Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:82
But the answer of his people was only that they said, "Evict them from your city! Indeed, they are men who keep themselves pure."
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 His word: وَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِ إِلا أَنْ قَالُوا أَخْرِجُوهُمْ مِنْ قَرْيَتِكُمْ إِنَّهُمْ أُنَاسٌ يَتَطَهَّرُونَ (82) ("And the answer of his people was nothing but that they said: 'Drive them out of your town; truly, they are people who keep themselves pure.'") (7:82)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: And the answer of the people of Lūṭ to Lūṭ — when he reproached them for their abominable deed and for their surrendering themselves to that which Allah had forbidden them of filthy conduct — was nothing but that some of them said to others: Drive out Lūṭ and his family. Therefore it was said: "Drive them out," in the plural, although before this only "Lūṭ" had been mentioned, without anyone else.
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It is also possible that the plural was used in the sense: Drive out Lūṭ and whoever adhered to his religion from your town. So at the beginning of the statement it sufficed to mention "Lūṭ" without mentioning his followers, and then at the end of the statement the plural was used, just as it was said: يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِذَا طَلَّقْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ ("O Prophet, when you divorce women") [al-Ṭalāq: 1].
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And we have already set forth the parallels of this earlier in a manner that absolves us from repeating it here.
= (Truly, they are people who keep themselves pure), he says: Truly, Lūṭ and whoever followed him are people who keep themselves far from that which we do, namely the approaching of men in their rear.
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And in agreement with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Hāniʾ ibn Saʿīd al-Nakhaʿī related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥajjāj, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of Mujāhid: (Truly, they are people who keep themselves pure), he said: from the rear of men and the rear of women.
14834 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Mujāhid: (Truly, they are people who keep themselves pure), from the rear of men and the rear of women.
14835 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Al-Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥajjāj, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His word: (Truly, they are people who keep themselves pure), he said: They keep themselves pure from the rear of men and women.
14836 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us, saying: Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿUmāra informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His word: (Truly, they are people who keep themselves pure), he said: from the rear of men and from the rear of women.
14837 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (Truly, they are people who keep themselves pure), he said: They abstain out of piety (yataḥarrajūn).
14838 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (Truly, they are people who keep themselves pure), he says: They blamed them for something that was not a defect, and reproached them for something that was not blameworthy.
