Al-Ankaboot (The Spider)

33. “And when Our messengers came to Lot he was grieved on their account and distressed for them; but they said: ‘Fear not, nor grieve, for verily we shall deliver you and your family, except your wife, she shall be of those who stay behind.”

In a polluted society the men of Allah are in straitened circumstances, and even for protecting their own guests and children they are worried, too.

The family relation does not save a person but faith and righteous deed is the key of deliverance.

This verse says:

“And when Our messengers came to Lot he was grieved on their account and distressed for them…”

Lot’s anxiety was for that he did not know them. They were in the form of some handsome youths, and the arrival of such guests in that polluted environment might become the source of trouble for Lot and probably disrespect before his guests. Therefore, he became seriously thoughtful that what the reaction of those astray, disgrace and shameless people might be before these honourable guests.

The Qur’anic /si’a/ is derived from /sa’a/ in the sense of ‘to become grievous’; and the Arabic word /ŏar‘/ means: ‘heart’ or ‘temper’. Thus, the Qur’anic phrase: /daqa bihim ŏar‘a/ means ‘he became grievous and inconvenient.’

Some of the Islamic commentators have said that this phrase originally means ‘the distance between the front legs of a camel at the time of walking’ and since when a heavy load is put on its back it decreases the distance of its steps lesser and narrower, this sentence /daqa ŏar‘a/ is mentioned as ironically for a heavy and laborious event.

But when the guests found his inconvenience soon they introduced themselves and removed his anxiety and told him those shameless people could not do anything, and all of them would be annihilated soon.

The verse says:

“…but they said: ‘Fear not, nor grieve, for verily we shall deliver you and your family, except your wife, she shall be of those who stay behind.”

Of course, the verses of Surah Hud clearly show that when those evil people were informed of the arrival of the guests of Lot they came to him and intended to bother them.

Lot, who had not known the angels, became very anxious, wanted to hinder them from doing that action: sometimes with advice, sometimes with threat, sometimes by way of arousing their conscience, saying that:

“…is there not among you one upright man?”,1

and sometimes by the way of suggesting them to marry his daughters. But those disgrace people did not accept anything and they thought only of their own evil aim.

But the messengers of Allah introduced themselves to Lot (as) and by means of Divine miracle made the eyes of those attacking persons blind and caused the heart of this great prophet to rest.

It is notable that the messenger angels of Allah told Lot (as) that he should not fear and grieve. Concerning the difference between /xauf/ and /huzn/ it is cited in Al-Mizan, the commentary, that /xauf/ is used about the inconvenient probable events and /huzn/ about some decisive and certain instances.

Some commentators believe that the Qur’anic word /xauf/ (fear) relates to the future events and the term /qam/ (grief) relates to the past events.

It is also probable that /xauf/ is used in relation to dangerous instances, but /qam/ is related to painful events, though there is no danger in them.

There is a question here that according to the verses of Surah Hud the fear and grief of Lot were not about himself, but he feared that those evil people might make trouble for his guests while the answer the angels gave him was about the deliverance of Lot and his family and these two are not consistent with each other.

The answer to this question can be understood from Surah Hud, No. 11, verse 81, because when the shameful people came to bother the guests, the angels told Lot:

“…fear not nor grieve, for verily we shall deliver you and your family…”.2

That is, ‘they not only cannot bother us, but also are not able to hurt you.’ Therefore, the angels took their deliverance certain, and verily it was certain, and they concentrated the glad tidings on the deliverance of Lot and his family.