Surah Al-Hijr Ayat 67 (15:67 Quran) With Tafsir

Ala-Maududi

(15:67) In the meantime the people of the city came to Lot rejoicing.^[39]

39. This shows that those People had gone to the lowest depths of immorality. No sooner did they hear the news of the arrival of handsome strangers in their town than they rushed rejoicing to the house of Prophet Lot (peace be upon him) and impudently demanded that he should hand over his guests to them for the gratification of their lust. The pity is that there had remained not a single person among them to make a protest against such a heinous sin. Moreover, this shows that all of them, as a community, had totally lost every sense of decency, and they felt no shame at all to make such a wicked demand on him openly. The very fact, that they felt no hesitation in making such a wicked demand brazen facedly from a pious and holy man like Prophet Lot (peace be upon him), shows that the heinous crime was so common among them that they would not spare anyone.

The Talmud records many instances of the all round moral degradation of the people of Lot. Once a stranger was passing through their territory. As the darkness approached, he was forced to pass the night near Sodom. As he had his own provisions with him, he did not stand in any need of help from the town’s folks, so he lay under a tree to pass the night. But a Sodomite entreated him to accompany him to his house. During the night he did away with the donkey and merchandise of the stranger. When he began to cry for help in the morning, the town’s folk came there not to help him but to rob him of what had been left with him.

On one occasion Sarah sent her slave to Sodom to inquire after Prophet Lot’s household. When the slave entered the town, he saw that a Sodomite was beating a stranger. Naturally the slave of Sarah tried to rouse his sense of decency, saying, why do you ill treat helpless strangers like this? In answer to this appeal, his head was broken in public.

On another occasion a poor man happened to come to Sodom but no one gave him anything to eat. When he was half dead with starvation, he fell to the ground in a helpless plight. A daughter of Prophet Lot saw him and sent some food for him. At this the Sodomites reproached Prophet Lot and his daughter and threatened to expel them from there if they would not refrain from such deeds.

After citing several similar incidents, the Talmud says that those people had become so cruel, so deceitful and so dishonest in their dealings that no traveler could pass safe through their territory nor could a poor person expect any food or help from them. Many a time it so happened that a poor stranger came there, and died from hunger. Then they would strip the clothes from his body and bury him naked. If a foreigner committed the blunder of visiting their territory, they would publicly rob him of everything, and make fool of him if he appealed to them to redress the wrong. Then they would openly commit shameless deeds in the gardens which they had grown in their valley because there was none to rebuke them except Prophet Lot (peace be upon him). The Quran has summed up the whole of their wicked story in two concise sentences: (1) They had already been committing very wicked deeds, (Surah Hud, Ayat 78), and (2) You gratify your lust with males: you rob travelers, and you commit wicked deeds publicly in your assemblies.

Ibn-Kathir

67. And the inhabitants of the city came rejoicing. 68. Lut ﴾said: “Verily, these are my guests, so do not shame me.” 69. “And have Taqwa of Allah, and do not disgrace me.” 70. They said: “Did we not forbid you from entertaining any of the `Alamin” 71. Lut ﴾said: “These are my daughters, if you must act (so)” 72. Verily, by your life, in their wild intoxication, they were wandering blindly.

Allah tells us about how Lut’s people came to him when they found out about his handsome guests, and they came happily rejoicing about them.

(﴿Lut﴾ said: “Verily, these are my guests, so do not shame me. And have Taqwa of Allah, and do not disgrace me.”) This is what Lut said to them before he knew that his guests were messengers from Allah, as mentioned in Surat Hud, but here (in this Surah), we have already been told that they are messengers from Allah, and this is followed by an account of Lut’s people coming and his exchange with them. However, here the conjunction (wa, meaning “and”) does not imply the sequence of events, especially since there is something to indicate that this is not the case. They said answering him,

(Did we not forbid you from entertaining (or protecting) any of the `Alamin) meaning, `did we not tell you that you should not have anyone as a guest’ He reminded them about their womenfolk and what their Lord had created for them in the women of permissible sexual relationships. This issue has already been explained and is no need to repeat the discussion here. All of this happened while they were still unaware of the inevitable calamity and punishment that was about to befall them the following morning. Hence Allah, may He be exalted, said to Muhammad ,

(Verily, by your life, in their wild intoxication, they were wandering blindly.) Allah swore by the life of His Prophet , which is an immense honor reflecting his high rank and noble status. `Amr bin Malik An-Nakari reported from Abu Al-Jawza’ that Ibn `Abbas said: “Allah has never created or made or formed any soul that is dearer to him than Muhammad . I never heard that Allah swore by the life of anyone else. Allah says,

(Verily, by your life, in their wild intoxication, they were wandering blindly.) meaning, by your life and the length of your stay in this world,

(in their wild intoxication, they were wandering blindly.) This was reported by Ibn Jarir. Qatadah said:

(in their wild intoxication) “It means – in their misguided state;

(they were wandering blindly) means – they were playing. ” `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said:

(Verily, by your life) means by your life, and

(in their wild intoxica- tion, they were wandering blindly.) means that they were confused.”