Tafseer Ibn Kathir of AL HIJR [67]

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.''