Quran Universe
27:56

۞فَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوۡمِهِۦٓ إِلَّآ أَن قَالُوٓاْ أَخۡرِجُوٓاْ ءَالَ لُوطٖ مِّن قَرۡيَتِكُمۡۖ إِنَّهُمۡ أُنَاسٞ يَتَطَهَّرُونَ

Fama kana jawaba qawmihi illa an qaloo akhrijoo ala lootin min qaryatikum innahum onasun yatatahharoona

But the answer of his people was not except that they said, "Expel the family of Lot from your city. Indeed, they are people who keep themselves pure."

Word by word
  1. ۞فَمَاBut not
  2. كَانَwas
  3. جَوَابَ(the) answer
  4. قَوۡمِهِۦٓ(of) his people
  5. إِلَّآexcept
  6. أَنthat
  7. قَالُوٓاْthey said
  8. أَخۡرِجُوٓاْDrive out
  9. ءَالَ(the) family
  10. لُوطٖ(of) Lut
  11. مِّنfrom
  12. قَرۡيَتِكُمۡۖyour town
  13. إِنَّهُمۡIndeed,they
  14. أُنَاسٞ(are) people
  15. يَتَطَهَّرُونَwho keep clean and pure
An-Naml · 27:56Makkah

Their only answer: throw out the clean ones.

Purity treated as a crime

Their reply
Lut's familykeep themselves pure
so
expel themnot fit to live here
What they could not stand
his argumentthey had no reply
his exampleit embarrassed them

They gave no other answer. Ibn Kathir explains their thinking: these people feel embarrassed by your deeds and do not approve, so expel them. Lut's family was accused of one thing: wanting to stay pure.

Your friends tease you for not drinking at the party, for leaving early, for not joining the gossip. "You think you are better than us." Sometimes your example is the whole argument.

If people push me out for my standards, I must be doing something wrong.

Being pushed away for staying clean can be a sign I am holding on to something good.

Try this

Keep one standard today that others tease you for, and smile when they do.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 27:54)

And (remember) Lut! When he said to his people: "Do you commit immoral sins while you see? (54)"Do you practice your lusts on men instead of women? Nay, but you are a people who behave senselessly. (55)There was no other answer given by his people except that they said: "Drive out the family of Lut from your city. Verily, these are men who want to be clean and pure! (56)So, We saved him and his family, except his wife. We destined her to be of those who remained behind (57)And We rained down on them a rain. So, evil was the rain of those who were warned (58)

Lut and His People

Allah tells us about His servant and Messenger Lut, peace be upon him, and how he warned his people of Allah's punishment for committing an act of immorality which no human ever committed before them – intercourse with males instead of females. This is a major sin, whereby men are satisfied with men and women are with women (i.e., homosexuality). Lut said:

أَتَأْتُونَ الْفَاحِشَةَ وَأَنْتُمْ تُبْصِرُونَ

(Do you commit immoral sins while you see?) meaning, 'while you see one another, and you practice every kind of evil in your meetings.'

أَئِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ الرِّجَالَ شَهْوَةً مِنْ دُونِ النِّسَاءِ ۚ بَلْ أَنْتُمْ قَوْمٌ تَجْهَلُونَ 

(Do you practice your lusts on men instead of women? Nay, but you are a people who behave senselessly.) means, 'you do not know anything of what is natural or what is prescribed by Allah.' This is like the Ayah:

أَتَأْتُونَ الذُّكْرَانَ مِنَ الْعَالَمِينَ - وَتَذَرُونَ مَا خَلَقَ لَكُمْ رَبُّكُمْ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ ۚ بَلْ أَنْتُمْ قَوْمٌ عَادُونَ

(Go you in unto the males of mankind, and leave those whom Allah has created for you to be your wives? Nay, you are a trespassing people!)(26:165-166)

فَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِ إِلَّا أَنْ قَالُوا أَخْرِجُوا آلَ لُوطٍ مِنْ قَرْيَتِكُمْ ۖ إِنَّهُمْ أُنَاسٌ يَتَطَهَّرُونَ

(There was no other answer given by his people except that they said: "Drive out the family of Lut from your city. Verily, these are men who want to be clean and pure!") means, 'they feel embarrassed because of the deeds you are doing, and because you approve of your actions, so expel them from among yourselves, for they are not fit to live among you in your city.' So, the people resolved to do that, and Allah destroyed them, and a similar end awaits the disbelievers. Allah says:

فَأَنْجَيْنَاهُ وَأَهْلَهُ إِلَّا امْرَأَتَهُ قَدَّرْنَاهَا مِنَ الْغَابِرِينَ 

(So, We saved him and his family, except his wife. We destined her to be of those who remained behind.) meaning, she was one of those who were destroyed, with her people, because she was a helper to what they did and she approved of their evil deeds. She told them about the guests of Lut so that they could come to them. She did not do the evil deeds herself, which was because of the honor of the Lut and not because of any honor on her part.

وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ مَطَرًا ۖ 

(And We rained down on them a rain.) means; stones of Sijjil, in a well-arranged manner one after another. Marked from your Lord; and they are not ever far from the evildoers. Allah said:

فَسَاءَ مَطَرُ الْمُنْذَرِينَ 

(So, evil was the rain of those who were warned.) meaning, those against whom proof was established and whom the warning reached, but they went against the Messenger and denied him, and resolved to drive him out from among them.