الْحِجْر

At length when the messengers arrived among the adherents of Lut,

He said: "Ye appear to be uncommon folk."

They said: "Yea, we have come to thee to accomplish that of which they doubt.

"We have brought to thee that which is inevitably due, and assuredly we tell the truth.

"Then travel by night with thy household, when a portion of the night (yet remains), and do thou bring up the rear: let no one amongst you look back, but pass on whither ye are ordered."

And We made known this decree to him, that the last remnants of those (sinners) should be cut off by the morning.

The inhabitants of the city came in (mad) joy (at news of the young men).

Lut said: "These are my guests: disgrace me not:

"But fear Allah, and shame me not."

They said: "Did we not forbid thee (to speak) for all and sundry?"

He said: "There are my daughters (to marry), if ye must act (so)."

Verily, by thy life (O Prophet), in their wild intoxication, they wander in distraction, to and fro.

But the (mighty) Blast overtook them before morning,

And We turned (the cities) upside down, and rained down on them brimstones hard as baked clay.

Behold! in this are Signs for those who by tokens do understand.

And the (cities were) right on the high-road.

Behold! in this is a sign for those who believed.

And the Companions of the Wood were also wrong-doers;

So We exacted retribution from them. They were both on an open highway, plain to see.

The Companions of the Rocky Tract also rejected the messengers: