Hud (Hud)
Verses 69-73 GROUP_428 11.69-73
69
وَلَقَدْ جَاءتْ رُسُلُنَا إِبْرَاهِيمَ بِالْبُـشْرَى قَالُواْ سَلاَمًا قَالَ سَلاَمٌ فَمَا لَبِثَ أَن جَاء بِعِجْلٍ حَنِيذٍ
Our messengers came to Abraham with good news and greeted him with, ‘Peace.’ He too said, ‘Peace be on you,’ and hastened to bring a roasted calf.
70
فَلَمَّا رَأَى أَيْدِيَهُمْ لاَ تَصِلُ إِلَيْهِ نَكِرَهُمْ وَأَوْجَسَ مِنْهُمْ خِيفَةً قَالُواْ لاَ تَخَفْ إِنَّا أُرْسِلْنَا إِلَى قَوْمِ لُوطٍ
But when he saw that they made no move to eat, he found this strange and became afraid of them. They said, ‘Do not be afraid, for we have been sent to the people of Lot.’
71
وَامْرَأَتُهُ قَآئِمَةٌ فَضَحِكَتْ فَبَشَّرْنَاهَا بِإِسْحَقَ وَمِن وَرَاء إِسْحَقَ يَعْقُوبَ
His wife, who was standing nearby, laughed when We gave her the good news of Isaac, and after Isaac, Jacob.
72
قَالَتْ يَا وَيْلَتَى أَأَلِدُ وَأَنَاْ عَجُوزٌ وَهَـذَا بَعْلِي شَيْخًا إِنَّ هَـذَا لَشَيْءٌ عَجِيبٌ
She said, ‘Alas! Shall I bear a child in this old age, while my husband here is also old? This is indeed a strange thing!’
73
قَالُواْ أَتَعْجَبِينَ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللّهِ رَحْمَتُ اللّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ عَلَيْكُمْ أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ إِنَّهُ حَمِيدٌ مَّجِيدٌ
They said, ‘Are you astonished at God’s command? May the mercy of God and His blessings be upon you, O people of this house. Surely, He is praiseworthy and glorious.’
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Commentary
a) Literally ‘their hands did not reach towards the meal’. (b) Once when Abraham was about a hundred years old, several very handsome young men entered his house. Considering them as guests, he immediately arranged for their food. They were not human beings, but angels of God. They had come with the dual purpose of giving the good news of children to Abraham, and destroying Lot’s community, who had gone to the furthest extremes in their arrogance and rejection of the Truth. Conveying to Abraham and his wife the good news of Isaac (Ishaq), a son, and Jacob (Ya‘qub), a grandson, did not simply mean giving the good news of children in the usual sense. No, indeed, this amounted to the bringing into existence of a line of righteous and mission-oriented human beings. It is a matter of historical record that generally it is a ‘family’ that rises in the service of religion. The history of the prophets and the events in the lives of the true followers who came after them demonstrate this fact. This is because one to whom Truth is revealed is an ordinary person in the eyes of his contemporaries, and this makes it difficult for the common people to recognise his status and support him. But from within his own family, personal relationships become an additional force. What outsiders are unable to see—due to their love of externals—the family members clearly appreciate, thanks to the element of attachment. Not finding it difficult to understand his real position, they become supporters of his mission.