whether they believed or not, and whether they worshiped and gave thanks or not. So the return to God must be the ultimate motivation to worship Him and give thanks to Him rather than seeking worldly provision and benefits.
وَإِنْ تُكَذِّبُوا فَقَدْ كَذَّبَ أُمَمٌ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ ۖ وَمَا عَلَى الرَّسُولِ إِلَّا الْبَلَاغُ الْمُبِينُ ١٨
(29:18) And if you impugn, then nations have impugned before you, and the Messenger’s duty is only to communicate in clear terms.
It appears that this is part of Abraham’s address to his people. Some commentators have said that this is God speaking to the Quraysh. However, this is unlikely.
The meaning of the conditional construct at the beginning of this verse is that you are expected to impugn God’s messengers because it is almost a universal habit for all idolatrous nations; people have denied before you and you are merely the latest iteration of them. And, insofar as I am God’s messenger, my only duty is to communicate His message to you in clear terms.
This could also mean that your condition of denial is like that of nations before you; their denial did not benefit them in the slightest when God’s punishment came down upon them, nor did they thwart God upon the earth or in the heavens, and they had no helper or guardian besides God. And the same is true of you. The phrase …and the Messenger’s duty is only to communicate in clear terms fits equally well with both interpretations.
أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا كَيْفَ يُبْدِئُ اللَّهُ الْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُ ۚ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ ١٩
(29:19) Have they not regarded how Allah originates the creation? Then He will bring it back. That is indeed easy for Allah.
This verse and the four that follow it belong to an aside during the story in which God produces arguments for the Resurrection to dispel the deniers’ scepticism about it. It is connected to the preceding verses insofar as the cornerstone of their impugning of the Messengers is their denial of the Resurrection, as Abraham alludes to when he says: …and to Him you shall be brought back, and if you impugn, then nations have impugned before you…
They in Have they not regarded… refers to the deniers from all the nations, past, present and future. Regarded means in an intellectual rather than physical sense.
…how Allah originates the creation? Then He will bring it back: This sentence is the direct object (mafʿūl) for the verb regarded with He will bring it back in conjunction with originates. This is as opposed to those who say it is in conjunction with Have they not regarded… and the question is rhetorical, intended as a rebuke.
In short, this means: Do they not know how God originates and then brings back? In other words that these two acts are one and the same thing, namely the initiation (inshāʾ) of something that did not already exist. That is indeed easy for Allah alludes to the fact that what God shall bring back is what He has already originated. This responds to the notion of unlikelihood of the return, because it will be a second generation. If God’s absolute power can bring something to existence in the first place, then it can certainly bring it back to existence after its initial origination. The return, in reality, is nothing more than moving the creation from one abode to another and settling those journeying towards Him in their final resting place.
Some have suggested that origination followed by bringing back refers to creating the first of something and then producing the like thereof after it has perished. However this is not correct because this argument would not be useful in support the Resurrection as this refers to bringing back the very entity itself after it has perished and not merely something like it.
قُلْ سِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَانْظُرُوا كَيْفَ بَدَأَ الْخَلْقَ ۚ ثُمَّ اللَّهُ يُنْشِئُ النَّشْأَةَ الْآخِرَةَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ٢٠
(29:20) Say: Travel over the land and then observe how He has originated the creation. Then Allah shall bring about the genesis of the Hereafter. Indeed Allah has power over all things.
This verse and the three below instruct the Prophet to provide conclusive arguments to his opponents; he encourages them to travel in the land and see how God originates and initiates the Creation according to their different temperaments, hues and appearances, without working from any prior example or being constrained by any limitation in their number or variety. This demonstrates that there is no limitation to God’s power; He can produce another creation as readily as He produced this one. Therefore, this verse bears a similar meaning to the verse: Certainly you have known the first genesis, then why do you not take admonition? ()
يُعَذِّبُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَرْحَمُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۖ وَإِلَيْهِ تُقْلَبُونَ ٢١
(29:21) He will punish whomever He wishes and have mercy on whomever He wishes, and to Him you will be returned.
This is part of what the Prophet is instructed to say in the previous verse. It appears to be an exposition of the phrase …bring about the genesis of the Hereafter. When something “turns,” this means its state or orientation is altered, such as turning it upside-down or inside-out; the latter meaning is appropriate for the verse on the day when the secrets are examined ().
Exegetes have also explained “turned” as “returned.” In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, we read:
“To turn” (qalb) means to be returned or sent back, so it means that you will be returned to life in the Hereafter whence none shall have control over what benefits or what harms save God.
This is a subtle interpretation, signifying the return to God, which means to stand utterly helpless before Him, whence there is no judgement except His. In which case, the verse shares its meaning with: …and they will be returned to Allah, their real master, and what they used to fabricate will forsake them ().
In short, this verse means that the “genesis of the Hereafter” (al-nashʾa al-ākhira) is the creation in which God will punish whomsoever He wishes, meaning the wrongdoers, and have mercy on whomsoever He wishes, namely the others. And they will all be returned to Him, meaning that none will judge them save He.
وَمَا أَنْتُمْ بِمُعْجِزِينَ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِي السَّمَاءِ ۖ وَمَا لَكُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مِنْ وَلِيٍّ وَلَا نَصِيرٍ ٢٢
(29:22) You cannot thwart Him on the earth or in the sky, nor do you have besides Allah any guardian or any helper.
This verse is also part of what the Prophet is instructed to say to them. It depicts their state on the Day of Resurrection, just as the previous verse depicted God’s state on that day.
You cannot thwart Him on the earth or in the sky: Meaning, on that Day you cannot thwart God whether by evading Him, escaping His dominion or hiding in the farthest reaches of the heavens or the earth. So this verse yields the same sense as O company of jinn and humans! If you can pass through the confines of the heavens and the earth, then do pass through. But you will not pass through except by an authority. ()
It is said: This means “whoever is in the sky” (man fī al-samāʾ) but “whoever” was omitted because it is indicated by the context. The implicit meaning is: “You cannot thwart God upon the earth, nor can whoever is in the heavens thwart Him in the heavens.”
However, this is unlikely and we do not accept that the context of the speech indicates this. And even if we assume this to be the case, it would have been sufficient to address the angels and jinn alongside the human beings by taghlīb. This would mean: “You—O assembled creatures—cannot thwart Him in the earth or the sky!”
Nor do you have besides Allah any guardian or any helper: Meaning, “Today you have no guardian besides God to take care of your affairs and render you needless of God, nor do you have any helper who can help you, strengthen you and complete what you are lacking in power in order for you to win a victory against God.”
So the verse, as you can see, negates any possibility of their overpowering God or thwarting Him whether by escaping Him or repelling His punishment, so they cannot free themselves—You cannot thwart Him—and nor can anyone else free them—Nor do you have besides Allah any guardian—and nor can they and anyone else combined prevent God from doing as He wills—or any helper.
وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَلِقَائِهِ أُولَٰئِكَ يَئِسُوا مِنْ رَحْمَتِي وَأُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ٢٣
(29:23) Those who deny the signs of Allah and the encounter with Him, those have despaired of My mercy, and for such there is a painful punishment.
This is now addressed to the Prophet but not part of what he has been instructed to say in the previous verses (beginning with Say: Travel over the land…), and this is intended to inform him of the explicit truth with regards to those who will be wretched and perish on the Day of Resurrection, for this was left ambiguous in the above verse, He will punish whomever He wishes and have mercy on whomever He wishes ().
One of the indications we have for this not being included in what the Prophet is instructed to say is the use of the demonstrative pronoun “those” (ulāʾika) twice in the verse. If this had been part of the Prophet’s speech, he would have addressed them as “you” (ulāʾikum).
Another indication is the phrase My mercy, as saying: those have despaired of My mercy (rather than “they have despaired of God’s mercy” in the third-person, as the context would suggest) not only conveys information but also gives a sense of affirmation. This explicitly identifies the ones who are going to be punished and this is supported by the repetition of the demonstrative pronoun those in the verse and the emphasis given by the tone of the verse.
Moreover, by singling out the Prophet for this information, God not only gives him reassurance but also declares those whom He is speaking about as unworthy of hearing such news while they do not believe.
The signs of Allah—based on the unconditional use of the word—refers to everything that points to monotheism, prophethood and the Resurrection, including the signs in the cosmos (ayāt kawniyya) and the prophetic miracles (muʿjazāt nabawiyya) such as the Qur’an. So denying God’s signs in this general sense includes denying the Resurrection, hence rejecting the encounter—which refers to the Resurrection—is mentioned after denying God’s signs in the form of mentioning a specific instance after a general category (dhikr al-khāṣṣ baʿd al-ʿāmm). This is done to demonstrate the importance of believing in the Resurrection, in that denying the Resurrection renders the question of the true religion pointless. And this is obvious.
Mercy (raḥma) means the opposite of punishment (ʿadhāb) and it is used here in the sense of paradise. In fact, using “mercy” to refer to paradise recurs throughout the Qur’an, for example: As for those who have faith and do righteous deeds, their Lord will admit them into His mercy () and He admits whomever He wishes into His mercy ().
God says that they have despaired either because they are actually in a state of despair (they deny the existence of an afterlife so they have no hope for everlasting happiness or eternal bliss) or because this alludes to His irrevocable decree (qaḍāʾ maḥtūm) that no faithless person shall enter paradise.
Therefore, the verse means: “Those who deny God’s signs which point to the true religion in general and the Resurrection in particular, those persons have despaired of God’s mercy and of entering paradise and they shall have a painful punishment.”
فَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِ إِلَّا أَنْ قَالُوا اقْتُلُوهُ أَوْ حَرِّقُوهُ فَأَنْجَاهُ اللَّهُ مِنَ النَّارِ ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ ٢٤
(29:24) But the only answer of his people was that they said: Kill him, or burn him. Then Allah delivered him from the fire. There are indeed signs in that for a people who have faith.
This follows on from the opening of the story: And Abraham, when he said to his people: Worship Allah and be wary of Him. That is better for you, should you know ().
The apparent meaning of—they said: Kill him, or burn him is that each option was put forward by a group of them when they discussed what they were going to do with him. Kill (qatl) meant by the sword or the like thereof, which would have been the first thing they suggested, although they eventually agreed to burn him, as God says elsewhere: They said: Burn him, and help your gods, if you are to do [anything]! () It is also possible that the hesitation represented by or meant they weren’t sure what to do with him at first but then agreed he should be burnt.
Then Allah delivered him from the fire: Here the verse omits some details for the sake of brevity, namely that they decided to burn him, built a bonfire and hurled him into it, whereat God saved him. The story has been elaborated more fully in other parts of the Qur’an.
وَقَالَ إِنَّمَا اتَّخَذْتُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ أَوْثَانًا مَوَدَّةَ بَيْنِكُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۖ ثُمَّ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يَكْفُرُ بَعْضُكُمْ بِبَعْضٍ وَيَلْعَنُ بَعْضُكُمْ بَعْضًا وَمَأْوَاكُمُ النَّارُ وَمَا لَكُمْ مِنْ نَاصِرِينَ ٢٥
(29:25) He said: You have taken idols besides Allah for the sake of [mutual] affection amongst yourselves in the life of the world. Then on the Day of Resurrection you will disown one another (yakfur baʿḍukum bi baʿḍ) and curse one another, and the Fire will be your abode, and you will not have any helpers.
Insofar as there is no rational argument they could offer for taking up idols, they could only claim to be following the example of those whom they respected and held in esteem, such as sons following their fathers, subjects following their leaders, people following their friends or individuals following their community. These relationships are usually the basis upon which communal traditions are preserved and upheld.
In reality, following the tradition of idolatry is indicative of the death of a society, in which the masses see themselves as being a part of one another. Therefore, communal sentiments cause them to follow this tradition and it is following this tradition that preserves this communal sentiment amongst them and maintains their cohesion and unity.
This is the condition of the masses. However, the elite might rely on what they consider to be a rational basis for this, even though there is no such basis. For example, they might say: “God is too magnificent for human sense, imagination or reason to encompass. Therefore, we cannot worship Him directly and therefore, we must approach Him through intermediaries such as the angels or jinn, who will bring us nearer to Him or intercede with Him on our behalf.”
When Abraham says You have taken idols besides Allah for the sake of [mutual] affection amongst yourselves in the life of the world, this is addressed to the masses of his people, because they have taken up idols for the sake of communal sentiments, in order to safeguard their worldly communal life. And this is how they responded when he asked them about their condition:
When he said to his father and his people: What are these images to which you keep on clinging? They said: We found our fathers worshiping them. ()
He said: Do they hear you when you call them? Or do they bring you any benefit, or cause you any harm? They said: Rather we found our fathers acting likewise. ()
Hence it appears that when he says …for the sake of [mutual] affection amongst yourselves… it is possible for this phrase in the accusative case with an implicit proposition in front of it (nazʿ al-khāfiḍ). In this instance, the implicit proposition is a lām of causation, in which case affection (mawadda) is the reason for which they took up idols. It is also possible for this to be a purposive object (mafʿūlunlah), such that affection was the goal that their taking up idols was supposed to achieve. However, the verse’s coda only fits with the second possibility, as we shall see.
He follows You have taken idols… with …Then on the Day of Resurrection you will disown one another and curse one another to show them what will be the outcome of their adopting idols for the sake of this desired affection amongst themselves. This will become apparent on the Day on which secrets are disclosed. For now, they pursue this meagre enjoyment through idolatry, which is the worst sort of wrongdoing and the most ruinous kind of sin, and they agree upon it. However, the truth will become apparent to them and then they will disassociate from one another and rebuke one another.
Disown one another (yakfur baʿḍukum bi baʿḍ) actually means their idols disowning them, as we read in the verses: No Indeed! Soon they will disown their worship, and they will be their opponents (); and on the Day of Resurrection they will forswear your polytheism (). In the same vein is the fact that the leaders will disown those who follow them, as in the verse: When those who were followed will disown the followers, and they will sight the punishment while all their means of recourse will be cut off (). Conversely, curse one another means all of them cursing each other, as God says elsewhere: Every time that a nation enters [hell], it will curse its sister ().
Then He says: …and the Fire will be your abode, and you will not have any helpers. This refers to the evil consequences of their deeds catching up with them and their recompense coming to pass—Hellfire, which is eternal ruin—while they have no one who can help them to repel this punishment; they had sought out mutual affection to help and support one another in this life, but on the Day of Resurrection this has caused enmity and opposition between them, which has led them to disown and forsake one another.
فَآمَنَ لَهُ لُوطٌ ۘ وَقَالَ إِنِّي مُهَاجِرٌ إِلَىٰ رَبِّي ۖ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ ٢٦
(29:26) Thereupon Lot believed in him (āmana lah), and he said: Indeed I am migrating toward my Lord. Indeed He is the All-mighty, the All-wise.
In other words, Lot believed in Abraham. The verb “believe” can become transitive with either the particle bi or the particle li, but the meaning remains the same.
…and he said: Indeed I am migrating toward my Lord: Some say that the pronoun “I” here refers to Lot. Others suggest that it refers to Abraham, as would be supported by the verse He said: Indeed I am going toward my Lord, who will guide me ().
It appears that “migrating to God” means to migrate from his homeland, leave behind his idolatrous people and go to a place where there are no idolaters nor anyone else who will prevent him from worshiping his Lord. Therefore he considers this migration to be migrating to God, which is an abstract figure of speech (majāz ʿaqlī).
Indeed He is the All-mighty, the All-wise: Meaning, whoever He helps cannot be abased and whoever He protects will not go to waste.
وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُ إِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَجَعَلْنَا فِي ذُرِّيَّتِهِ النُّبُوَّةَ وَالْكِتَابَ وَآتَيْنَاهُ أَجْرَهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَإِنَّهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ لَمِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ ٢٧
(29:27) And We gave him Isaac and Jacob, and We ordained among his descendants prophethood and the Book, and We gave him his reward in the world, and in the Hereafter he will indeed be among the Righteous.
The meaning of these lines is clear.
…and We gave him his reward in the world, and in the Hereafter he will indeed be among the Righteous.
“Reward” (ajr) is a recompense given to the doer of a deed. The difference between ajr (reward) and ujra (wage) is that the latter refers only to worldly recompense while ajr signifies recompense both of this world and the Hereafter. On the other hand, the difference between ajr and jazāʾ (recompense) is that the former is only used for good and beneficial things, while jazāʾ can be for things both good and bad, beneficial and harmful.
What we usually see in God’s speech is that He uses the word ajr to signify a recompense which God has prepared for the believers in the Hereafter in return for their acts of worship. This includes stations of nearness to him and degrees of wilāya, including paradise itself. However, it also appears in the story of Joseph in the verse: Indeed if one is Allah wary and patient Allah does not waste the reward of the virtuous. () And in the verse: That is how We established Joseph in the land that he may settle in it wherever he wished. We confer Our mercy on whomever We wish, and We do not waste the reward of the virtuous. () In both of these cases, ajr is used to signify a good worldly reward.
Therefore, …and We gave him his reward [ajr] in the world could mean that He gave him a good worldly reward. However, the most appropriate reading is to see in the world connected with the reward rather than the act of giving. Perhaps this can be further affirmed by what God says about him elsewhere: We gave him good in this world, and in the Hereafter he will indeed be among the Righteous (). The apparent meaning of “good” (ḥasana) in this verse is “a good life” and to “give” something means to have actually bestowed it on the recipient, not merely to have prepared and ordained it for them.
Another possibility is that this refers to him receiving those spiritual stations (maqāmāt) reserved for the faithful in the Hereafter while still in this world. And the stations of Abraham have been fully elaborated in the commentary on his story in Sūrah al-Anʿām.
…and in the Hereafter he will indeed be among the Righteous: This has already been discussed in our commentary on the verse: …and in the Hereafter he will indeed be among the Righteous ().
وَلُوطًا إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِ إِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ الْفَاحِشَةَ مَا سَبَقَكُمْ بِهَا مِنْ أَحَدٍ مِنَ الْعَالَمِينَ ٢٨
(29:28) And Lot, when he said to his people: You indeed commit an indecency none in the world has ever committed before you!
Meaning: “And We sent Lot…” or “And mention Lot…” when he told his people: You indeed commit an indecency… informing them of the reason for his astonishment and rebuke. Indecency here means going to men for gratification.
…none in the world has ever committed before you! This is either a new sentence clarifying the meaning of indecency and emphasizes its meaning, as if to say this behavior never spread amongst any people before you in this manner, or the sentence is in the position of an adverbial qualifier (ḥāl) for the subject of the verb commit (i.e. you).
أَئِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ الرِّجَالَ وَتَقْطَعُونَ السَّبِيلَ وَتَأْتُونَ فِي نَادِيكُمُ الْمُنْكَرَ ۖ فَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِ إِلَّا أَنْ قَالُوا ائْتِنَا بِعَذَابِ اللَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتَ مِنَ الصَّادِقِينَ ٢٩
(29:29) What! Do you come to men, and cut off the way, and commit outrages in your gatherings? But the only answer of his people was that they said: Bring us Allah’s punishment should you be truthful.
This is a rhetorical question to express amazement, meaning that this is something no listener would believe or any rational person would accept, which is why the Arabic verse includes the lām and nūn of emphasis. The context indicates that come to men refers to sodomy and cut off the way means to utterly neglect the way of producing offspring, which is to go to women. This means cut off the way alludes to ignoring women and forgoing marriage to them. Commit outrages in your gatherings [nādīkum] (a “gathering” or nādī refers to a meeting in which they assemble together; it is not called a nādiyya unless a person’s family are present) means to commit indecency or at least everything leading up to it in full public view.
It is said: Cut off the way means to attack travellers on the roads passing by their settlement and commit this indecency with passers-by. They did this by pelting travellers with stones from slingshots, and when one of them struck a traveller in this fashion, he was said to be entitled to his victim; they would rob them, rape them and then pay them three dirhams. Moreover they had a judge who decreed this.
It is also said that they would engage in brigandage in general, but it is obvious that the context suggests otherwise.
It is said: Commit outrages in your gatherings means that their gatherings were filled with all sorts of indecencies and sins, such as foul language, foolishness, gambling, throwing stones at passers-by, playing instruments, nudity and sodomy and the like thereof. However, you have seen what the context indicates.
But the only answer of his people was that they said: Bring us Allah’s punishment should you be truthful: They mocked and derided him. However, their answer shows that he was warning them of God’s punishment and God has said about his story elsewhere: He had certainly warned them of Our punishment, but they disputed the warnings ().
قَالَ رَبِّ انْصُرْنِي عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْمُفْسِدِينَ ٣٠
(29:30) He said: My Lord! Help me against this corruptive lot.
Here Lot prays for victory and invokes God’s help against them; he calls them “corruptive” (mufsidīn) because of their actions which are causing corruption in the land, cutting off progeny and threatening to destroy humanity.
وَلَمَّا جَاءَتْ رُسُلُنَا إِبْرَاهِيمَ بِالْبُشْرَىٰ قَالُوا إِنَّا مُهْلِكُو أَهْلِ هَٰذِهِ الْقَرْيَةِ ۖ إِنَّ أَهْلَهَا كَانُوا ظَالِمِينَ ٣١
(29:31) And when Our messengers came to Abraham with the good news, they said: We are indeed going to destroy the people of this town. Its people are indeed wrongdoers.
This is an overview of the story of how Lot’s people came to be destroyed, namely by sending angels. God sent these angels first to Abraham and there they gave his wife good news of Isaac and Jacob, before informing Abraham that they were on their way to destroy the people of Lot. The Qur’an gives a fuller account of this in Sūrah Hūd and elsewhere.
They told Abraham: We are indeed going to destroy the people of this town. The fact that they use the demonstrative pronoun “this” to refer to the town—this town—suggests that it was close to the land in which Abraham resided, which was the Holy Land.
Its people are indeed wrongdoers explains that they are being destroyed because they are wrongdoers. In other words, the vice of wrongdoing has become firmly rooted in their character. Normally one would say “They are indeed wrongdoers” [using a pronoun, because they have just been mentioned a moment ago] but instead God explicitly mentions them again. This is to show that their wrongdoing is a kind specific to them, rather wrongdoing in general, and this is what has occasioned divine punishment. As if to say: “Its people, insofar as they are its people, are wrongdoers.”
قَالَ إِنَّ فِيهَا لُوطًا ۚ قَالُوا نَحْنُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنْ فِيهَا ۖ لَنُنَجِّيَنَّهُ وَأَهْلَهُ إِلَّا امْرَأَتَهُ كَانَتْ مِنَ الْغَابِرِينَ ٣٢
(29:32) He said: Lot is indeed in it. They said: We know better those who are in it. We will surely deliver him and his family, except his wife: she shall be one of those who remain behind.
When Abraham said Lot is indeed in it, he meant for the punishment to be averted from the people of the town because Lot was amongst them. They responded that not only were they aware of this but that there were others in the town who would be spared punishment, namely his family excluding his wife.
However, when he said this, Abraham was not ignorant of the fact that God would not punish Lot, who was His own appointed prophet, even if the punishment encompassed everyone else in the town. Nor was it the case that he was startled or alarmed by God’s violence against them. Rather, when he said Lot is indeed in it, he meant that Lot’s stature should spare the people God’s punishment, not that Lot himself needed to be spared from it. The angels respond that they have been bid to save him from amongst the inhabitants of his town and take his family with him, save for his wife who was destined to remain behind.
The evidence for what we have mentioned is what God has said in Sūrah Hūd regarding this aspect of the story: “So when the awe had left Abraham and the good news had reached him, he pleaded with Us concerning the people of Lot. Abraham was indeed most forbearing, plaintive, [and] penitent. O Abraham, let this matter alone! Your Lord’s edict has certainly come, and an irrevocable punishment shall overtake them ().”
These verses make explicit that Abraham was intervening on behalf of Lot’s people and not on behalf of Lot himself. However, Abraham’s choice of words in the verse we are discussing make it seem as though he is defending Lot and therefore the messengers respond to the apparent meaning of his words by saying that they were not ignorant of Lot’s presence therein; they know better who is in the town and they know that Lot and his family are not amongst those who are deserving of punishment so they will save him and his family except for his wife. However, what Abraham meant was that the people of the town should be spared punishment and he was told that this is an irrevocable decree, as we see in the verses from Sūrah Hūd.
And some commentators have had lengthy disagreements about the phrases Its people are indeed wrongdoers () and Lot is indeed in it. However, we have left these discussions aside because there is little benefit in them. Anyone who wishes to know more can refer to the longer works [of exegesis].
وَلَمَّا أَنْ جَاءَتْ رُسُلُنَا لُوطًا سِيءَ بِهِمْ وَضَاقَ بِهِمْ ذَرْعًا وَقَالُوا لَا تَخَفْ وَلَا تَحْزَنْ ۖ إِنَّا مُنَجُّوكَ وَأَهْلَكَ إِلَّا امْرَأَتَكَ كَانَتْ مِنَ الْغَابِرِينَ ٣٣
(29:33) And when Our messengers came to Lot, he was distressed on their account and in a predicament for their sake. But they said: Do not be afraid, nor grieve! We shall deliver you and your family, except your wife: she will be one of those who remain behind.
The two instances of the plural pronoun their in he was distressed on their account (sīʾa bihim) and in a predicament for their sake (wa ḍāqa bihim dharʿan) refer to the messengers, and the bāʾ is causal (bāʾ al-sababiyya). In other words, they caused him worry and put him in a difficult situation. This was because they appeared in the form of two handsome young men and he feared his people would do them harm, and then his people sought to do harm to them and Lot found himself unable to protect them even though they were guests under his care.
But they said: Do not be afraid, nor grieve! In other words, you are in no danger whatsoever. This is because fear is felt in response to potential harm, while grief is felt as the result of actual harm.
We shall deliver you and your family, except your wife: she will be one of those who remain behind: Meaning, she will remain behind in punishment; and this statement explains why Lot should not be afraid nor grieve.
إِنَّا مُنْزِلُونَ عَلَىٰ أَهْلِ هَٰذِهِ الْقَرْيَةِ رِجْزًا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْسُقُونَ٣٤
(29:34) We are indeed going to bring down upon the people of this town a punishment (rijz) from the sky because of the transgressions they used to commit.
This is the explanation of the punishment alluded to when they said: We shall deliver you and your family from punishment. And rijz here is that punishment.
وَلَقَدْ تَرَكْنَا مِنْهَا آيَةً بَيِّنَةً لِقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ ٣٥
(29:35) Certainly We have left of it (taraknā minhā) a manifest sign for a people who apply reason.
“It” here refers to the village.
To “leave” (tark) means to keep; that is, “We have kept it as a clear sign for people who apply reason that they might take a lesson from it and be wary of God.” And what is left of it are the ruins that remained after the divine punishment befell it.
However, today the precise location of this settlement is not known to us and no trace of it remains. It has been suggested that the ruins were swallowed by water to make the Dead Sea. However, the verse is emphatic—as you can see—that its location was well-known and visible at the time the Qur’an was revealed. Clearer still are the verses Indeed it is on a standing road (), and And indeed you pass by them at dawn and at night. So do you not apply reason? ().
وَإِلَىٰ مَدْيَنَ أَخَاهُمْ شُعَيْبًا فَقَالَ يَا قَوْمِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَارْجُوا الْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ وَلَا تَعْثَوْا فِي الْأَرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ ٣٦ ٠
(29:36) And to Midian We sent Shuʿayb, their brother. He said: O my people! Worship Allah, and expect [to encounter] the Last Day, and do not act wickedly on the earth causing corruption.
He called them to worship God, meaning to believe in Divine Unity (tawḥīd), and to expect the Last Day, which is to believe in the Resurrection, and not to cause corruption in the land. The main way in which they caused corruption in the land, according to accounts that have been mentioned elsewhere in the Qur’an, is that they tampered with the weights and scales in the marketplace.
فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ الرَّجْفَةُ فَأَصْبَحُوا فِي دَارِهِمْ جَاثِمِينَ ٣٧
(29:37) But they impugned him, whereupon the earthquake (rajfa) seized them, and they lay lifeless prostrate (jāthimīn) in their homes.
According to al-Rāghib, a rajfa is a violent shaking. Jathm and juthūm mean to sit in a place or kneel upon the ground, and this is a euphemism for death.
The verse means: “They denied Shuʿayb, so a severe earthquake seized them and left them dead and unmoving in their homes.”
In another part of the Qur’an, we read of their story: And the Cry seized those who were wrongdoers, whereat they lay lifeless prostrate in their homes (), and this suggests that they were destroyed by both a cry and a quaking.
وَعَادًا وَثَمُودَ وَقَدْ تَبَيَّنَ لَكُمْ مِنْ مَسَاكِنِهِمْ ۖ وَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ فَصَدَّهُمْ عَنِ السَّبِيلِ وَكَانُوا مُسْتَبْصِرِينَ ٣٨
(29:38) And ʿAd and Thamud, [whose fate] is evident to you from their habitations. Satan made their deeds seem decorous to them, thus he barred them from the way [of Allah], though they used to be perceptive.
Here, the tone of the verses shifts, as while the above stories of nations past began by mentioning their prophets, like Noah, Abraham, Lot and Shuʿayb, this verse begins by mentioning ʿAd and Thamud, and the next verse by mentioning Korah, Pharaoh and Haman.
And ʿAd and Thamud are accusative (manṣūb) due to an implicit verb whose meaning is: “And remember ʿAd and Thamud.”
Satan made their deeds seem decorous to them, thus he barred them from the way, though they used to be perceptive: Satan making their deeds seem decorous to them is a metaphorical way of saying that he made them like their evil deeds and engendered in them an attachment to those deeds; barring them from the way means that he turned them aside from the way of God, which is the way of human nature (fiṭra). This is why some have said though they used to be perceptive means that beforehand they used to follow simple human nature.
However, the apparent meaning, as we have said with regards to the verse Mankind were a single community; then Allah sent the prophets… (), is that the time during which people followed simple human nature was before Noah was sent to his people. However, ʿAd and Thamud came after Noah. Therefore, their being perceptive before they were barred from the way means that they lived in the worship of God and the faith of Divine Unity which is the religion of human nature.
وَقَارُونَ وَفِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ ۖ وَلَقَدْ جَاءَهُمْ مُوسَىٰ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَاسْتَكْبَرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَمَا كَانُوا سَابِقِينَ ٣٩
(29:39) And Korah, Pharaoh, and Haman. Certainly Moses brought them manifest proofs, but they acted arrogantly in the land; though they could not outmaneuver.
They could not outmanuever is a metaphorical way of saying that they could not defeat God. The remainder of the verse is clear in its meaning.
فَكُلًّا أَخَذْنَا بِذَنْبِهِ ۖ فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ أَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِ حَاصِبًا وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ أَخَذَتْهُ الصَّيْحَةُ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ خَسَفْنَا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ أَغْرَقْنَا ۚ وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيَظْلِمَهُمْ وَلَٰكِنْ كَانُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ ٤٠
(29:40) So We seized each for his sin: among them were those upon whom We unleashed a rain of stones (ḥāṣib), and among them were those who were seized by the Cry, and among them were those whom We caused the earth to swallow, and among them were those whom We drowned. It was not Allah who wronged them, but it was they who used to wrong themselves.
So We seized each for his sin—meaning that We seized each of the previous nations for its sin. Then God details the different ways in which He did this: among them were those upon whom We unleashed a rain of stones—ḥāsib means stones, though it has been said that this is a wind carrying pebbles; in the first instance this refers to the people of Lot, in the second instance it refers to the people of ʿAd—and among them were those who were seized by the Cry—the peoples of Thamud and Shuʿayb—and among them were those whom We caused the earth to swallow—Korah—and among them were those whom We drowned—the people of Noah, and Pharaoh, Haman and their people.
Then God looks at all of the above accounts and the punishments and fates that befell those nations, and draws a general conclusion that whatever He caused to befall them was not an injustice on His part but rather the result of their own wrongdoing; It was not Allah who wronged them, but it was they who used to wrong themselves. In other words, God recompensed them for their wrongdoing because this abode is a place of trial and tribulation; and this trial is a divine habit which cannot be averted. So whoever is guided is guided for his own sake, and whoever goes astray it is only because of himself.
Examining narrations
- Imam al-Ṣādiq said: The fifth sense of kufr is to disown one another (barāʾa), as in the verse: He said: You have taken idols [for worship] besides Allah for the sake of affection amongst yourselves in the life of the world. Then on the Day of Resurrection you will disown one another and curse one another… ().
- Imam ʿAlī said: Kufr in this verse means to disown; they disown one another. A similar verse can be found in Sūrah Ibrāhīm, in which Satan is quoted as saying: Indeed I disavow your taking me for Allah’s partner aforetime (). And Abraham’s own words: We disavow you… ().
- The Prophet forbade slinging stones at people (khadhf), which is God’s saying: and commit outrages in your gatherings ().
- Umm Hānī b. Abī Ṭālib said: I asked God’s Messenger about the verse: and commit outrages in your gatherings () and he said: They would sit by the side of the road and throw stones at travellers and mock them.
- Imam al-Ṣādiq said: Abraham said to the angels: Why did you come?
They said: “To destroy Lot’s people.”
“If there are a hundred believers therein, will you destroy them?”
Gabriel said: “No.”
“And if there are fifty?”
“No.”
“And if there are thirty?”
“No.”
“And if there are twenty?”
“No.”
“And if there are ten?”
“No.”
“And if there are five?”
“No.”
“And if there is only one?”
“No.”
“But Lot is there!”
They said: “We know better those who are in it. We will surely deliver him and his family, except his wife: she shall be one of those who remain behind.”
[Imam al-Ṣādiq continued] Al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī said: “I know not this saying except that he was seeking to have them spared. This is God’s saying: He pleaded with Us concerning the people of Lot ().”
Taghlīb: A rhetorical device whereby more than one species of referent is subsumed under a single heading. According to this interpretation God is speaking to men, angels and jinn, even though it appears that he is speaking only to men. (Trans.) ↩︎
Nazʿ al-khāfiḍ: A term from the Kufan school of Arabic Grammar which means that there is an implicit preposition (ḥarf jārr) after a verb. For example, instead of saying “I passed by so-and-so” (marartu bi fulānin)—where the preposition interposes between the verb and noun, giving the noun following it a genitive declension (the kasra)—you say “I passed so-and-so” (marartu fulānan). The preposition is dropped and the verb takes the following noun as a direct object, giving it an accusative declension (the fatḥa). According to this theory, here the word “affection” (muwaddatan) actually means “for the sake of affection” (li muwaddatin), with the preposition li being omitted on the basis of this grammatical rule and “affection” becoming accusative as a result. (Trans.) ↩︎
Al-Kāfī, via its chain of narration, on the authority of Abū ʿAmr al-Zubayrī, in a narration where the Imam discusses the different senses of the word kufr (disbelief, ungratefulness). ↩︎
Al-Tawḥīd, part of a longer tradition where the Imam answers some questions about apparent contradictions in the verses of the Qur’an. ↩︎
Al-Durr al-Manthūr, on the authority of Ibn Mardawayh, on the authority of Jābir. ↩︎
Al-Durr al-Manthūr, on the authority of several collections of hadith. ↩︎
Al-Kāfī, via its chain of narration, on the authority of Abū Zayd al-Ḥammād, part of a narration about the angels descending to Abraham with good news. ↩︎