The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 172
CH. 11 HŪD PT. 12 وَلَا يَلْتَفِتْ مِنْكُمْ أَحَدٌ إِلَّا امْرَأَتَكَ reach thee. So depart with thy b. family "in a part of the night, اِنَّهُ مُصِيْبُهَا مَا أَصَابَهُمْ and let none of you look back but thy wife. Surely, what is مَوْعِدَهُمُ الصُّبْحُ لَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ going to befall them shall also بِقَرِيبٍ befall her. Verily, "their appointed time is the morning. Is not the morning nigh?' 1462 came, "We turned that town فَلَمَّا جَاءَ أَمْرُنَا جَعَلْنَا عَالِيَهَا سَافِلَهَا So when Our command. 83 وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهَا حِجَارَةً مِّنْ سِجِّيلٍ upside down and We rained upon it stones of clay, layer upon layer, 1463 a15:66. b7:84; 15:61; 29:34. 15:67. 15:75. €51:34. 1462. Commentary: When the strangers heard Lot pathetically say to his people that he would pray to God against them, they, who had till then kept the matter secret, revealed to him that God had already decreed their punishment and that it was that decree which they had come to communicate to him. They also announced to him that the threatened punishment would not affect his (family or followers) who would be saved except his wife who was doomed. The verse mentions the time of morning as the time of the coming punishment because the morning is generally the time of negligence and is thus best suited to remind wicked people of the real cause of Divine chastisement. 1463. Important Words: J (stones of clay) is derived from J (sajjala) which is again derived from J… (sajala). They say 1380 منصورة read (sajjalal-Quran) i. e. he recited the Quran continuously. or (sajjalal-Qāḍī) means, the the sentence in his record. J judge decided judicially and recorded means, he threw it from above. J means, stones like lumps of dry or tough clay; stones of clay. The which had been written or decreed for Quranic words mean, stones of clay them that they should be punished therewith (Lane & Aqrab). (layer upon layer) is derived from which means, he put goods or commodities one upon another, or he put or set them together in regular order; he put them one upon another or side by side compactly or he set them together in regular order (Lane). Commentary: appears that the people of Lot were destroyed by a terrible earthquake. Violent earthquakes often turn parts of the earth upside down and fragments of earth fly off into the