'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: ﴿And Lot when he said to his people, 'Do you commit such immorality as no one has preceded you with from among the worlds?'﴾ ﴿Indeed, you approach men with desire instead of women. Rather, you are a transgressing people.'﴾ ﴿And the answer of his people was not except that they said, 'Expel them from your city. Indeed, they are men who keep themselves pure.'﴾ ﴿So We saved him and his family, except for his wife; she was of those who remained behind.﴾ ﴿And We rained upon them a rain. Then see how was the end of the criminals.﴾ (p-607) 'Lot' - blessings and peace be upon him -; Allah, the Exalted, sent him to a nation called 'Sodom'; and it has been narrated that he was the nephew of Ibrahim - blessings and peace be upon him -; and his mention is either through 'We sent' as in the preceding prophets; or through an implied action, the meaning of which is: 'And mention Lot'; and his questioning of them is for the purpose of stopping them, and for reprimand and condemnation. And 'the immorality' here refers to approaching men in their rears; and it has been narrated that this sin had not occurred in nations before them. Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And although the wording of the verse implies this, the verse could also mean: 'No one has preceded you to adhere to it and to make it public'; and it has been narrated that they used to approach some of each other; and it has been narrated that they only approached strangers; this was said by Al-Hasan Al-Basri; and Amr ibn Dinar said: No male mounted another male before the people of Lot - blessings and peace be upon him -; and Al-Naqqash narrated that Iblis was the origin of their actions, as he called them to himself; and some scholars said: The one who commits sodomy is like the one who commits adultery; and Malik - may Allah have mercy on him - and others said: He is to be stoned, whether he is married or not; and Abu Bakr As-Siddiq - may Allah be pleased with him - burned a man called 'Al-Faj'ah' when he committed the act of the people of Lot - blessings and peace be upon him. And Nafi, Al-Kisai, and Hafs from Asim read: 'Indeed, you' in the news, as if he explained the immorality; and Ibn Kathir, Abu Amr, and Asim in the narration of Abu Bakr - may Allah be pleased with him -; and Hamzah read: 'Do you indeed?' with another question; and this is because the first is a question about a general matter, and the second is about a specified one; except that Hamzah and Asim read with two hamzahs, while Abu Amr and Ibn Kathir did not emphasize except one. And 'desire' is in the accusative as a source, from your saying: 'I desired the thing; desire'; and the meaning is: You abandon the intended purpose of intercourse, which is seeking what Allah, the Exalted, has decreed of offspring; and you only indulge in desire. And His saying: ﴿ 'Rather, you are'﴾ is a shift from informing about them, or confirming them in their sin; and leaving that to the judgment upon them that they are a people who have exceeded the limit and committed the prohibition; and 'transgression' is the corrupting excess.

And the majority read "Jawāb"; with the accusative case; and al-Hasan ibn Abī al-Hasan read "Jawāb"; with the nominative case; and there was no objection from his people by way of argument; nor by rational defense; rather it was with disbelief; and outright harshness; and abandonment; in their saying: ﴿ "Drive them out"; ﴾ and their justification for the expulsion was the purification of the expellers; and the pronoun refers back to Lūt - peace be upon him - and his family; and even though they were not mentioned; the meaning necessitates them; and it has been narrated that there was no one with him except his two daughters; and based on this, the pronoun refers to him and his two daughters; and ﴿ "They purify themselves"; ﴾ means: they are free from our state; and our customs; Mujahid said: its meaning is: they purify themselves from the backs of men; and women; and Qatadah said: they criticized them without any fault; and condemned them without any blame; and the disagreement about his family is as previously mentioned.

And Allah, the Exalted, excluded the wife of Lūt - peace be upon him - from the saved ones; and informed that she perished; and "al-ghābir" means: the remaining; this is the well-known meaning in the language; and from it is the residue of menstruation; as Abu Kabīr al-Hudhali said:

And free from every residue of menstruation ∗∗∗ and the corruption of a nursing woman and a debilitating disease.

And "the residue of milk in the breast": its remaining; and some of the interpreters said: she was among those who remained in punishment; meaning: "with those who did not survive"; and Abu Ubaidah; Mu'ammar said: Allah, the Exalted, mentioned her because she was among those who aged; and remained from his era to the era of another; so she was remaining until she perished with her people.

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: So it is as if His saying: ﴿ "Except his wife"; ﴾ sufficed Him in that she did not survive; then He began to describe her afterwards with a description that does not relate to salvation; nor destruction; and the first is more apparent; and "al-ghābir" may come with the meaning of the past; and likewise the people of language have said: "ghabara" means: "remained"; and it means: "passed"; and as for the saying of al-A'sha:

He bit what the mourners left for him ∗∗∗ from his mother in the bygone time.

It is apparent that he meant the past; and that is in relation to the time of the insult; and it is possible that he meant: "in the remaining time"; and that is in relation to the time that is remaining after the keeping; and it is possible that "in the time" is connected to "biting"; so "al-ghābir" would mean: the remaining; in general; and the first is more apparent.

And His saying, the Exalted, ﴿ And We rained upon them ﴾; the verse; is a text on raining; and the verses have confirmed in other than this surah that it was with stones; and it has been narrated that Allah - the Mighty and Majestic - sent Jibril - peace be upon him - and he uprooted it with his wing; and it was six cities; - and it was said: five; and it was said: four - he lifted it until the people of the heavens heard the braying of donkeys; and the crowing of roosters; then he turned it upside down and brought its top down; and sent it to the earth; and the stones followed them with this; so it destroyed whoever was among them on a journey; or outside the elevated places; and the wife of Lūt - peace be upon him - said when she heard the quake: Woe to my people; and she turned; and a rock struck her; and killed her.