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Ayah
Word by Word
فَأَنجَيۡنَٰهُ
So We saved him
وَأَهۡلَهُۥٓ
and his family
إِلَّا
except
ٱمۡرَأَتَهُۥ
his wife
كَانَتۡ
she was
مِنَ
of
ٱلۡغَٰبِرِينَ
those who stayed behind
فَأَنجَيۡنَٰهُ
So We saved him
وَأَهۡلَهُۥٓ
and his family
إِلَّا
except
ٱمۡرَأَتَهُۥ
his wife
كَانَتۡ
she was
مِنَ
of
ٱلۡغَٰبِرِينَ
those who stayed behind
Translation
So We saved him and his family, except for his wife; she was of those who remained [with the evildoers].
Tafsir
So We delivered him and his family, except his wife: she was of those who stayed behind, who remained in the chastisement.
The Story of Prophet Lut, upon Him be Peace, and His People
Allah said,
وَلُوطًا إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِ أَتَأْتُونَ الْفَاحِشَةَ مَا سَبَقَكُم بِهَا مِنْ أَحَدٍ مِّن الْعَالَمِينَ
And (remember) Lut, when he said to his people:Do you commit lewdness such as none preceding you has committed in all of the nations!
Lut (Lot) is the son of Haran the son of Azar (Terah), and he was the nephew of Ibrahim, peace be upon them both.
Lut had believed in Ibrahim and migrated with him to the Sham area. Allah then sent Lut to the people of Sadum (Sodom) and the surrounding villages, to call them to Allah, enjoin righteousness and forbid them from their evil practices, their sin, and wickedness. In this area, they did things that none of the children of Adam or any other creatures ever did before them. They used to have sexual intercourse with males instead of females. This evil practice was not known among the Children of Adam before, nor did it even cross their minds, so they were unfamiliar with it before the people of Sodom invented it, may Allah's curse be on them.
Amr bin Dinar commented on;
مَا سَبَقَكُم بِهَا مِنْ أَحَدٍ مِّن الْعَالَمِينَ
(...as none preceding you has committed in all of the nations),
Never before the people of Lut did a male have sex with another male.
This is why Lut said to them,
أَتَأْتُونَ الْفَاحِشَةَ مَا سَبَقَكُم بِهَا مِنْ أَحَدٍ مِّن الْعَالَمِينَ
إِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ الرِّجَالَ شَهْوَةً مِّن دُونِ النِّسَاء
Do you commit lewdness such as none preceding you has committed in all of the nations Verily, you practice your lusts on men instead of women.
meaning, you left women whom Allah created for you and instead had sex with men! Indeed, this behavior is evil and ignorant because you have placed things in their improper places. Lut, peace be upon him, said to them:
هَوُلاء بَنَاتِي إِن كُنتُمْ فَاعِلِينَ
(these (the girls of the nation) are my daughters (to marry lawfully), if you must act (so)). (15:71) So he reminded them of their women, and they replied that they do not desire women!,
قَالُواْ لَقَدْ عَلِمْتَ مَا لَنَا فِى بَنَاتِكَ مِنْ حَقٍّ وَإِنَّكَ لَتَعْلَمُ مَا نُرِيدُ
They said:Surely, you know that we have neither any desire nor need of your daughters, and indeed you know well what we want! (11:79)
meaning, you know that we have no desire for women and you know what we desire with your guests.
And Allah said;
بَلْ أَنتُمْ قَوْمٌ مُّسْرِفُونَ
Nay, but you are a people transgressing beyond bounds.
Allah tells;
وَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِ إِلاَّ أَن قَالُواْ أَخْرِجُوهُم مِّن قَرْيَتِكُمْ
And the answer of his people was only that they said:Drive them out of your town, these are indeed men who want to be pure (from sins)!
So they answered Prophet Lut by trying to expel and banish him from their village, along with those who believed with him.
Allah indeed removed Prophet Lut safely from among them, and He destroyed them in their land in disgrace and humiliation.
They said (about Lut and the believers):
إِنَّهُمْ أُنَاسٌ يَتَطَهَّرُونَ
These are indeed men who want to be pure (from sins)!
Qatadah commented,
They shamed them (Lut and the believers) with what is not a shame at all.
Mujahid commented,
(Lut's people said about Lut and the believers,) They are a people who want to be pure from men's anuses and women's anuses!
Similar was narrated from Ibn Abbas
Allah tells;
فَأَنجَيْنَاهُ وَأَهْلَهُ
Then We saved him and his family, except his wife; she was of the Ghabirin (those who lagged behind).
Allah says, We saved Lut and his family, for only his household believed in him.
Allah said in another Ayah,
فَأَخْرَجْنَا مَن كَانَ فِيهَا مِنَ الْمُوْمِنِينَ
فَمَا وَجَدْنَا فِيهَا غَيْرَ بَيْتٍ مِّنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
So We brought out from therein the believers. But We found not there any household of the Muslims except one (of Lut and his daughters). (51:35-36)
Only his wife (from his family) did not believe, remaining on the religion of her people. She used to conspire with them against Lut and inform them of who came to visit him, using certain signals that they agreed on. This is why when Lut was commanded to leave by night with his family, he was ordered not to inform his wife or take her with him.
Some said that she followed them, and when the torment struck her people, she looked back and suffered the same punishment as them.
However, it appears that she did not leave the town and that Lut did not tell her that they would depart. So she remained with her people, as apparent from Allah's statement,
إِلاَّ امْرَأَتَهُ كَانَتْ مِنَ الْغَابِرِينَ
except his wife; she was of the Ghabirin.
meaning, of those who remained, or they say:of those who were destroyed, and this is the more obvious explanation.
Allah's statement
وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهِم مَّطَرًا
And We rained down on them a rain,
is explained by His other statement,
وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهَا حِجَارَةً مِّن سِجِّيلٍ مَّنْضُودٍ
مُّسَوَّمَةً عِندَ رَبّكَ وَمَا هِى مِنَ الظَّـلِمِينَ بِبَعِيدٍ
And rained on them stones of baked clay, in a well-arranged manner one after another. Marked from your Lord; and they are not ever far from the wrongdoers. (11:82-83)
Allah said here,
فَانظُرْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُجْرِمِينَ
Then see what was the end of the criminals.
This Ayah means:`See, O Muhammad, the end of those who dared to disobey Allah and reject His Messengers.'
Imam Ahmad, Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, all recorded a Hadith (from) Ibn Abbas who said that Allah's Messenger said;
مَنْ وَجَدْتُمُوهُ يَعْمَلُ عَمَلَ قَوْمِ لُوطٍ فَاقْتُلُوا الْفَاعِلَ وَالْمَفْعُول بِه
Whoever is found doing the act of the people of Lut, then kill them; the doer and the one it is done to.
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