Tafheem-ul-Quran - Abul Ala Maududi

Ayah by Ayah

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Tafheem-ul-Quran - Abul Ala Maududi translation for Surah Al-'Ankabut — Ayah 32

29:32
قَالَ إِنَّ فِيهَا لُوطٗاۚ قَالُواْ نَحۡنُ أَعۡلَمُ بِمَن فِيهَاۖ لَنُنَجِّيَنَّهُۥ وَأَهۡلَهُۥٓ إِلَّا ٱمۡرَأَتَهُۥ كَانَتۡ مِنَ ٱلۡغَٰبِرِينَ ٣٢
Abraham said: “But Lot is there.”1 They replied: “We are well aware of those who are there. We shall save him and all his household except his wife.” His wife is among those who will stay behind.2
Footnotes
  • [1] A grammatical shift from singular to plural.
  • [2] According to the initial part of this story as related in Surah Hud, the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) at first was perturbed to see the angels in human shape, for he knew that the coming of the angels in human shape was always a prelude to some dangerous mission. Then, when they gave him the good news, his fear was allayed and he came to know that they had been sent to the people of Lot (peace be upon him). Then he began making entreaties of mercy for those people (Surah Hud: Ayats 74-75), but his entreaties were not granted, and it was said: “Do not plead for them any more: your Lord’s decree has been issued, and the punishment now cannot be averted,” (Ayat 76). After this answer, when the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) lost all hopes of any increase in the respite of Lot’s (peace be upon him) people, he became anxious about the Prophet Lot (peace be upon him) himself, and said, what has been related here: “Lot (peace be upon him) is there.” That is, “If the torment comes down when Lot (peace be upon him) is there, how will he and his household remain safe from it?”
  • [3] According to (Surah Tahrim: Ayat 10), this woman was not faithful to the Prophet Lot (peace be upon him). That is why it was decreed that she too, would be afflicted with the torment in spite of being a Prophet’s wife. Most probably when the Prophet Lot (peace be upon him) had come to Jordan after the migration and settled there, he might have married among the people living there. But the woman did not believe even after spending a lifetime with him, and her sympathies remained with her own people. As Allah has no consideration for relationships and brotherhoods and every person’s case is decided on the basis of his own faith and morality, even being a Prophet’s wife did not profit her in any way and she met her doom along with her own people with whom she had remained attached in faith and morality.
  • [4] The Arabic word used isayat(singularayah). Ayahmeans ‘sign’ or ‘proof’. It is also used to denote the unit of text in the Qur’an,like ‘verse’ in poetry or ‘sentence’ in prose.Each such unit isconsidered a ‘sign’from God.