His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿So when Our command came, We made its highest part its lowest, and We rained upon it stones of baked clay, stacked﴾ ﴿Marked by your Lord, and it is not far from the wrongdoers﴾

It is narrated that Gabriel, peace be upon him, entered his wing under the cities of the people of Lot and uprooted them, raising them until the inhabitants of the lowest heaven heard the crowing of the roosters and the barking of the dogs. Then he sent them back upside down, and he followed them with stones from the sky. It is narrated that Gabriel, peace be upon him, took them with the tips of his wing. It is also narrated that a city among them was saved that was specifically for Lot, peace be upon him, called: Zaghur.

And Our command in this verse can be understood as a source from 'amara, and there is an implied omission in the speech, which can be understood as: the necessity of Our command. It can also be understood as one of the matters, and the pronoun in His saying: its highest part its lowest refers to the cities. And 'We rained upon it' is applied likewise, and the intended meaning is about its people. It is narrated that the stones took from them those who were outside their cities until they killed them all. It is narrated that there was among them a man in the sacred sanctuary, and his stone remained suspended in the air until he exited the sanctuary, then the stone killed him. And 'rained' is always used in the disliked, while 'to rain' is used in the liked; this is the saying of Abu Ubaidah.

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

And it is not so, and His saying, exalted is He: 'This is a cloud bringing rain' refutes this saying, for they thought it was a customary mercy. And His saying: 'of baked clay' has been disputed: Ibn Zayd said: 'Sijjil' is the name of the lowest heaven.

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

And this is weak, and it is refuted by His description of it as 'stacked.' A group said: It is taken from the word 'sijil,' meaning it is from a matter that has been written upon them.

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

And this is far-fetched, and a group said: It is taken from 'sajal' when something is sent forth as a record, as you say: he said it recorded.

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

And this is weak, and a group said: 'from sijjil' means: from Hell, for it is said:

'Sijjil' and 'Sijjin' have preserved in it a lam instead of the noon, as they said: 'Usailal' and 'Usailan.' And a group said: 'Sijjil' means:

Severe. And Al-Tabari recited in this:

'An affliction that the heroes advised with, Sijjil.'

And the verse is in a poem with a nun: 'Sijjin.' And a group said: 'Sijjil' is a term that has not been Arabized, its origin is 'Sanj' and 'Jil.' And it is said: other than this regarding the origin of the term. And the meaning of this term is water and clay. This is the saying of Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, and Mujahid, and Ibn Jubair, and Ikrimah, and Al-Suddi, and others. This group went to the fact that the stones with which they were thrown were like baked bricks, made from clay that had hardened - this was stated by Al-Hasan.

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

And this is a saying that resembles it. And it is the correct view held by the majority. And a group said: The meaning of 'sijjil' is stone mixed with clay, meaning stone and clay.

This can be related to what came before it. The bricks and what is similar to them can be said to be stone and clay, because each one has taken its share from both. It is clay in terms of its origin. And it is stone in terms of its hardness.

And 'manḍūd' means: some of it is above some. That is, they are stacked, and this is a description of 'sijjīl'. Al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas said: 'Its stacking' means that it is in the sky, stacked, some of it above some.

And 'musawwama' means: marked with a sign. ʿIkrimah and Qatādah said: It had whiteness and redness in it. It is narrated that there was the name of its owner on every stone. This term is from 'sawwamā' if he marks, and from it is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, on the Day of Badr: 'Mark them, for the angels have marked.' It is also possible that 'musawwama' here means: sent down, and its marking is from the descent.

And His saying: 'And what is it' is an indication to the stones. And 'the wrongdoers' is said to mean Quraysh. It is said: He means all who are characterized by wrongdoing, and this is the most correct because it has been narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, that he said: 'There will be in my nation a sinking, transformation, and being pelted with stones.' It has also been reported that 'this nation is safe from that.' It is said: He means by 'it': the cities, and the meaning would be: the announcement that these lands are close to Mecca - and the first is clearer. It has been narrated that these lands were between Medina and the Levant. Al-Ṭabarī narrated in naming these cities: Ṣayʿah, Ṣaʿdah, ʿAmzah, Dūmā, and Sādūm, which is the great village.