And when the story concluded in this wonderful manner, he followed it with the story of Lut, peace be upon him, as it was one of the most famous events after it, and it is more horrific and magnificent. He preceded it with what relates to the matter of Ibrahim, peace be upon him, mentioning his glad tidings for what is in all of that of a warning to those who insisted on requesting the descent of the angels in their saying: ﴿Or has a messenger come with him?﴾ [Hud: 12], indicating that this is not difficult for Him. He has often done so, but their descent is terrifying, and their matter when revealed is frightening. As for when it is concealed, it does not stop their insistence. This is alongside what is in that of the relevance of the matter of this boy to the matter of the she-camel, in the creation of each of them being extraordinary, indicating the completeness of power and the perfection of knowledge upon which the matter of the surah is based in the precision of the Book and its detail, and the relevance of the arguments of Nuh and Ibrahim, peace be upon them, in that each of them showed compassion for the disbelievers and hope for their salvation from punishment through good conduct. And perhaps He, glorified and exalted is He, repeated 'Indeed' at the beginning of it as a conjunction to what is in the story of Nuh to alert to similar purposes, because 'Indeed' is for expectation, so it came to inform that the listener is in a state of expectation for that. For when the story of the news about what follows it concluded, He, the Exalted, said: ﴿And indeed﴾. Al-Rummani said: And the 'lam' entered for the confirmation of the news just as the oath confirms it. ﴿Our messengers came﴾, meaning those whose greatness is from our greatness. It was said: They were Jibril, Mikail, and Israfil, peace be upon them. ﴿Ibrahim﴾ is the friend of Allah, peace be upon him. ﴿With glad tidings﴾ means that which is one of the greatest glad tidings, which is honoring him with Ishaq, peace be upon him, as a son for him from his wife Sarah, may Allah be pleased with her. They came to him in the manner that he loves, which is the manner of guests, so he did not recognize them despite being the friend, but he denied them as He, the Exalted, said in Al-Dhariyat: ﴿He said, 'Peace! A people unknown.'﴾ [Al-Dhariyat: 25]. So his denial is initially interpreted as astonishment, meaning that he did not see upon them the attire of the people of that land nor the trace of travel. It is as if it was said: What was with them? It was said: ﴿They said, 'Peace.'﴾ meaning: We greet you with a great peace. ﴿He said, 'Peace.'﴾ meaning: A constant and everlasting peace upon you, never to cease. For the nominative has a virtue over the accusative; because it is news about something constant, and the accusative is a renewal of what was not. Thus it became included in ﴿So greet with a better one than it﴾ [An-Nisa: 86]. Then he honored their hospitality and went to do what Allah had instilled in him of the traits of generosity and the actions of the noble in the etiquette of hospitality, with promptness alongside precision. ﴿So he did not delay﴾ means: [So it was caused by their coming and he followed it that he] did not take long ﴿to bring a roasted calf﴾ meaning: roasted on hot stones in a trench, and above it are hot stones to intensify its cooking, so that after it was cooked, its fat dripped because it was fat. All of this while he did not know that they were angels, rather he was certain that they were among those who eat. This is looking to the saying of the people of Nuh: ﴿And we do not see for you any favor over us﴾ [Hud: 27] and his saying: ﴿And I do not say to those whom your eyes despise﴾ [Hud: 31], the verse. Meaning, indeed Allah has placed meanings in hearts and has made them the basis of happiness and misery, and those meanings may be concealed just as it was concealed from the most complete people of that time that his guests were angels until he feared them, and they came to him with glad tidings. So it is not permissible for anyone to belittle anyone except by what Allah has permitted.