'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' The Exalted said: "And certainly Our messengers came to Abraham with good news. They said, 'Peace.' He answered, 'Peace.' So he did not wait long before he brought in a roasted calf." "And when he saw their hands did not reach him, he disliked them and felt a fear from them. They said, 'Do not fear. Indeed, we have been sent to the people of Lot.'" "And his wife was standing, and she laughed. So We gave her good news of Isaac, and after Isaac, Jacob." "The messengers": the angels, and they are Gabriel, Michael, and Israfil. A group said: instead of Israel, it is Azrael - the Angel of Death - and it has been narrated that Gabriel among them was specifically assigned to destroy the village of Lot, and Michael was specifically assigned to give good news to Abraham of Isaac. And Israfil was specifically assigned to save Lot and those with him. The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this verse indicates their participation in the good news of Isaac. A group said - and they are the majority - that the 'good news' is about Isaac. And a group said: the 'good news' is about the destruction of the people of Lot. And His saying: 'Peace' is an accusative on the source, and the doer in it is an implied verb from its wording as if he said: 'I greet with peace.' It is also correct that it could be: 'Peace' is a narration of the meaning of what they said, not for their wording. This was said by Mujahid and Al-Suddi. Therefore, the saying was acted upon, as you say - the man said: 'There is no god but Allah': 'You said it truly or sincerely.' And if you were to narrate their wording, it would not be correct to act upon the saying. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "He said, 'Peace'" is a narration of their wording, and 'Peace' is raised either on the subject, and the news is omitted, its estimation is: 'Upon you' or on the omitted subject's news, its estimation is: 'My affair is peace.' And this is like His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "So patience is beautiful" [Yusuf: 18] either on the estimation of 'So my affair is beautiful patience,' or on the estimation of: 'So patience is beautiful, more beautiful.' Ibn Kathir, Nafi, Abu Amr, Ibn Amer, and Asim read: 'They said, 'Peace.' He said, 'Peace.' And Hamzah and Al-Kisai read: 'They said, 'Peace.' He said, 'Salam.' And likewise is their difference in Surah Adh-Dhariyat. And this is on two aspects: it is possible that he means by it peace itself, as they said halal and haram, and from that is the saying of the poet: 'We passed by and said, 'Peace,' so she greeted, as the clouds gathered with the lightning.' (p-607) 'Gathered': took a crown or something like that. Al-Tabari said: And it has been narrated: as it was gathered. And it is possible that he means by 'peace': the opposite of war, you say: 'We are peace for you.' And the greeting of the angels was a hoped-for prayer - and that is why it was in the accusative - and the friend greeted with better than what he was greeted with, and that is why it was raised. And His saying: 'So he did not wait long before he came' can be that 'not' is negating, and in 'did not wait' is the pronoun of Abraham, and 'that he came' is in the accusative, meaning: by his coming, and it can be that 'not' is negating even if he came with the interpretation of the source in the nominative position with 'did not wait,' meaning: he did not wait for his coming. And there is no pronoun of Abraham in 'did not wait' - on this - and it can be that 'not' means 'which,' and in 'did not wait' is the pronoun of Abraham, and 'that he came' is the news of 'not,' meaning: so Abraham did not wait for his coming with a roasted calf. And in the etiquette of guests is to make his hospitality from this verse.

'Al-Hanidh' means 'the one that is cooked' and its meaning is: a roasted calf that is well-cooked and its juice drips. This dripping separates al-Hanidh from the rest of the roasted items. However, the form of 'the one that is covered' in the language is that which is covered with stones or heated sand or something that acts as a barrier between it and the fire, which is covered with it. The exposed part of the roast is that which is arranged on the embers, and the 'muhdhab' is the roast that has a barrier between it and the fire, meaning the roast is on it, not buried under it. 'Al-Tahnid' in the context of horses means that the horse is covered with a blanket over a blanket so that it sweats.

And His saying, 'So when he saw their hands' (the verse), it has been narrated that they were picking at the meat with sticks that were in their hands, and their hands did not reach it. In this verse, there is a lesson in etiquette regarding food, that the host should observe whether his guest is eating or not.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This should be done with a glance and stealth, not with a direct gaze. It has been narrated that a Bedouin ate with Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, and Sulayman saw a hair in the Bedouin's morsel and said to him: 'Remove the hair from your morsel.' The Bedouin replied: 'Are you looking at me like someone who sees hair in my morsel? By Allah, I will not eat with you.'

And 'Nakirhum' - as mentioned by many people - means: he denied them. He supported this with the verse that Abu Amr ibn al-Ala al-A'sha attributed to himself:

And she denied me, and what was it that she denied Except for the incidents of old age and baldness.

And some people said: 'Nakira' is used for what is seen by sight and is denied, while 'Ankara' is used for what is not established among meanings. It is as if al-A'sha said: 'And I was denied my affection and my blood relation,' and so on. Then he used 'Nakira' in reference to old age and baldness, which is visible to the eye. From this is the saying of Abu Dhuyab:

So we denied him, and we fled, and it became a barrier for us A tumultuous wave that guides and is a guide.

And what Ibrahim, peace be upon him, feared was indicated by their refusal to eat. It is known that one who brings evil does not eat the food of the one he visits. 'Awjasa' means: he felt fear within himself from them, and 'al-Wajis' is what overtakes the soul at the time of caution and the beginnings of fright. They reassured him with their saying: 'Do not be afraid,' and he knew that they were angels.

Then the verse moved to mention the woman and her glad tidings. A group said: Its meaning is: standing behind a curtain, listening to the conversation of Ibrahim with his guests. Another group said: Its meaning is: standing in prayer. Al-Suddi said its meaning is: standing to serve the people. In the reading of Ibn Mas'ud: 'And she was standing while he was sitting.' And His saying: 'So she laughed' Mujahid said: Its meaning is: she was delighted, and the linguists have recited:

And the laughter of the rabbits above the rock Is like the blood of the belly on the day of meeting.

This saying is weak and lacks strong support. Some linguists have denied that in the speech of the Arabs, 'dahikat' means 'hadhaqat'. Some of them have affirmed it. It is said that 'dahikat' means to be filled and to overflow. Al-Zajjaj refuted the saying of Mujahid. The majority said it is the known laughter. There was a disagreement about what 'dahikat' refers to. One group said: 'dahikat' was due to their assurance to Ibrahim by saying: 'Do not fear.' Qatadah said: 'dahikat' was mockery of the people of Lut for being unaware while the command of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, had already been executed against them. Wahb ibn Munabbih said: 'dahikat' was from the glad tidings of Isaac. He said: 'This is a precedence in meaning of delay.' Muhammad ibn Qais said: 'dahikat' was due to her assumption about them that they intended to act like the people of Lut. The judge said: 'This statement is incorrect and should not be heeded.' I mentioned it to indicate its invalidity, as reported by Al-Tabari. Another group said: 'dahikat' was from the fright of Ibrahim from three things while she was witnessing him overpowering forty men. It was said: a hundred. Al-Suddi said: 'dahikat' was because she would serve while Ibrahim would be running around and the guests would not eat. It was said: 'dahikat' was out of joy for her true assumption, because she used to tell Ibrahim that the punishment would surely descend upon the people of Lut. It has been narrated that the angels stroked the calf and it stood alive, and she laughed because of that. Muhammad ibn Ziyad Al-A'rabi read: 'fadihikat' with a fatḥah on the ḥāʾ. The wife of Ibrahim is Sarah, the daughter of Haran ibn Nahur. He is Ibrahim ibn Azar ibn Nahur, thus she is his cousin. It was said: she is the sister of Lut. The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: I do not think that except for the kinship of relationship, because Ibrahim is the uncle of Lut as has been narrated. Al-Tabari mentioned that when Ibrahim presented the calf, they said to him: 'We do not eat food except for a price.' He said to them: 'Its price is that you mention Allah, glorified and exalted is He, over it at the beginning and praise Him at the end.' Gabriel said to his companions: 'By Allah, He has indeed taken this one as a friend.' His saying: 'So We gave her good tidings' attributes the action of the angels to the pronoun of the name of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, as it was by His command and revelation. The angels gave Sarah the glad tidings of Isaac and that Isaac would give birth to Jacob. The child of the child is referred to as 'min al-wara' (from behind), which is close in meaning to 'behind' in the context of circumstances, as it refers to what is behind something and after it. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, saw a man with a young boy and said to him: 'Who is this?' He said: 'The child of my child.' He said: 'He is your child from behind.' The man became angry, and Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, mentioned to him the verse.

Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Abu Amr, and Al-Kisai read "Ya'qub" with the nominative case, based on the beginning, and the news is presented. According to this, it falls under the good tidings. A group said: Its being in the nominative means: And behind Isaac, Ya'qub will occur. Based on this, it does not fall under the good tidings. Ibn Amer and Hamzah read "Ya'qub" in the accusative case, and there is a difference regarding Asim. Among them, some made it conjoined with "Isaac" except that it did not decline. This speaker found it easy to differentiate between the conjunction and the conjoined with the genitive. Sibawayh does not permit this except by repeating the preposition, as when you say: I passed by Zayd today and yesterday by Amr. So the correct way according to him is: and yesterday by Amr. If it does not return, then there is great ugliness in it. The way for its being in the accusative is that it should be dependent on an implied verb, which the good tidings indicate, and its estimation is: And behind Isaac, we granted Ya'qub. This was favored by Abu Ali.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

It has been narrated that Sarah was at the time of this good tidings the daughter of ninety-nine years, and Ibrahim was one hundred years old.

This verse indicates that the one to be sacrificed is Ishmael and that he is older than Isaac. This is because Sarah was at the time of the oppression of the tyrant king, Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, a young and beautiful woman according to the narration. Ibrahim, peace be upon him, took her as a mother of a child. Sarah became jealous of her, so he took her and her son Ishmael from the Levant on Al-Buraq and came to Mecca that same day, leaving them there—according to the histories—and returned to the Levant that same day. Then the good tidings were given regarding Isaac, and Sarah was an old woman. As for the indication of the verse that Isaac is not the one to be sacrificed, it is that Sarah and Ibrahim were given good tidings of Isaac and that he would be born to him, Ya'qub. Then he was commanded to sacrifice when his son reached the age of striving with him. How could he be commanded to sacrifice a son who had been given good tidings before that he would be born to his son? Also, it has never been reported that Isaac entered Hijaz, and there is consensus that the command to sacrifice was at Mina. This purpose is supported by the saying of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him: "I am the son of the two who were sacrificed," meaning his father Abdullah and his father Ishmael. This is supported by what Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, argued regarding the arrangement of Surah As-Saffat, for after the completion of the matter of the sacrifice, he said: "And We gave him good tidings of Isaac, a prophet from among the righteous" [As-Saffat: 112].

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

In all of this, there are points of opposition for the one who says otherwise: that the one to be sacrificed is Isaac. However, what we have mentioned is the more likely, and Allah knows best.