The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 164
CH. 11 HŪD PT. 12 فَلَمَّارَا أَيْدِيَهُمْ لَا تَصِلُ إِلَيْهِ نَكِرَهُمُ But when he saw their. 71 hands not reaching thereto, he وَأَوْجَسَ مِنْهُمْ خِيفَةً قَالُوا لَا تَخَفْ knew not what they were and إِنَّا أَرْسَلْنَا إِلى قَوْمِ لُوطٍن conceived a fear of them. They said, 'Fear not, for we have been sent to the people of Lot. '1451 “51:28-29. was subordinate to Moses. Hence, when the "messengers" came with the news of the impending destruction of Lot's people, it was only in the fitness of things that God should have first conveyed the news to Abraham, to whom Lot was a subordinate Prophet. As the news about the imminent destruction of Lot's people was conveyed to Abraham in his capacity as the senior Prophet-he himself being not directly concerned with the matter it was accompanied by glad tidings about the inauguration of a race of good and righteous people through the birth of a son to Abraham. This was done with a view to mitigating the severity of the shock Abraham was likely to feel at the news of the imminent destruction that was to overtake Lot's people. It is also worth noting that though Lot was a follower of Abraham before he was made a Prophet, he was invested with this rank not through the spiritual medium of Abraham but directly by God, as were also Ishmael and Isaac and Aaron. All those were subordinate Prophets, but the rank of prophethood was conferred upon them directly by God and not through the instrumentality of Abraham or Moses. It is a special privilege and prerogative of the Holy Prophet of Islam that his followers can attain to prophethood through his spiritual influence. The verse also throws interesting light on the hospitality of Abraham, for he did not tarry to ask the strangers whether they had partaken of food but hastened to bring a roasted calf for them. 1372 1451. Important Words: by (Lot) may etymologically be taken to have been derived from by. They say b) i. e. he concealed the thing. b) means, it (the thing) stuck -lawwata) لوطه بالطيب or adhered to it hu) means, he smeared him or it with much perfume. The Prophet Lot, who was the contemporary of Prophet Abraham, was the ancestor of the Palestinian peoples, Moab and Ammon. As the son of Haran and the grandson of Terah, he was Abraham's nephew. He joined Abraham in the land of Canaan and in the time of famine went with him to Egypt. He preached to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah but they refused to listen to him and ridiculed and