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I think ilaihi tuqlabun is better translated "towards Him are ye turned" than "towards Him will be your return", as it implies not only the return of man to Allah in the Hereafter (turja'un in verse 17 above) but also the fact explained in verse 22 that man's needs are always to be obtained from Allah: man cannot frustrate Allah's designs, and can have no help or protection except from Allah: man has always to face Allah, whether man obeys Allah or tries to ignore Allah. Man will never be able to defeat Allah's Plan. According to His wise Will and Plan, He will grant His grace or withhold it from man.
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Implying that such people deprive themselves of God's grace and mercy (which is the twofold significance of the term rahmah in this context) by rejecting all belief in His existence: in other words, belief in God - or one's readiness to believe in Him - is, in and by itself, already an outcome of His grace and mercy, just as suffering in the hereafter is an outcome of one's being "bent on denying the truth".
lit., My mercy.
The emphasis is on "they" (ulaika). It is only the people who ignore or reject Allah's Signs and reject a Hereafter, that will find themselves in despair and suffering. Allah's Mercy is open to all, but if any reject His Mercy, they must suffer.
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Lit., "the answer of his people was nothing but that they said" - thus connecting with the passage ending with verse {18}.
See note [64] on 21:69 .
The idolaters tried to burn Abraham because he smashed their idols. See 21:51-71 for the full story.
See xxi. 66-70. Abraham was cast into the fire, but he was unhurt, by the grace of Allah. So righteous people suffer no harm from the plots of the wicked. But they must leave the environment of evil even if they have to forsake their ancestral home, as Abraham did.
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Lit., "solely out of love".
Thus Razi, explaining this idol-worship as a result of a mere blind imitation (taqlid) of attitudes inherited from past generations.
In sin and wickedness there is as much log-rolling as in politics. Evil men humor each other and support each other; they call each other's vice by high-sounding names. They call it mutual regard or friendship or love; at the lowest, they call it toleration. Perhaps they flourish in this life by such arts. But they deceive themselves, and they deceive each other. What will be their relations in the Hereafter? They will disown each other when each has to answer on the principle of personal responsibility. Each will accuse the others of misleading him, and they will curse each other. But there will then be no help, and they must suffer in the Fire.
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For an explanation of the concept of hijrah and of my above rendering of the term muhajir, see surah {2}, note [203], and surah {4}, note [124]. In the present instance this term is obviously used in both its physical and spiritual senses, analogous to the earlier allusion (in {19:48-49}) to Abraham's "withdrawal" (i'tizal) from his evil, native environment and to his physical migration to Harran (in northern Mesopotamia), and thence to Syria and Palestine. The story of Lot (Lut) is mentioned in the Qur'an several times, and particularly in {11:69-83}.
Lot was a nephew of Abraham. He adhered to Abraham's teaching and faith and accepted voluntary exile with him, for Abraham left the home of his fathers in Chaldaea and migrated to Syria and Palestine, where Allah gave him increase and prosperity, and a numerous family, who upheld the flag of Unity and the Light of Allah.
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I.e., in addition to Ishmael (Isma'il), who had been born some years earlier (cf. 21:72 ).
Among other things, by making him "a leader of men" ( 2:124 ).
Through honourable mention, righteous family, etc.
Isaac was Abraham's son and Jacob his grandson, and among his progeny was included Isma'il the eldest son of Abraham. Each of these became a fountain-head of Prophecy and Revelation, Isaac and Jacob through Moses, and Isma'il through the holy Prophet Muhammad. Jacob got the name of "Israel" at Bethel: Gen. 32:28; 35:10, and his progeny got the title of "The Children of Israel".
Cf xxix. 9, and iv. 69, n. 586.
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Cf vii. 80. A discreet reference is made to their unspeakable crimes, which were against the laws of all nature.
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This particular interpretation of the phrase taqta'un as-sabil is advanced by Baghawi and (on the authority of Al-Hassan) by Zamakhshari; Razi adopts it exclusively and without reservation.
They infested highways and committed their horrible crimes not only secretly, but openly and publicly, even in their assemblies. Some Commentators understand "cutting off the highway" to refer to highway robberies: this is possible, and it is also possible that the crimes in their assemblies may have been injustice, rowdiness, etc. But the context seems to refer to their own special horrible crime, and the point here seems to be that they were not ashamed of it and that they practiced it publicly. Degradation could go no further.
This is another instance of their effrontery, in addition to that mentioned in vii. 82: the two supplement each other. Here the point emphasised is that they did not believe in Allah or His Punishment, and dared Allah's Prophet Lot to bring about the Punishment if he could. And it did come and destroy them.
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See 11:69 ff., as well as the first half of the corresponding note [99].
The term qaryah has here, as so often in classical Arabic, the connotation of "land", in this instance comprising the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah.
See xi. 69-76. The angels, who were coming on the mission to destroy the people who were polluting the earth with their crimes, called on their way on Abraham to give the good news of the birth of a son to him in his old age. When they told him their destination, he feared for his nephew who he knew was there. They reassured him and then came on to Lot.
By translating "township" I imply the two neighbouring populations of Sodom and Gomorrah, who had already gone too far in their crime, their shamelessness, and their defiance, to profit by any mercy from Allah.
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See note [66] on 7:83 and note [113] on 11:81 . In the present instance, as well as in the next verse, the past-tense auxiliary verb kanat is meant to stress the inevitability of the future event referred to; hence, "she will indeed be...", etc.
She was not loyal to her husband. Tradition says that she belonged to the wicked people, and was not prepared to leave them. She had no faith in the mission either of her husband or of the angels who had come as his guests.
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See note [107] on 11:77 .
Since the angels came in the form of handsome men, Lot was worried for the dignity and safety of his guests among his people—not knowing that they were angels.
This part of the story may be read in greater detail in xi. 77-83.
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The Punishment was a rain of brimstone, which completely overwhelmed the Cities, with possibly an earthquake and a volcanic eruption (see xi. 82).
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This is an allusion to the Dead Sea - known to this day as Bahr Lut ("The Sea of Lot") - which covers most of the region in which Sodom and Gomorrah were once situated. Its waters contain so high a percentage of sulphur and potash that no fish or plants can live in them.
The whole tract on the east side of the Dead Sea (where the Cities were situated) is covered with sulphureous salts and is deadly to animal and plant life. The Dead Sea itself is called in Arabic the Bahr Lut (the sea of Lot). It is a scene of utter desolation, that should stand as a Symbol of the Destruction that awaits Sin.
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