وَلُوطًا إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِۦٓ أَتَأْتُونَ ٱلْفَٰحِشَةَ مَا سَبَقَكُم بِهَا مِنْ أَحَدٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ
And [We had sent] Lot when he said to his people, "Do you commit such immorality as no one has preceded you with from among the worlds?
Introduction
This is āyah 80 of Sūrat Al-A'raaf (The Heights), the 39th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Meccan period and sits within Juzʾ 8. Meccan verses tend to address faith, the oneness of God, and the hereafter.
This introduction is a starting point — the community and Bilal will enrich it over time.
Revelation & occasion
- Period
- Meccan
- Order revealed
- 39 of 114
- Surah
- Al-A'raaf (7)
And Lot, when he said to his people, “What, do you bring an indecency with which none in the worlds has preceded you?” Each person's indecency is appropriate to his days and states. Look at a man's station in traversing the road. Where is he located? His indecency follows the measure of his mortal nature right there. The world's creatures are no more than three groups: the common people, the elect, and the elect of the elect. The indecency of the common people is explained by the tongue of the Shariah, and its penalty is either the whip or stoning. The indecency of the elect is to look at the pleasures and appetites of this world with the eye of the head, to see their enjoyment and adornment, and to give them access to themselves, even if they are permitted and far from ambiguity. For, in the case of the elect, the blight of the permitted bliss of this world is more than the blight of the forbidden in the case of the common people. In the tongue of the Master of the Shariah the penalty of this indecency is what he said: “Lower your eyes and hold back your hands.” The indecency of the elect of the elect is that they should gaze at other than the Real with the heart's awareness despite the fact that this declaration has come from the Real: “Say 'God,' then leave them” [6:91]. He is saying, “My servant, do not gaze at yourself-see everything as My act. Do not lay favors on Me with your acts-look at My success-giving. Flee from your own marks- see only My love.” What does someone seized by His love have to do with others? Keep the heart turned toward Him and let the others go. The world's tumult is all this talk of you and me- give up “me” and the whole world will be your garden. God says, “I wonder how anyone with faith in Me can depend on other than Me. Were they to gaze on the subtleties of My kindness, they would not worship other than Me.”
Tafsir
Hafiz Ibn Kathir
Chains of transmission
Oral — isnād
- ~610–632 CERevelation & memorisation
Received by the Prophet ﷺ and preserved by the ḥuffāẓ (memorisers) among the Companions.
- 1st century AHMutawātir transmissionawaiting curation
Carried by mass-transmission through the generations of qurrāʾ.
- TodayLiving chainsawaiting curation
Continuous ijāzah chains link reciters today back to the Prophet ﷺ.
Verified isnād chains for this āyah will be added by curators.
Written — the manuscript record
- ~650 CEʿUthmānic codicesawaiting curation
The standardised muṣḥaf sent to the great cities (e.g. the Topkapı and Samarqand codices).
- 8th–10th c.Early Ḥijāzī & Kūfic foliosawaiting curation
Surviving leaves in Birmingham, Sanaa, Paris (BnF) and beyond.
- Modern printModern printawaiting curation
The 1924 Cairo edition → today: the standard printed muṣḥaf used worldwide.
A curated chain of manuscript images for this exact āyah — roughly one per century — is coming. Help us source and verify them.
And now — what do you think?
The text, its history and the classical commentary are laid out above. Share your own understanding, ask a question, or reason with others.
Community resources
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