Surah Shuara ayat 173 Tafsir Quran 26:173

﴿وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهِم مَّطَرًا ۖ فَسَاءَ مَطَرُ الْمُنذَرِينَ﴾
[ الشعراء: 173]

26:173 And We rained upon them a rain [of stones], and evil was the rain of those who were warned.

and We rained on them a rain We rained on them stones — this detail pertains to the previous statement concerning their destruction — and evil was their rain the rain of those who were warned!

We poured down upon them a direful rain (of fire and brimstone) and how evil and devastating was the rain on the heads of those who defiantly ignored Allahs warning

Lut's Denunciation of His People's Deeds, Their Response and Their Punishment The Prophet of Allah forbade them from committing evil deeds and intercourse with males, and he taught them that they should have intercourse with their wives whom Allah had created for them.
Their response was only to say: لَئِن لَّمْ تَنتَهِ يلُوطُ ( If you cease not, O Lut, ) meaning, `if you do not give up what you have brought,' لَتَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُخْرَجِينَ ( verily, you will be one of those who are driven out! ) meaning, `we will expel you from among us.' This is like the Ayah, فَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِ إِلاَّ أَن قَالُواْ أَخْرِجُواْ ءَالَ لُوطٍ مِّن قَرْيَتِكُمْ إِنَّهمْ أُنَاسٌ يَتَطَهَّرُونَ ( There was no other answer given by his people except that they said: "Drive out the family of Lut from your city.
Verily, these are men who want to be clean and pure!" ) ( 27:56 ).
When he saw that they would not give up their ways, and that they were persisting in their misguidance, he declared his innocence of them, saying: إِنِّى لِعَمَلِكُمْ مِّنَ الْقَـلِينَ ( I am, indeed, of those who disapprove with severe anger and fury ) `Of those who are outraged, I do not like it and I do not accept it, and I have nothing to do with you.
' Then he prayed to Allah against them and said: رَبِّ نَّجِنِى وَأَهْلِى مِمَّا يَعْمَلُونَ ( My Lord! Save me and my family from what they do. ) Allah says: فَنَجَّيْنَـهُ وَأَهْلَهُ أَجْمَعِينَ - إِلاَّ عَجُوزاً فِى الْغَـبِرِينَ ( So, We saved him and his family, all.
Except an old woman among those who remained behind. ) This was his wife, who was a bad old woman.
She stayed behind and was destroyed with whoever else was left.
This is similar to what Allah says about them in Surat Al-A`raf and Surah Hud, and in Surat Al-Hijr, where Allah commanded him to take his family at night, except for his wife, and not to turn around when they heard the Sayhah as it came upon his people.
So they patiently obeyed the command of Allah and persevered, and Allah sent upon the people a punishment which struck them all, and rained upon them stones of baked clay, piled up.
Allah says: ثُمَّ دَمَّرْنَا الاٌّخَرِينَ وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ مَّطَرًا ( Then afterward We destroyed the others.
And We rained on them a rain ) until Allah's saying; وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ ( And verily, your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful.
) كَذَّبَ أَصْحَـبُ لْـَيْكَةِ الْمُرْسَلِينَ - إِذْ قَالَ لَهُمْ شُعَيْبٌ أَلاَ تَتَّقُونَ إِنِّى لَكُمْ رَسُولٌ أَمِينٌ

(26:173) and rained on them a horrible rain, which fell on those who had been warned. *114

And We rained upon them a rain meaning

*114) This was not a rain of water but a rain of stones.
According to the details given at other places in the Qur'an, when Prophet Lot had left the place along with the people of his household in the last hours of the night, there occurred a terrible explosion at dawn and a violent earthquake, which turned all their habitations upside down and rained on them stones of baked clay as a result of a volcanic eruption and a strong blast of wind.

Below we give a resume of the Biblical account and of ancient Greek and Latin writings and modern geological researches and archaeological observations about the torment and the place where it occurred:
The, hundreds of ruins found in the waste and uninhabited land lying to the south and east of the Dead Sea indicate that this must have been a prosperous and thickly populated area in the past.
The archaeologists have estimated that the age of prosperity of this land lasted between 2300 and 1900 B.C.
According to historians, Prophet Abraham lived about 2000 B C.
Thus the archaeological evidence confirms that this land was destroyed in the time of Prophet Abraham and his nephew Prophet Lot.

The most populous and fertile part .of the area was " the vale of Siddim " as mentioned in the Bible: " And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt " ( Gen.
13 :10 ) The presentday scholars are of the opinion that that valley is now under the Dead Sea and this opinion is supported by firm archaeological evidence.
In the ancient times .the Dead Sea did not so much extend to the south as it does today.
Opposite and to the west of the present Jordanian city of AI-Karak, there is a small peninsula called AI-Lisan.
This was the end of the sea in ancient days.
The area to the south of it, which is now under sea water ( the shaded portion in the map ) was a fertile valley, " the vale of Siddim ", in which were situated Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, Zoar, the famous cities of the people of Lot.
In about 2000 B.C.
this valley sank as a result of a violent earthquake and was submerged in sea water.
Even today this is the most shallow part of the Sea.
In the Roman period it was more so and was fordable from AI-Lisan to the western coast.
One can still see submerged jungles along the southern coast and there might as well be submerged buildings.

According to the Bible and the ancient Greek and Latin writings, the region abounded in pits of petroleum and asphalt and at places inflammable gas also existed.
It appears from the geological observations that with the violent earthquake shocks, petroleum, gases and asphalt were thrown up and ignited, and the whole region exploded like a bomb.
The Bible says that when Prophet Abraham got the news and went from Hebron to see the affected valley, he saw that " the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. " ( Gen.
19: 28 ).

 

Lut's Denunciation of His People's Deeds, Their Response and Their Punishment The Prophet of Allah forbade them from committing evil deeds and intercourse with males, and he taught them that they should have intercourse with their wives whom Allah had created for them.
Their response was only to say: لَئِن لَّمْ تَنتَهِ يلُوطُ ( If you cease not, O Lut, ) meaning, `if you do not give up what you have brought,' لَتَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُخْرَجِينَ ( verily, you will be one of those who are driven out! ) meaning, `we will expel you from among us.' This is like the Ayah, فَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِ إِلاَّ أَن قَالُواْ أَخْرِجُواْ ءَالَ لُوطٍ مِّن قَرْيَتِكُمْ إِنَّهمْ أُنَاسٌ يَتَطَهَّرُونَ ( There was no other answer given by his people except that they said: "Drive out the family of Lut from your city.
Verily, these are men who want to be clean and pure!" ) ( 27:56 ).
When he saw that they would not give up their ways, and that they were persisting in their misguidance, he declared his innocence of them, saying: إِنِّى لِعَمَلِكُمْ مِّنَ الْقَـلِينَ ( I am, indeed, of those who disapprove with severe anger and fury ) `Of those who are outraged, I do not like it and I do not accept it, and I have nothing to do with you.
' Then he prayed to Allah against them and said: رَبِّ نَّجِنِى وَأَهْلِى مِمَّا يَعْمَلُونَ ( My Lord! Save me and my family from what they do. ) Allah says: فَنَجَّيْنَـهُ وَأَهْلَهُ أَجْمَعِينَ - إِلاَّ عَجُوزاً فِى الْغَـبِرِينَ ( So, We saved him and his family, all.
Except an old woman among those who remained behind. ) This was his wife, who was a bad old woman.
She stayed behind and was destroyed with whoever else was left.
This is similar to what Allah says about them in Surat Al-A`raf and Surah Hud, and in Surat Al-Hijr, where Allah commanded him to take his family at night, except for his wife, and not to turn around when they heard the Sayhah as it came upon his people.
So they patiently obeyed the command of Allah and persevered, and Allah sent upon the people a punishment which struck them all, and rained upon them stones of baked clay, piled up.
Allah says: ثُمَّ دَمَّرْنَا الاٌّخَرِينَ وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ مَّطَرًا ( Then afterward We destroyed the others.
And We rained on them a rain ) until Allah's saying; وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ ( And verily, your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful.
) كَذَّبَ أَصْحَـبُ لْـَيْكَةِ الْمُرْسَلِينَ - إِذْ قَالَ لَهُمْ شُعَيْبٌ أَلاَ تَتَّقُونَ إِنِّى لَكُمْ رَسُولٌ أَمِينٌ

( And We rained on them ) on their sodomites and travellers ( a rain ) of stones. ( And dreadful is the rain of those who have been warned ) evil is the rain of stones for those who were warned by Lot but did not believe.

And We rained on them a rain (of torment). And how evil was the rain of those who had been warned.

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