Tafseer of Hud · Hud · 11:81
The angels said, "O Lot, indeed we are messengers of your Lord; [therefore], they will never reach you. So set out with your family during a portion of the night and let not any among you look back - except your wife; indeed, she will be struck by that which strikes them. Indeed, their appointment is [for] the morning. Is not the morning near?"
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 statement concerning the explanation of the words of Allah, the Exalted: قَالُوا يَا لُوطُ إِنَّا رُسُلُ رَبِّكَ لَنْ يَصِلُوا إِلَيْكَ فَأَسْرِ بِأَهْلِكَ بِقِطْعٍ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ وَلا يَلْتَفِتْ مِنْكُمْ أَحَدٌ إِلا امْرَأَتَكَ إِنَّهُ مُصِيبُهَا مَا أَصَابَهُمْ إِنَّ مَوْعِدَهُمُ الصُّبْحُ أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ (They said: "O Lūṭ, we are the messengers of your Lord. They will not reach you. Set out with your family in the remaining part of the night, and let none of you look back, except your wife — there shall strike her what strikes them. Their appointed time is the dawn — is the dawn not near?") (81).
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah, exalted be His mention, says: The angels said to Lūṭ, after Lūṭ had said to his people لَوْ أَنَّ لِي بِكُمْ قُوَّةً أَوْ آوِي إِلَى رُكْنٍ شَدِيدٍ and they saw the distress to which the people had brought him by their conduct: يَا لُوطُ إِنَّا رُسُلُ رَبِّكَ — "We have been sent to destroy them, and they will be unable to do you or your guests any harm. So regard the matter as light" — فَأَسْرِ بِأَهْلِكَ بِقِطْعٍ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ — that is: depart with your family from their midst in what remains of the night.
One says for this: "asrā" and "sarā" — when someone travels by night — وَلا يَلْتَفِتْ مِنْكُمْ أَحَدٌ إِلا امْرَأَتَكَ .
The reciters differed concerning the reading of فَأَسْرِ . The majority of the reciters of Mecca and Medina read: "fa-isri" — joined, without the hamza of the alif — derived from "sarā". The majority of the reciters of Kufa and Basra read: فَأَسْرِ — with the hamza of the alif — derived from "asrā".
Abū Jaʿfar said: My view on this is that these are two readings, each of which has been followed by authoritative reciters; they are two well-known dialectal forms of the Arabs with the same meaning. Whichever of the two a reciter recites, he hits upon what is correct.
As for His word: إِلا امْرَأَتَكَ — the majority of the reciters of the Ḥijāz and Kufa, and some of those of Basra, read it in the accusative: إِلا امْرَأَتَكَ — with the interpretation: "Set out with your family, except your wife" — taking it that Lūṭ was commanded to travel by night with his family with the exception of his wife: he was forbidden to take her along and was commanded to leave her behind with her people. Some of the Basrans read: إِلا امْرَأَتُكَ — in the nominative — with the meaning: "Let none of you look back, except your wife" — taking it that Lūṭ did take her along, and that Lūṭ and his companions were forbidden to look, except his wife; and that she did look and thereby perished.
And His word: إِنَّهُ مُصِيبُهَا مَا أَصَابَهُمْ — that is: there shall strike your wife the punishment that strikes your people — إِنَّ مَوْعِدَهُمُ الصُّبْحُ — that is: the appointed time of your people for the destruction is the dawn. Lūṭ found this too long and said: "Then hasten their destruction!" They said: أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٌ — the punishment will descend upon them at the dawn, as in:
18407 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ — that is: the punishment descends only at the dawn of this night of yours — so proceed with what you have been commanded.
In accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes spoke.
Mention of those who said this:
18408 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, who said: The messengers departed from the dwelling of Ibrāhīm to Lūṭ. When they came to Lūṭ, and there came to pass of their affair what Allah has mentioned, Jibrīl said to Lūṭ: "O Lūṭ, we are going to destroy the inhabitants of this town — verily, they are wrongdoers." Lūṭ said to them: "Destroy them now!" Jibrīl (peace be upon him) said to him: إِنَّ مَوْعِدَهُمُ الصُّبْحُ أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ . It was revealed to Lūṭ: أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ . Then Lūṭ was commanded to travel by night with his family, and none of them was to look back, except his wife. Lūṭ departed. When the hour had come at which they were to be destroyed, Jibrīl thrust his wing beneath them and lifted them up, until the inhabitants of heaven heard the crowing of the roosters and the barking of the dogs. Then he turned their upper part downward, and caused stones of baked clay to rain down upon them. The wife of Lūṭ heard the din and said: "O my people!" A stone struck her and killed her.
18409 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Ḥafṣ ibn Ḥumayd, on the authority of Shimr ibn ʿAṭiyya, who said: Lūṭ had made his wife promise not to disclose anything of the secret of his guests. When Jibrīl and his companions entered upon him, she saw them in a form she had never seen before. She hastened to her people and went to the meeting-place and waved with her hand, whereupon they came at a quickened pace. When they reached Lūṭ, Lūṭ said to them what Allah has mentioned in His Book. Jibrīl said: يَا لُوطُ إِنَّا رُسُلُ رَبِّكَ لَنْ يَصِلُوا إِلَيْكَ — he gestured with his hand and blinded their eyes. They began searching for them, groping along the walls, seeing nothing.
18410 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ḥudhayfa, who said: When the wicked old woman — his wife — saw them — that is, the messengers — she hastened away and warned them. She said: "With Lūṭ are guests; I have never seen people with such handsome faces!" — and I think she also said: "And with such white skin and so fragrant!" They came rushing to him, as Allah has said. Lūṭ shut the door. They began to wrestle with it. Jibrīl asked his Lord's permission to punish them; it was granted to him. He struck them with his wing, and left them blind, wandering about in the worst night that had ever come over them. They informed him: إِنَّا رُسُلُ رَبِّكَ فَأَسْرِ بِأَهْلِكَ بِقِطْعٍ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ . It has been mentioned to us that with Lūṭ when he left the town was his wife; she heard the sound, looked back, and Allah sent a stone upon her that destroyed her. Concerning His word إِنَّ مَوْعِدَهُمُ الصُّبْحُ أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ — the prophet of Allah wished for something quicker than that; they said: أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ ?
18411 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Al-Ḥakam ibn Bashīr related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Qays al-Mulāʾī related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Bashīr, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: His wife hastened, when she saw them, to her people and said: "There are guests with Lūṭ tonight; I have never seen such handsome faces and such fragrant people!" They came rushing to him. Lūṭ hurried to hold them back at the door and said: هَؤُلاءِ بَنَاتِي إِنْ كُنْتُمْ فَاعِلِينَ — they said: أَوَلَمْ نَنْهَكَ عَنِ الْعَالَمِينَ . They pressed in upon the angels, but the angels seized them and blinded their eyes. They said: "O Lūṭ, you have brought us people who have bewitched us!" Jibrīl lifted the four towns of Lūṭ — each with a hundred thousand inhabitants — upon his wing between heaven and earth, until the inhabitants of the lowest heaven heard the crowing of their roosters; then he turned them over, and Allah made their uppermost part the lowest.
18412 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: Ḥudhayfa said: When they entered upon him, his wicked old woman went off and said to her people: "There are people with Lūṭ tonight — I have never seen people so handsome!" They came hastening. Lūṭ hurried to the door, and an angel bolted the door. Jibrīl asked permission to punish them; Allah gave him permission; he struck them with his wing and left them blind. They passed the worst of nights. Then they said: إِنَّا رُسُلُ رَبِّكَ فَأَسْرِ بِأَهْلِكَ بِقِطْعٍ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ وَلا يَلْتَفِتْ مِنْكُمْ أَحَدٌ إِلا امْرَأَتَكَ . It has reached us that she heard a sound, looked back, and a stone struck her — she had in any case become separated from the people and her place was known.
18413 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ḥudhayfa — something similar, except that he said: "Lūṭ hurried to the door."
18414 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: When Lūṭ said لَوْ أَنَّ لِي بِكُمْ قُوَّةً أَوْ آوِي إِلَى رُكْنٍ شَدِيدٍ , Jibrīl (peace be upon him) thereupon spread his wings and struck their eyes blind. They rushed out, one trampling upon another in his blindness, crying out: "Flee! Flee! In the house of Lūṭ are the greatest sorcerers on earth!" And that is His word: وَلَقَدْ رَاوَدُوهُ عَنْ ضَيْفِهِ فَطَمَسْنَا أَعْيُنَهُمْ [Al-Qamar: 37]. They said to Lūṭ: إِنَّا رُسُلُ رَبِّكَ لَنْ يَصِلُوا إِلَيْكَ فَأَسْرِ بِأَهْلِكَ بِقِطْعٍ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ وَلا يَلْتَفِتْ مِنْكُمْ أَحَدٌ إِلا امْرَأَتَكَ إِنَّهُ مُصِيبُهَا — "Follow your family" — وَامْضُوا حَيْثُ تُؤْمَرُونَ — and Allah brought them to al-Shām. Lūṭ said: "Destroy them now!" They said: "We have only been commanded to wait until the dawn — is the dawn not near?" When the early morning hour arrived, Lūṭ departed with his family, and his wife was with him. And that is His word: إِلا آلَ لُوطٍ نَجَّيْنَاهُمْ بِسَحَرٍ [Al-Qamar: 34].
18415 — Al-Muthanā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Ṣamad: that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: The inhabitants of Sadūm where Lūṭ was — a people who had exchanged women for men. When Allah saw this of them, He sent the angels to punish them. They came to Ibrāhīm, and of his affair and theirs there came to pass what Allah has mentioned in His Book. When they had given Sāra glad tidings of the child, they rose, and Ibrāhīm walked along with them. He said: "Tell me: for what have you been sent?" They said: "We have been sent to the inhabitants of Sadūm to lay them waste — they are an evil people who have taken men instead of women." Ibrāhīm said: "What do you think: if there are fifty righteous men among them?" They said: "Then we will not punish them!" He began to reduce until he said: "A single household?" They said: "If there is a righteous household in it!" He said: "Then Lūṭ and his household?" They said: "His wife, however, inclines toward them!" When Ibrāhīm lost all hope, he turned back. They proceeded to the inhabitants of Sadūm. When his wife saw them, their beauty struck her. She sent word to the townsfolk: "There have come down to us people as handsome as has never been seen!" They surrounded the house of Lūṭ from every side and climbed over the walls. Lūṭ said: "O people, do not disgrace me before my guests — I will give you my daughters in marriage, they are purer for you!" They said: "If we had wanted your daughters, we would already know their place!" He said: لَوْ أَنَّ لِي بِكُمْ قُوَّةً أَوْ آوِي إِلَى رُكْنٍ شَدِيدٍ ! The messengers reproached him and said: "Your support is indeed strong, and there shall strike them a punishment that is not averted!" One of them passed his wing over their eyes and blinded their sight. They said: "We are bewitched!" And of their affair there came to pass what Allah, the Exalted, has related in the Qurʾān. Mīkāʾīl — the angel of punishment — thrust his wing downward until it reached the bottom of the earth, and turned it over. Stones came down from the heaven and pursued the absent ones. Allah destroyed them and saved Lūṭ and his family — except his wife.
18416 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj and Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh, and Abū Sufyān on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ḥudhayfa — their reports interwoven with one another: Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) used to pass by them and say: "Woe to you — I forbid you in the name of Allah from exposing yourselves to His punishment!" But they did not obey, until the Book had reached its appointed term. The angels came to Lūṭ while he was working on a field; he invited them as guests. They said: "We are your guests tonight!" Allah had commanded Jibrīl not to punish them until Lūṭ had borne three testimonies against them. Lūṭ walked with them for a while, then he looked at them and said: "Do you not know what the inhabitants of this town do? I know no one more evil on the face of the earth! Where am I taking you? To my people — the worst of Allah's creation?" Jibrīl said to the angels: "Remember this — one!" Then he walked on for a while; when they reached the middle of the town he said: "Do you not know what the inhabitants of this town do? I know no one more evil on the face of the earth — my people are the worst of Allah's creation!" Jibrīl said: "Remember — this is two!" When they reached the door of the house, he wept from shame and concern and said: "My people are the worst of Allah's creation — I know no town with worse inhabitants!" Jibrīl said: "Remember — this is three; the punishment is now warranted!" When they entered, his wicked old woman went out, climbed up high and waved her garment. The wicked ones came rushing: "What is the matter with you?" She said: "There are people with Lūṭ tonight — I have never seen more handsome faces!" They rushed to the door. Lūṭ hurried to hold them back; they pushed for a long time, he from within and they from without, while he adjured them by Allah and said: هَؤُلاءِ بَنَاتِي هُنَّ أَطْهَرُ لَكُمْ . The angel bolted the door. Jibrīl asked permission to punish them; Allah gave him permission. He stood up in the form in which he is in heaven — he spread his wings; Jibrīl has two wings, he wears a band of strung pearls, his teeth are radiantly white, his forehead broad, his head is like coral, like snow, and his feet incline toward green. He said: "O Lūṭ, إِنَّا رُسُلُ رَبِّكَ لَنْ يَصِلُوا إِلَيْكَ — step aside, O Lūṭ, and leave me and them." Lūṭ withdrew from the door. Jibrīl went out to them, spread his wing and struck their faces with it — a blow that shattered their eyes. They became blind and could not find the way. Then he commanded Lūṭ to set out with his family that night: فَأَسْرِ بِأَهْلِكَ بِقِطْعٍ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ .
18417 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: When Lūṭ said to his people لَوْ أَنَّ لِي بِكُمْ قُوَّةً أَوْ آوِي إِلَى رُكْنٍ شَدِيدٍ , and the messengers heard what he said and what was said to him, and saw in what distress he was — they said: يَا لُوطُ إِنَّا رُسُلُ رَبِّكَ لَنْ يَصِلُوا إِلَيْكَ — that is: with anything you disapprove of — فَأَسْرِ بِأَهْلِكَ بِقِطْعٍ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ وَلا يَلْتَفِتْ مِنْكُمْ أَحَدٌ إِلا امْرَأَتَكَ إِنَّهُ مُصِيبُهَا مَا أَصَابَهُمْ إِنَّ مَوْعِدَهُمُ الصُّبْحُ أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ — that is: the punishment descends upon them at the dawn of this night — so proceed with what you have been commanded.
18418 — [...] he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, who related: that the messengers thereupon struck the faces of those who had come to Lūṭ to seduce him concerning his guests. They returned blind. Allah says: وَلَقَدْ رَاوَدُوهُ عَنْ ضَيْفِهِ فَطَمَسْنَا أَعْيُنَهُمْ [Al-Qamar: 37].
18419 — Al-Muthanā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: بِقِطْعٍ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ — he said: "With a portion of the night."
18420 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: بِقِطْعٍ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ — with a portion of the night.
18421 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning His word: بِقِطْعٍ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ — he said: "The middle of the night." And concerning His word: وَاتَّبِعْ أَدْبَارَهُمْ — that is: follow the rear of your family — وَلا يَلْتَفِتْ مِنْكُمْ أَحَدٌ [Al-Ḥijr: 65].
And Mujāhid said concerning this:
18422 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: وَلا يَلْتَفِتْ مِنْكُمْ أَحَدٌ — he said: "Let no one look back" — إِلا امْرَأَتَكَ .
It has been related from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd that he read: فَأَسْرِ بِأَهْلِكَ بِقِطْعٍ مِنَ اللَّيْلَ إِلا امْرَأَتَكَ .
18423 — This Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related to me, saying: Al-Qāsim ibn Salām related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Hārūn, who said in the reading of Ibn Masʿūd: فَأَسْرِ بِأَهْلِكَ بِقِطْعٍ مِنَ اللَّيْلَ إِلا امْرَأَتَكَ .
Abū Jaʿfar said: This indicates the correctness of the reading with the accusative.