وَجَآءَ أَهْلُ ٱلْمَدِينَةِ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ · قَالَ إِنَّ هَٰٓؤُلَآءِ ضَيْفِى فَلَا تَفْضَحُونِ · وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَلَا تُخْزُونِ · قَالُوٓا۟ أَوَلَمْ نَنْهَكَ عَنِ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ · قَالَ هَٰٓؤُلَآءِ بَنَاتِىٓ إِن كُنتُمْ فَٰعِلِينَ
Wa jāʾa ahlu'l-madīnati yastabshirūn · Qāla inna hāʾulāʾi ḍayfī fa-lā tafḍaḥūn · Wa'ttaqullāha wa lā tukhzūn · Qālū a-wa-lam nanhaka ʿani'l-ʿālamīn · Qāla hāʾulāʾi banātī in kuntum fāʿilīn
"The people of the city came rejoicing. · Lot said: 'These are my guests; do not disgrace me. · Guard yourselves against God and do not shame me.' · They said: 'Did we not forbid you the whole world?' · He said: 'Here are my daughters, if you are going to act.'"
The ب-ش-ر root and istibshār: to receive glad news, to rejoice. The root was treated at al-Najm and at al-Qiyāma; its link with bashar (skin) — the news showing in the face — was recorded there. I do not repeat it here.
Its use here must be recorded, and this is a point of word order: the same root was used thirteen verses earlier for the tidings the angels gave Abraham (nubashshiruka, bashsharnāka, tubashshirūn — 53, 54, 55).
| Verse | Word | Who is gladdened |
|---|---|---|
| 53-55 | Bashshar- (three times) | Abraham — the tidings of a child |
| 67 | Yastabshirūn | The people of the city — the arrival of the guests |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the two occurrences of the root: the sūra uses the same root thirteen verses apart in two opposite scenes. One the glad tidings of a birth, the other a rejoicing that will become the cause of a destruction.
- ف-ض-ح — faḍīḥa: the coming to light of a hidden fault, to be disgraced.
- خ-ز-ي — khizy: humiliation, shame.
A point of word order must be recorded: both of Lot's sentences are about himself — "do not disgrace me", "do not shame me." He speaks of the guests but frames his demand by way of himself.
I record this as an observation: the sentence rests on a social order in which a guest is counted as belonging to his host. And the sentence in the middle attaches this to a measure: wa'ttaqullāh — "guard yourselves against God." It is placed between the two sentences of shame.
The lexicographers differ over what the expression ʿani'l-ʿālamīn — "from the worlds" — corresponds to:
| Reading | Sense |
|---|---|
| 1 | We forbade you to take people as guests |
| 2 | We forbade you to speak about people or to defend them |
| 3 | We forbade you to protect strangers |
What must be recorded is by whom the sentence is framed: the party that laid down the prohibition is recalling the prohibition it laid down itself. I record this as an observation: when a community makes its own order into a norm, it names the one who does not conform to it "a breaker of the prohibition".
Different explanations of how the sentence is to be understood are transmitted in the classical commentaries:
| Explanation | Who banātī are |
|---|---|
| 1 | His own daughters — as an offer of marriage |
| 2 | The women of the people — because a prophet is counted the father of his community, he said "my daughters" |
| 3 | The expression is a sentence of helplessness; not an offer but the last point of speech |
I record it further per the method (Method): I do not enter into detail the Qurʾān does not give. The text gives no information about the number of the daughters, who they were, or how the offer was met.
What the wording of the verse says is this, and I keep within it: Lot proposed an alternative and qualified it with a conditional clause: in kuntum fāʿilīn — "if you are going to act."