And when the calming of Lot, peace be upon him, came to an end, and the advance towards him in what he does, Allah, the Exalted, informed about the condition of his people, saying: ﴿So when Our command came﴾ with the letter 'fa' for what has passed in the story of Salih, peace be upon him, regarding the causation and the consequence. That is, when Lot exited from it with his family, Our command came to us. And when Our command came, which is Our punishment and the command regarding it, ﴿We made﴾ with what we possess of greatness ﴿its highest﴾, meaning: the highest of their cities while they were in it (p-346) ﴿its lowest﴾, and We rained upon it, meaning: upon their cities after turning them upside down for their sake. The secret of mentioning here the pronoun 'ha' instead of the pronoun 'hum' will come in Surah Al-Hijr. ﴿stones of baked clay﴾ meaning: sent from a place that is exceedingly high ﴿stacked﴾ with stones, meaning: they are piled on top of one another while being ﴿marked﴾, meaning: distinguished with signs that indicate they are prepared for punishment, from the sign [and the mark] which is the sign made for grazing camels to distinguish them when they mix in the pasture. And in Adh-Dhariyat: ﴿stones of clay﴾ [Adh-Dhariyat: 33], and that is because the origin of stones is soil, which Allah makes, through water, capable of becoming stone, just as He made it capable of transforming into metals of gold, silver, iron, and others. So, in consideration of its origin, it is clay, and in consideration of its beginning, it is stone and sulfur and fire. And perhaps the stone of sulfur is the heaviest of stones with what is in it of the power of fire and the foulness of the smell. Then He magnified it by saying: ﴿with your Lord﴾ and expressed with 'Lord' indicating the abundance of His kindness and to Him, and that He only commanded him, blessings and peace be upon him, to warn as a mercy for his nation which He made the best of nations and will make it the most numerous of nations, and He does not destroy it as He destroyed them. And the root of 'sajal' - in whatever arrangement it may be - revolves around elevation, from sitting for what has risen above the depths, which is the high ground, and from it follows thickness and elevation. And from thickness is sitting for the thick of the earth and the sturdy camel, and elevation necessitates correctness, and from 'jalasa' - when he sat; and 'sajal' for the great bucket, and it is often in opposition to another, whenever one descends, the other rises. Thus, the term 'musajalah' comes with the meaning of competition and boasting. (p-347) And 'sajal' is the great udder, and 'sijil' - with the kasrah and the emphasis on the lam - is the book; because it is mentioned in it what is for boasting and competing. And 'salaja' the food: he swallowed it, and 'suljan' is a soft plant, as if it was named that because its branches [take] downward due to their softness. And this meaning is indicated in this verse by three things: the rains, the word 'upon', and 'sijil'.

And when the meaning is that it is from a place that is exceedingly high to magnify its impact, it is fitting that all beauty follows that saying: ﴿And what is﴾ upon severity after its place ﴿of the wrongdoers﴾ meaning: of anyone from those deeply entrenched in wrongdoing in that time, nor this nor any time from the times ﴿far﴾ so that it is not imagined that there is a need for it to reach the target over a long time.

The mention of this story from the Torah: It was said in the first book after the story of the glad tidings of Ibrahim, peace be upon him: The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lut was sitting at the gate of Sodom. Lut looked at them and received them, then he fell on his face prostrating on the ground and said: Indeed, I seek refuge with you, O my lords, turn to the house of your servant and spend the night there and wash your feet and then set out on your way. They said: No! But we will spend the night in the street. Lut insisted on them with great insistence, so they turned back with him and entered his house. He prepared food for them, and before the time of sleeping, the people of the village, the people of Sodom, surrounded the door from the young men to the elders, all the people of the town. They called for Lut and said to him: Where are the two men who came to you in the evening? Bring them out to us so that we may know them - and in one version: until we may have relations with them. Lut went out to them and closed the door behind him, and Lut said to them: Do not do evil to me, O my brothers! Here are my two daughters who have not been touched by a man. I will bring them out to you, so do with them what is good in your eyes, and do not commit any wrongdoing against these two men, for they have entered my house as guests. They said to him: Turn away from us. Indeed, one has come to dwell in our house and has started to judge us, so now we will do worse to you than to them. Lut struggled with the people greatly, and they drew near to break down the door. The two men extended their hands and brought Lut into the house with them, then the people who were at the door struck them with blindness, from the greatest of them to the least of them, so they were exhausted in seeking the door. The two angels said to Lut: What are you doing here? Take your relatives and your sons and your daughters and all that you have in this town and bring them out of this place, for we are going to destroy this town because their deeds and the evil of their actions have reached the Lord. So the Lord has sent us to destroy it. Lut went out and spoke to his relatives and the husbands of his daughters and said to them: Get up and leave this town, for the Lord is determined to destroy it. And he was like one who was mocking them. When the dawn approached, the angels urged Lut and said to him: Get up and take your wife and your two daughters who are with you, so that you will not be afflicted by the sins of the people of this town. Lut delayed, so the angels took him by the hand and the hand of his wife and his two daughters, for Allah had mercy on him, and they brought him out and placed him outside the town. When they brought them out, they said to him: Save yourself and do not look back and do not stop anywhere in all the plain, but flee to the mountain and save yourself. Lut said to them: I ask you, my lords, to let me escape now, for your servant has found mercy and kindness, and your favors have increased upon me to save my life. I cannot escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me and I die, and this town is near for me to escape to, and it is small. Will you allow me to escape to it, for it is insignificant? So let me save my life. They said to him: We have granted you this as well, so we will not overthrow this town that you asked for. Hurry and save yourself to there, for we cannot do anything until you enter it. Therefore, that town was named Zoar - and in one version: Sagar. The sun rose upon the earth when Lut entered Zoar - and in one version: Sagar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and He overturned these towns and the plain entirely, and He destroyed all its inhabitants and all who were in it and all the vegetation of the earth. Lut's wife looked back and became a pillar of salt. Ibrahim rose early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord; he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw that the smoke of the town was rising like the smoke of a furnace. When Allah destroyed the towns of the plain, Allah remembered Ibrahim and sent Lut from the overturned towns when Allah overturned the towns where Lut used to dwell. Lut came out from Zoar - and in one version: Sagar - and he dwelt in the mountain with his two daughters because he feared to dwell in Zoar, so he sat in a cave.