Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 11 Hud, Ayat 82-83

فَلَمَّا جَآءَ اَمۡرُنَا جَعَلۡنَا عَالِيَهَا سَافِلَهَا وَاَمۡطَرۡنَا عَلَيۡهَا حِجَارَةً مِّنۡ سِجِّيۡلٍۙ  مَّنۡضُوۡدٍۙ‏ ﴿11:82﴾ مُّسَوَّمَةً عِنۡدَ رَبِّكَ​ؕ وَ مَا هِىَ مِنَ الظّٰلِمِيۡنَ بِبَعِيۡدٍ‏  ﴿11:83﴾

(11:82) And when Our command came to pass, We turned the town upside down, and rained on it stones of baked clay, one on another,91 (11:83) marked from your Lord.92 Nor is the punishment far off from the wrong-doers.93


Notes

91. Probably the scourge came in the form of a horrible earthquake which turned their habitations upside down and the explosion of a volcano which rained stones on them.

“Stones of layered baked clay” probably refers to the stones that are formed by the underground heat and lava in the volcanic regions. The signs of such a formation are found even today near the Lot Sea.

92. That is, every stone had been specified by Allah to do some particular work of destruction there, and to hit a particular offender.

93. This was meant to warn the workers of iniquity who were engaged in their evil work, as if to say: You should not consider yourselves immune from scourge as though it were far from you. If it could visit the people of Prophet Lot (peace be upon him), it could overpower you as well. Neither the people of Prophet Lot (peace be upon him) were able to defend themselves against Allah, nor can you frustrate Him now.