Tafseer of Hud · Hud · 11:74
And when the fright had left Abraham and the good tidings had reached him, he began to argue with Us concerning the people of Lot.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the words of Allah the Exalted: فَلَمَّا ذَهَبَ عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الرَّوْعُ وَجَاءَتْهُ الْبُشْرَى يُجَادِلُنَا فِي قَوْمِ لُوطٍ (74) (And when the fear had departed from Ibrāhīm and the glad tidings had come to him, he disputed with Us concerning the people of Lūṭ.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah the Exalted here says: When the fear had departed from the soul of Ibrāhīm — the fear which he had felt toward Our messengers when he saw that their hands did not reach out to his food — and he was reassured that no harm was intended against himself and his family; وَجَاءَتْهُ الْبُشْرَى — with the glad tidings of Isḥāq — he continued يُجَادِلُنَا فِي قَوْمِ لُوطٍ .
In accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes also spoke.
18331. Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the word: فَلَمَّا ذَهَبَ عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الرَّوْعُ — he said: the fear departed from him; وَجَاءَتْهُ الْبُشْرَى — the glad tidings of Isḥāq.
18332. Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: فَلَمَّا ذَهَبَ عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الرَّوْعُ وَجَاءَتْهُ الْبُشْرَى — with the glad tidings of Isḥāq, and of Yaʿqūb as a child from the loins of Isḥāq — and when he was reassured concerning what he had feared, he said: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي وَهَبَ لِي عَلَى الْكِبَرِ إِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ إِنَّ رَبِّي لَسَمِيعُ الدُّعَاءِ (Sūrat Ibrāhīm: 39).
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It has also been said that the meaning of this is: and the glad tidings reached him that they did not intend him but others.
*Mention of those who said this:*
18333. Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: وَجَاءَتْهُ الْبُشْرَى — he said: when they informed him that they had been sent to the people of Lūṭ and that they did not intend him.
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Others said: he received the glad tidings of Isḥāq.
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"Al-rawʿ" is fear; one says of it: "rāʿanī kadhā yarūʿunī rawʿan" — when one is in fear of it. From this is the word of the Prophet ﷺ to a man: "How is it with you and the fear of the believer?" And from this is the word of ʿAntara:
"Mā rāʿanī illā ḥamūlatu ahliha wasṭa l-diyāri tasuffu ḥabba l-khamkhami"
(Nothing alarmed me except the laden beasts of her family eating the seeds of the khamkhama plant in the midst of the dwellings.)
With the meaning: nothing startled me.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes also spoke.
18334. Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "al-rawʿ" — the fright.
18335. Al-Muthanná related to me: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid —
18336. … he said: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word: فَلَمَّا ذَهَبَ عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الرَّوْعُ — he said: the fright.
18337. Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: فَلَمَّا ذَهَبَ عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الرَّوْعُ — he said: the fright.
18338. Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: فَلَمَّا ذَهَبَ عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الرَّوْعُ — he said: the fear departed from him.
يُجَادِلُنَا فِي قَوْمِ لُوطٍ — that is to say: he disputed with Us. As:
18339. Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: يُجَادِلُنَا — he disputed with Us.
18340. Al-Muthanná related to me: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
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Some of the philologists of Basra claimed that the meaning of يُجَادِلُنَا is: he spoke with Us. They said: For Ibrāhīm does not dispute with Allah — he only asked Him and addressed himself to Him.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: This is a mark of ignorance in the language, for Allah the Exalted has informed us in His Book that he disputed concerning the people of Lūṭ. The claim of the one who says: "Ibrāhīm does not dispute" — by which he wishes to suggest that the opinion of the one who explains "yujādilunā" as "he disputed with Us" would entail that Ibrāhīm disputed with his Lord — is a mark of ignorance in the language. For the dispute was with the messengers by way of argumentation against them. The actual meaning is: "and the glad tidings reached him while he disputed with Our messengers"; but because the intent was clear, "the messengers" was omitted.
His dispute with them was as:
18341. Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Yaʿqūb al-Qummī related to us: Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd: يُجَادِلُنَا فِي قَوْمِ لُوطٍ — he said: when Jibrīl and his companions came to Ibrāhīm, they said: Truly, we shall destroy the inhabitants of this town, for its inhabitants are wrongdoers. Ibrāhīm said to them: Do you destroy a town that has four hundred believers? They said: No! He said: Do you destroy a town that has three hundred believers? They said: No! He said: Do you destroy a town that has two hundred believers? They said: No! He said: Do you destroy a town that has forty believers? They said: No! He said: Do you destroy a town that has fourteen believers? They said: No! — For Ibrāhīm counted to that number fourteen, including the wife of Lūṭ. Then he fell silent before them and his soul was set at rest.
18342. Abū Kurayb related to us: al-Ḥammānī related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of al-Minhāl, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The angel said to Ibrāhīm: If there are five people who pray, the punishment is averted from them.
18343. Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the word: يُجَادِلُنَا فِي قَوْمِ لُوطٍ — it has been related to us that his dispute with them was that he said: Tell me, if there are fifty believers in it, do you punish them? They said: No! — until he came down to ten. He said: Tell me, if there are ten, do you punish them? They said: No! And those were three towns with what Allah willed of multitude.
18344. Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: يُجَادِلُنَا فِي قَوْمِ لُوطٍ — it has been related to us that he said to them that day: Tell me, if there are fifty Muslims in it? They said: If there are fifty, we do not punish them. He said: Forty? They said: And forty! He said: Thirty? They said: Thirty! — until he came down to ten. They said: And if there are ten! He said: A people that has not ten has no good in it. Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr said: Maʿmar said: It has been related to us that in the town of Lūṭ there were four million people, or what Allah wills of that.
18345. Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: فَلَمَّا ذَهَبَ عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الرَّوْعُ وَجَاءَتْهُ الْبُشْرَى — he said: what is your affair, O envoys? They said: We have been sent to the people of Lūṭ. Ibrāhīm disputed with them concerning the people of Lūṭ and said: Tell me, if there are a hundred Muslims in it, do you destroy them? They said: No! He kept lowering the number until he came down to ten Muslims; they said: We do not punish them if there are ten Muslims in it. Then they said: O Ibrāhīm, turn away from this; there is in it only one household of believers — namely Lūṭ and his household. This is the word of Allah the Exalted: يُجَادِلُنَا فِي قَوْمِ لُوطٍ . The angels said: يَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ أَعْرِضْ عَنْ هَذَا إِنَّهُ قَدْ جَاءَ أَمْرُ رَبِّكَ وَإِنَّهُمْ آتِيهِمْ عَذَابٌ غَيْرُ مَرْدُودٍ .
18346. Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: فَلَمَّا ذَهَبَ عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الرَّوْعُ وَجَاءَتْهُ الْبُشْرَى — that is to say: Ibrāhīm pleaded for the people of Lūṭ to avert the punishment from them. The followers of the Torah claim that the dispute of Ibrāhīm, when he disputed with them concerning the people of Lūṭ in order to avert the punishment from them, consisted of the following: he said to the messengers: Tell me, if there are a hundred believers in it, do you punish them? They said: No! He said: And if they are ninety? They said: No! He said: Eighty? They said: No! — And so on until he came to one Muslim. They said: No! When none of them informed Ibrāhīm that there was in it even one believer, he said: إِنَّ فِيهَا لُوطًا — by this to avert the punishment from them. They said: نَحْنُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنْ فِيهَا لَنُنَجِّيَنَّهُ وَأَهْلَهُ إِلا امْرَأَتَهُ كَانَتْ مِنَ الْغَابِرِينَ (Sūrat al-ʿAnkabūt: 32); and they said: يَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ أَعْرِضْ عَنْ هَذَا إِنَّهُ قَدْ جَاءَ أَمْرُ رَبِّكَ وَإِنَّهُمْ آتِيهِمْ عَذَابٌ غَيْرُ مَرْدُودٍ .
18347. Al-Qāsim related to us: Al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to us, who said: Ibn Jurayj said: Ibrāhīm said: Do you destroy them if you find a hundred believers in it? Then ninety? — until he came down to five. He said: and in the town of Lūṭ there were four million.
18348. Muḥammad ibn ʿAwf related to us: Abū l-Mughīra related to us: Ṣafwān related to us: Abū l-Muthanná and Muslim Abū l-Ḥubayil al-Ashjaʿī related to us: لَمَّا ذَهَبَ عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الرَّوْعُ to the end of the verse — Ibrāhīm said: Do you punish a world of Your worlds that are many, while there are a hundred men in it? Allah said: No, by My majesty — not even fifty! He said: And forty? Then thirty? — until he came down to five. He said: No! By My majesty, I do not punish them if there are five who worship Me! Allah the Exalted said: فَمَا وَجَدْنَا فِيهَا غَيْرَ بَيْتٍ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ (Sūrat al-Dhāriyāt: 36) — that is to say: Lūṭ and his two daughters. He said: and the punishment descended upon them. Allah the Exalted said: وَتَرَكْنَا فِيهَا آيَةً لِلَّذِينَ يَخَافُونَ الْعَذَابَ الأَلِيمَ (Sūrat al-Dhāriyāt: 37). And Allah the Exalted said: فَلَمَّا ذَهَبَ عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الرَّوْعُ وَجَاءَتْهُ الْبُشْرَى يُجَادِلُنَا فِي قَوْمِ لُوطٍ .
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The Arabs, when "lammā" is followed by a perfect verb form, almost always connect it with a perfect verb form; they say: "lammā qāma qumtu" (when he stood, I stood up), and they rarely say: "lammā qāma aqūmu". This, however, is permissible with verbs that have an enduring character, such as "dispute," "quarrel," "combat"; then one may say: "lammā laqītuhu uqātiluh" (when I met him, I began to fight him) — with the meaning: I began to fight him.
