Tafseer of The Rock · Al-Hijr · 15:52
When they entered upon him and said, "Peace." [Abraham] said, "Indeed, we are fearful of you."
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.
This concerns the angels who entered upon Ibrāhīm, the friend of the Merciful (Khalīl al-Raḥmān), when his Lord sent them to the people of Lūṭ to destroy them. فَقَالُوا سَلامًا — He says: the guests said to Ibrāhīm: "Salāman" (peace). قَالَ إِنَّا مِنْكُمْ وَجِلُونَ — He says: Ibrāhīm replied: "We are afraid of you." We have already previously expounded the reason for the accusative case (naṣb) in his word سَلامًا , the cause of Ibrāhīm's fear of his guests, the disagreements of the scholars about this, and the indication of the correct position — in a manner that makes repetition in this place unnecessary. As for his word قَالُوا سَلامًا , where he uses the plural while intending the guest, and formulates the report about them in the plural while the word "guest" (ḍayf) is in the singular form — that is because ḍayf is a noun that applies to one person as well as to two or to a group, just like the words wazn, qaṭr, and ʿadl. For this reason the report about it is put in the plural, even though it formally reads as a singular.
