His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "So he brought it near to them and said, 'Will you not eat?'" "And he felt from them fear. They said, 'Do not fear,' and they gave him good tidings of a knowledgeable boy." "And his wife approached with a cry and struck her face and said, 'I am a barren old woman.'" "They said, 'Thus has said your Lord. Indeed, He is the Wise, the Knowing.'" "He said, 'So what is your business here, O messengers?'" "They said, 'Indeed, we have been sent to a people of criminals.'" "To send upon them stones of clay." "Marked by your Lord for the transgressors.'" "So We brought out whoever was in it of the believers." "And We found not therein other than a single house of Muslims." The meaning: So he brought it near to them and they refrained from it. He said, 'Will you not eat?' It is narrated in the hadith that they said to him, 'We do not eat except what we have paid for.' He said to them, 'And I do not permit it to you except for a price.' They said, 'What is it?' He said, 'That you mention Allah, the Exalted, at the beginning, and praise Him at the end of eating.' Then some of them said to each other, 'By the right that Allah has taken him as a friend.' When they continued to refrain from eating, he felt from them fear. 'Al-wajs' is the feeling of the soul and its thoughts in caution. This is because the eating of the guest is a sign of safety and an indication of the openness of his soul. Food is a sanctity and a protection, and refraining from it is a source of discomfort. Ibrahim, peace be upon him, feared that their refusal to eat his food was due to some evil they intended. They said to him, 'Do not fear,' and they informed him that they were angels, and they gave him and Sarah good tidings of a knowledgeable boy, meaning: one who will be knowledgeable in the matter of his obligations and acquiring knowledge, meaning he will be knowledgeable. 'Knowledgeable' is a form of exaggeration. The majority of people are of the opinion that the boy here is Isaac, the son of Sarah, peace be upon him, who has been given good tidings in other places. Mujahid said: This boy is Ishmael, peace be upon him, but the first opinion is more likely. This is an error, and it is narrated that he recognized their being angels by inferring from their giving him good tidings of the unseen.

And His saying, exalted is He: "So his wife approached him" may mean that she came near to them from one side of the house. It may also mean that this approach is like saying: so-and-so has come to insult me or to do such-and-such when he becomes serious about it and engages in it. And "the cry": is the shout, as Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Sufyan, Al-Dahhak, and the one who is compelled to shout have explained. And Qatadah said: its meaning is: in a tone. And Al-Tabari said: some of them said: she exclaimed, 'Oh!' with a shout and astonishment. And Al-Nahhas said: it was said: "in a cry": in a group of women who were exchanging glances at the angels. And His saying, exalted is He: "So she struck her face" means: she struck her face. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: she slapped it, and this is what one does when something overwhelming comes upon him. And Sufyan, Al-Suddi, and Mujahid said: she struck her face with her hands, and this is commonly practiced among people even now. And her saying: "I am an old barren woman" may be interpreted as: I am an old barren woman, so how can I give birth? Or it may be interpreted as: an old barren woman could give birth? Al-Tabari interpreted it as: can an old barren woman give birth? It is reported that she had never given birth at all, and "the barren" refers to women who do not give birth, and to winds that do not pollinate trees, so there is no blessing in them. And their saying: "Thus said your Lord" means: like our saying that we informed you of, your Lord said that it would be. And "the Wise" is the One who possesses wisdom, and "the All-Knowing" means: about benefits and other pieces of knowledge.

Then Ibrahim, peace be upon him, said to the angels: "What is your matter?" And the matter (khitb) is the ambiguous affair. It is said that it is often used to express hardships and calamities, to the extent that they said: "The calamities of time" and others. It is as if he is saying: What is this calamity for which you have come? Then they informed him at that time that they had been sent to the cities of Lot, peace be upon him, to destroy its disbelieving, sinful, criminal inhabitants. And "the criminal" (al-mujrim) is one who commits crimes, which are the attributes of disobedience, such as disbelief and the like. Its singular form is a crime (jarimah). And their saying "to send upon them" means: to destroy them with these stones. Whenever "sent" (arsala) is connected with "upon" (ala), it indicates a meaning of intensity in directness and punishment. Whenever it is connected with "to" (ila), it is lighter. Look at that, and you will find it consistent. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "stones of clay" is a clarification that deviates from the usual stones of hail, which are made of water. It is narrated that it is clay that was cooked in the fire of Hell until it became stones like bricks. And "marked" (musawwamah) is an adjective for "stones". It is said that its meaning is: left (matrukah). And its marking is from destruction and affliction. It is said that its meaning is: marked with its sign from the heavens. And the mark (sawma) is the sign, meaning: it is not from the stones of this world. Al-Zahrawi and al-Rummani said: It was said that its meaning is that on each stone is the name of the one struck by it. Al-Rummani said: It was said that there were on it like seals. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: Its marking, if it is on the black stones, are white spots, and if on the white stones, there are black spots. It is possible that the meaning is that they are altogether known to your Lord, for this meaning is marked for Him, a special sign for Him. And "the extravagant" (al-musrif) is one who exceeds the limit. So if it comes corresponding, it is for the furthest limits of disbelief and what is below it.

Then Allah, glorified and exalted is He, informed that He had brought out by His command those who were in the village of Lot from the believers, saving them. And He returned the pronoun to the village and did not specify it before that due to the notoriety of its affair and because it is known that the criminal people are in a village without a doubt. The interpreters said: There is no difference between the prior mention of the believers and their later mention. They are merely two descriptions. He mentioned them first with one of them and then lastly with the second. Al-Rummani said: The verse indicates that faith is Islam.

It appears to me that there is an addition in meaning that improves the presentation of faith. This is because He mentioned it along with the expulsion from the village, as if He, glorified and exalted is He, is saying: 'Indeed, He has commanded us to expel every believer,' and it is not a condition that he be one who acts upon the acts of obedience, but rather the belief in Allah, glorified and exalted is He, only. Then, when He mentioned the state of the monotheists, He described them with the attribute they were upon, which is complete belief and actions. The house of the Muslims is the house of Lot, blessings and peace be upon him, and he was with his two daughters. It is said: and his daughter. In the book of Al-Thaalabi, it is said that Lot and the members of his household were thirteen, and his wife perished among those who perished. This story in its entirety was mentioned as an example for Quraysh, meaning that if they disbelieved, they would be afflicted with what befell those mentioned.