And Lot, and We sent Lot. And when is a circumstance for Our sending. Or remember Lot, and when is a substitution for it, meaning: and remember when he said to his people, "Do you commit the immoral act? Do you do the evil that is persistent in its ugliness? No one has preceded you with it; no one has done it before you." The "by" is for transference, as in your saying: "I preceded him with the ball," if you hit it before him. From it is his saying, blessings and peace be upon him, "‘Akkasha has preceded you with it." The first "from" is extra for the confirmation of the negation and to convey the meaning of comprehensiveness, and the second is for partitive. If you say: What is the position of this sentence? I say: It is a new sentence. He first denied it against them by saying, "Do you commit the immoral act?" Then he reproached them for it by saying: You are the first to commit it. Or it is an answer to a hypothetical question, as if they said: Why should we not commit it? He said: No one has preceded you with it, so do not do what you have not been preceded in. "Indeed, you certainly approach men" is an explanation of his saying: "Do you commit the immoral act?" The "hamzah" is similar to that in "Do you commit the immoral act?" for denial and magnification. And it was read: "Indeed, you," as a new statement to say: you approach men. From "approaching a woman" when you cover her with desire, it is an object for the purpose, meaning for desire, there is no reason for you except mere desire without any other motive, and there is no greater blame than this, for he described them with bestiality, that they have no motive from the side of reason at all, like seeking offspring and the like, or a state meaning desiring, following desire, not paying attention to the ugliness. "Rather, you are a people who are extravagant" he turned from denial to informing them of the state that necessitates the committing of abominations and calls to following desires, which is that they are a people whose habit is extravagance and exceeding limits in everything. Thus, they were extravagant in the matter of fulfilling desire, until they exceeded the usual to the unusual. Similar to it is "Rather, you are a people who are transgressors." And what was the response of his people except that they said, meaning they did not respond to him with what would be a response to what Lot, blessings and peace be upon him, spoke to them about, from denying the immoral act, magnifying its matter, and labeling them with extravagance, which is the root of all evil. But they brought forth something else that does not relate to his words and advice, from the command to expel him and those with him from the believers from their village, being annoyed with them and what they hear from their admonition and advice. And their saying: "Indeed, they are a people who purify themselves" is mockery of them and of their purification from immoral acts, and boasting about what they were in of filth, as the wicked say to some of the righteous when they admonish them: "Keep this ascetic away from us," and "Relieve us from this ascetic." And his family and those who are specific to him from his relatives or from the believers, from the remnants, meaning those who remained in their homes, that is, they perished. The mention is for the predominance of males over females. And she was a disbeliever loyal to the people of Sodom. It has been narrated that she turned and a stone struck her and she died. And it is said: The overturned cities were five. And it is said: They were four thousand between Syria and Medina, and Allah rained upon them brimstone and fire. And it is said: The ground swallowed the residents among them, and stones rained upon their travelers and stragglers. And it is said: He rained upon them and then the ground swallowed them. And it has been narrated that a merchant among them was in the sanctuary, and the stone stood for him for forty days until he completed his trade and exited from the sanctuary, then it fell upon him. If you say: What is the difference between "rained" and "rained upon"? I say: It is said: The sky rained upon them and a valley is rained upon.

The sky rained in goodness, and it rained in evil. It is imagined that this is a distinction of a particular kind, but it is explained that when it rained: its meaning is that something was sent down in the manner of rain, even if it was not water. Even if Allah sent down from the sky types of goodness and provisions, for example, like manna and quails, it would be permissible to say: the sky rained goodness, meaning it sent it down like rain. So evil is not a particularity in this four-letter form, but it happened that the sky did not send anything except that which was rain unless it was a punishment. Thus, the reality was mistakenly thought to be an intended distinction in the expression, so it was pointed out to clarify the matter in it and to make it better and more beautiful. In the rare words: 'harra ghayr mamṭūr.' It is fitting for it to be non-rained. The first 'harra' means a side or aspect. The second means deserving and worthy. And 'mamṭūr' in the first sense means afflicted by rain. In the second sense, it means something that has been taken away from it. This is how it is understood from the dictionaries. And the meaning of 'matarat-hum': it struck them with rain, as they say: 'ghāthathum' and 'wabalat-hum' and 'jādat-hum' and 'rahmat-hum.' It is said: 'amṭarat 'alayhim kadhā,' meaning it was sent down upon them like rain. 'So send down upon us stones from the sky,' and 'We rained upon them stones of baked clay.' And the meaning of 'And We rained upon them a rain' is that we sent upon them a type of amazing rain, meaning stones. Do you not see His saying: 'How evil was the rain of those who were warned.'