51.37. And We left behind therein a portent for those who fear a painful doom. (Pickthall)
51.37. Und Wir haben in ihr ein Zeichen hinterlassen für diejenigen, welche die schmerzende Strafe fürchten, (Ahmad v. Denffer)
51.37. Und Wir hinterließen in ihr ein Zeichen für diejenigen, die die schmerzhafte Strafe fürchten. (Bubenheim)
51.37. Wir hinterließen dort ein Zeichen als Lehre für die Menschen, auf dass sie die qualvolle Strafe fürchten. (Azhar)
51.37. Und WIR ließen in ihr eine Aya für diejenigen, die sich vor der qualvollen Peinigung fürchten. (Zaidan)
51.37. Und wir ließen in ihr ein Zeichen zurück (zur Beherzigung) für diejenigen, die sich vor der schmerzhaften Strafe (der Hölle) fürchten. (Paret)
51.37. Und Wir hinterließen darin ein Zeichen für jene, die die qualvolle Strafe fürchten. (Rasul)
Tafsir von Maududi für die Ayaat 24 bis 37
O Prophet, ( 21 ) has the story of Abraham's honored guests reached you ? ( 22 ) When they came to him, they said, "Peace to you." He said, "Peace to you too- unfamiliar folks they are! " ( 23 ) Then he went quietly to his family ( 24 ) and brought out a fatted (roasted) calf ( 25 ) and laid it before the guests. He said, "Will you riot eat ?" Then he became afraid of them. ( 26 ) They said, "Be not afraid!" And they gave him the good news of the birth of a son, possessing knowledge. ( 27 ) Hearing this his wife came forward, crying, and she smote her face, and said, "An old woman, barren! " ( 28 ) "Thus has said your Lord," they replied, "He is the All-Wise, the All-Knowing. " ( 29 ) Abraham said," O Divine Messengers, what is your special errand?” ( 30 ) They said, "We have been sent to a guilty people, ( 31 ) to rain upon them stones of baked clay, which are marked with your Lord for the transgressors. " ( 32 ) --Then ( 33 ) We evacuated all those who were believers in that settlement, and We did not find in it any house of the Muslims except one. ( 34 ) Then We left there only one sign for those who fear the painful torment. ( 35 )
Desc No: 21 Now, from here to the end of verse 46, brief allusions have been made, one after the other, to the end of Allah's Prophets and some of the nations of the past, which arc meant to impress two things: First, that in human history God's law of retribution has been working constantly, in which precedents are found of the rewards for the righteous and of punishments for the wicked people continuo sly. This is a clear evidence of the fact that even in the life of this world the Creator's relationship with man is not merely based on the physical law but the moral law also is working side by aide with it. And when the temper of the kingdom of the universe is such that the creation which has been given an opportunity to act morally while living in a physical body, should not only be dealt with on the basis of physical laws, like animals and plants, but the moral law also should be applied to its moral acts this by . itself points to the truth that a time must come in this kingdom when on the completion of man's role in the physical world full results of his moral acts should also appear strictly in accordance with the moral law because in the physical world they do not appear fully. The second thing that has been impressed by these historical allusions Is that the nations which did not believe in the Prophets of Allah and based thou conduct and attitude in life on the denial of the Oneness of Allah, the Prophet hood and the Hereafter, were ultimately doomed to destruction. This continuous experience of history testifies that God's law of morality that was conveyed through the Prophets, and on the basis of which man will be subjected to accountability in the Hereafter, is entirely based on the truth. For whichever nation determined its conduct and attitude in the world independent of this law, considering itself irresponsible and un-accountable, has gone straight to its doom.
Desc No: 22 This story has been narrated at three places in the Qur'an above, in Hud: 69-73, Al-Hijr: 51-56 and AI-`Ankabut: 31.
Desc No: 23 In view of the context in which this sentence has occurred, it can have two meanings: (1) That the Prophet Abraham himself said to the guests, "I have never had the chance to see you before: you are perhaps new-comers in this land. " (2) That after responding to their salutation, the Prophet Abraham said these words to himself, or to his servants, while going inside the house for arranging the feast, "They appear to be strangers: people of their noble nature and appearance have not been seen before in this land. "
Desc No: 24 That is, "He did not tell his guests that he was going to arrange food for them, but after they were seated he went quietly into the house to arrange a feast for them, so that the guests should not rofuse it out of formality. "
Desc No: 25 In Surah Hud, the words are ijlin h_ anidh, a roasted calf; here bi-'ijlin samin: a fatted calf that he got roasted.
Desc No: 26 That is, "When they did not stretch out their hands for food, the Prophet Abraham became afraid in his heart. The reason for this fear could be that in tribal life the strangers' going to a house and avoiding food used to be an indication that they had come with an evil design. But most probably when they. refrained from food the Prophet Abraham realized that they were angels, who had come in human guise; and since the angels came in human guise only on extraordinary occasions, he became afraid that they must have come in that guise on some dreadful mission.
Desc No: 27 According to Surah Hud: 71, this was the good news of the birth of the Prophet Isaac (peace be upon him) and this also contained the good news that through the Prophet Isaac he would have a grandson like the Prophet Jacob (peace be upon him).
Desc No: 28 That is, "I am not only old but barren too. How shall a child be born to me?" According to the Bible, the Prophet Abraham at that time was a hundred years old and Sarah was ninety. (Gen., 17: 17).
Desc No: 29 The object of this story is to tell that Allah will certainly reward His servant, who did full justice to the rights of His worship in the world, in the Hereafter handsomely, but even In this world he rewarded him well by giving him children at an age when according to the common physical laws he could not beget children and his aged wife having remained childless throughout life had completely despaired of ever bearing children; and then He granted him such extraordinary children as have not been granted to any one else in the world. There has been no other man in history in whose line four Prophets might have been born in succession. It was the Prophet Abraham alone whose line continued to be blessed with Prophet hood for three generations, and the illustrious Prophets like Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph (peace be upon them) emerged from his house.
Desc No: 30 As the angels come in human guise only on highly important occasions the Prophet Abraham used the word khatb to find out the purpose of their visit; the word khatb in Arabic is used for an errand of same extraordinary nature.
Desc No: 31 That is, to the people of the Prophet Lot. The epithet of "a guilty people" was enough to. tell which people were meant in view of the gravity of their crimes. They have already been mentioned in the Qur'an in Al-A'raf: 80-84, Hud:74-83, Al-Hijir : 58-79, AI-Anbiya`: 74-75, Ash-Shu'ara: 160-175, AnNaml: 54-58, As-Saaffat : 133-137.
Desc No: 32 That is, "Each stone has been marked by your Lord's command to show 'for which culprit it is meant." According to the details given in the Qur'an, in Surahs Hud and Al-Hijr, their towns were turned upside down, and then showered with stones of baked clay. From this one can understand that the entireland was overturned by a severe earthquake and the people who tried to escape were showered with brimstone and destroyed.
Desc No: 33 As to what happened between them and the people of the Prophet Lot when the angels reached his house after their meeting with the Prophet Abraham, has been left out. The details have been given in the Surahs Hud, AI-Hijr and AI'Ankabut above. Here mention is being made only of the time when they were going to be visited by the scourge.
Desc No: 34 That is, "Among the whole nation and in the entire land there was only one house that shone with the light of the Faith and Islam, and it was no other but the house of the Prophet Lot himself. The rest of the entire nation was sunk , deep in sin and wickedness and its whole country was brimming over with filth and immorality. Therefore Allah rescued the people of that one house and then sent down the torment on the land, which did not spare any one of the wicked people. In this verse three important themes have been discussed: (1) That Allah's law of retribution does not decree the total destruction of a nation as long as there remains a considerable element of good in it. As against the majority of the bad people if it still contains a small element of those who continue trying to invite others to the right way, Allah gives it an opportunity to work, and goes on increasing the respite of the nation which is not yet wholly devoid of goodness. But in case theca remains no element of goodness at all in the nation, Allah's law is that He somehow rescues by His power and grace some of the good people, who might have become weary and helpless fighting evil in its settlements, and deals with the rest as every sensible master would deal with his rotten fruit. (2) That "Muslim" is not the name only of the people who arc the followers of the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace) but of all the Prophets before him and their followers who were also Muslims. Their religions were not mutually exclusive that one might be the religion of the Prophet Abraham, another of the Prophet Moses and still another of the Prophet Jesus, but they all were Muslims and their religion was this same Islam. This truth has been explained at several places in the Qur'an and there is no room for ambiguity in this regard. For instance, sec AIBaqarah: 128, 131-132; Al-'Imran: 67: Al-Ma'idah: 44, 111; Yunus: 72,84; Yusuf: 101; AI-A'raf: 126; An-Naml: 31, 42, 44. (3) That the words `Mu 'min " and Muslim " have been used as synonyms in this verse. If this verse is read with verse 14 of Al-Hujurat, the error of the thinking of those people becomes obvious, who regard Mu 'min and Muslim as two independent terms of the Qur'an, which have been used in one and the same meaning every where, and Muslim is necessarily used for the person who might have entered the fold of Islam by professing the Faith only verbally, without true faith. (For further explanation, see E. N . 31 of Surah AI-Hujurat).
Desc No: 35 One sign": the Dead Sea, southern part of which still presents the signs of a great disaster. The archaeologists have expressed the opinion that the principal cities of the people of Lot were probably sunk underground and the waters of the Dead Sea spread over them. For that part of this sea which is situated to the south of the small peninsula called "AI-Lisan" clearly seems to be a later development, and the signs of the ruins of the Dead Sea found to the north of this peninsula are very different from those found in the south. From this it is concluded that the southern part was once higher than the sea level. At some later time it sank and went under water. The period of its sinking also seems to be about 2000 B.C. and the same precisely is the time of the Prophets Abraham and Lot historically. In 1965 an American archaeological research party discovered a large grave-yard at Al-Lisan which contains more than twenty thousand graves. From this one is led to think that nearby it there must have existed a large city. But no nuns of any such city arc found in the adjoining area, which might have given rise to such a big grave-yard. This fact also strengthens the doubt that the city whose grave-yard it was has sunk under the sea. The area to the south of the sea still abounds in the ruins and the underground stocks of sulphur, resin, tar and natural gas found in this area lead one to believe that hell must have been let loose at this place at Borne time by the eruption of lava and the play of lightning. (For further explanation, see E.N. 114 of Ash-Shu'ara'). "
){kind=link}