فَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِۦٓ إِلَّآ أَن قَالُوٓا۟ أَخْرِجُوٓا۟ ءَالَ لُوطٍ مِّن قَرْيَتِكُمْ إِنَّهُمْ أُنَاسٌ يَتَطَهَّرُونَ · فَأَنجَيْنَٰهُ وَأَهْلَهُۥٓ إِلَّا ٱمْرَأَتَهُۥ قَدَّرْنَٰهَا مِنَ ٱلْغَٰبِرِينَ · وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهِم مَّطَرًا فَسَآءَ مَطَرُ ٱلْمُنذَرِينَ
fa-mā kāna jawāba qawmihī illā an qālū akhrijū āla Lūṭin min qaryatikum innahum unāsun yataṭahharūn · fa-anjaynāhu wa ahlahū illa'mraʾatahū qaddarnāhā mina'l-ghābirīn · wa amṭarnā ʿalayhim maṭarā, fa-sāʾa maṭaru'l-mundharīn
"His people's only answer was to say: 'Drive the family of Lot out of your town; they are people who would keep themselves pure!' So We delivered him and his household — except his wife; her We decreed to be among those who stayed behind. And We rained down upon them a rain. Evil is the rain of those who have been warned!"
The pattern must be recorded: mā kāna… illā — negation plus exception. This pattern conveys that the answer given was the only one, and that there was no other.
I record this as an observation: before it reports the people's answer, the verse marks by the pattern of the sentence whether it counts as an answer at all. The response to a question (54-55) is an order of banishment.
The root ط-ه-ر was treated in al-Insān at 76/21 and in the discussion of al-Bayyina: purity, being free of filth. I do not repeat it here.
And the pattern must be recorded: yataṭahharūn — Form V, tafaʿʿul. This pattern conveys doing something to oneself and with effort: "they are trying to keep themselves pure."
The most striking thing about the sentence is the ground it gives, and I record it as a datum of the text: what is named as the reason for banishment is not an offence — it is a claim to purity.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the construction of the sentence: the sentence opens with inna, that is, it states a ground. And the ground is an attribute that is positive by the other side's own measure. The attribute thus turns into an accusation in a place where those who do not carry it are the majority.
This lies on the same line as a pattern recorded elsewhere in this series — the mockery of the believers by the offenders and their calling them "the astray" was treated in al-Muṭaffifīn at 83/29-32. The two scenes carry the same structure: the measure being set by the majority. I record this as an overlap.
ٱلْغَٰبِرِين — root غ-ب-ر. This root was worked out in al-Ṣāffāt at 37/135, and the property recorded there works here: the root means both "to pass away" and "to remain behind" — two senses that are the opposite of each other. In Arabic this is called aḍdād (words that carry contrary senses). I do not repeat it here.
And it was recorded there: the Qurʾān uses the same word consistently in this narrative — al-Ḥijr 15/60, al-Shuʿarāʾ 26/171, al-Naml 27/57, al-ʿAnkabūt 29/32-33. This is a countable fact.
قَدَّرْنَٰهَا — root ق-د-ر, Form II: to determine by measure, to decree. The choice of verb is worth recording: it does not say that the woman "stayed behind" — it says "We decreed her to be among those who stayed behind".
In this commentary the details the Qurʾān does not supply about Lot's wife are not entered into. The Qurʾān records her conduct elsewhere (khānatāhumā — al-Taḥrīm 66/10), and it was treated in al-Taḥrīm; I rely on that treatment.
The choice of word must be recorded, and I give it as an observation about the word order: the word rain is used for the punishment. And rain will be named as a favour at verse 60 of the sūra: wa anzala lakum mina's-samāʾi māʾan fa-anbatnā bihī ḥadāʾiqa dhāta bahja.
| Verse | What comes from the sky | What |
|---|---|---|
| 58 | maṭar | Punishment — upon those who had been warned |
| 60 | māʾ | Orchards — delightful to the eye |
Two things coming from the same quarter, two opposite outcomes. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra, and only one verse stands between the two (59).
I record this as my own reading: in passing from the block of punishment to the block of proof the sūra uses the same channel. And the difference lies in the word — indeed at verse 58 the word is maṭar, and at verse 60 it is māʾ.
This must be recorded: the character of the punishment is tied to their having been warned. And this principle was treated in Fāṭir at 35/24 and in al-Qaṣaṣ at 28/59: wa mā kāna rabbuka muhlika'l-qurā ḥattā yabʿatha fī ummihā rasūlā. I rely on that treatment.