26:172

ثُمَّ دَمَّرۡنَا ٱلۡأٓخَرِينَ

Thumma dammarna alakhareena

Then We destroyed the others.

Word by word
  1. ثُمَّThen
  2. دَمَّرۡنَاWe destroyed
  3. ٱلۡأٓخَرِينَthe others
Ash-Shu'ara · 26:172Makkah

Then the rest were destroyed.

After the believers left


The order of events
believers outat night, not turning
then
the othersdestroyed
What the timing shows
everyone togethergood and bad alike
the saved firstthen the rest

The word then matters. Lut and his family were brought out first. Afterward, the others were destroyed. Allah separated those who obeyed from those who stayed.

When things fall apart around you, a company scandal, a friend group collapsing, it can feel random. The question is where you were standing before it came.

When disaster comes, it does not matter what I did.

What I choose before the test decides where I stand in it.

Try this

Ask yourself honestly where you are standing today. Take one step to the side you want to be on.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 26:165)

"Go you in unto the males of Al-'Alamin (people), (165)"And leave those whom Allah has created for you to be your wives? Nay, you are a trespassing people! (166)They said: "If you cease not, O Lut, verily, you will be one of those who are driven out! (167)He said: "I am indeed of those who disapprove with severe anger and fury your behavior. (168)"My Lord! Save me and my family from what they do. (169)So, We saved him and his family, all (170)Except an old woman among those who remained behind (171)Then afterward We destroyed the others (172)And We rained on them a rain, and how evil was the rain of those who had been warned (173)Verily, in this is indeed a sign, yet most of them are not believers (174)And verily your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful (175)

Lut's Denunciation of His People's Deeds, Their Response and Their Punishment

The Prophet of Allah forbade them from committing evil deeds and intercourse with males, and he taught them that they should have intercourse with their wives whom Allah had created for them. Their response was only to say:

لَئِن لَّمْ تَنتَهِ يَا لُوطُ

(If you cease not, O Lut,) meaning, 'if you do not give up what you have brought,'

لَتَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُخْرَجِينَ

(verily, you will be one of those who are driven out!) meaning, 'we will expel you from among us.' This is like the Ayah,

فَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِ إِلَّا أَن قَالُوا أَخْرِجُوا آلَ لُوطٍ مِّن 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!")(27:56). When he saw that they would not give up their ways, and that they were persisting in their misguidance, he declared his innocence of them, saying:

إِنِّي لِعَمَلِكُم مِّنَ الْقَالِينَ

(I am, indeed, of those who disapprove with severe anger and fury) 'Of those who are outraged, I do not like it and I do not accept it, and I have nothing to do with you. ' Then he prayed to Allah against them and said:

رَبِّ نَجِّنِي وَأَهْلِي مِمَّا يَعْمَلُونَ

(My Lord! Save me and my family from what they do.) Allah says:

فَنَجَّيْنَاهُ وَأَهْلَهُ أَجْمَعِينَ - إِلَّا عَجُوزًا فِي الْغَابِرِينَ

(So, We saved him and his family, all. Except an old woman among those who remained behind.) This was his wife, who was a bad old woman. She stayed behind and was destroyed with whoever else was left. This is similar to what Allah says about them in Surat Al-A'raf and Surah Hud, and in Surat Al-Hijr, where Allah commanded him to take his family at night, except for his wife, and not to turn around when they heard the Sayhah as it came upon his people. So they patiently obeyed the command of Allah and persevered, and Allah sent upon the people a punishment which struck them all, and rained upon them stones of baked clay, piled up. Allah says:

ثُمَّ دَمَّرْنَا الْآخَرِينَ - وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهِم مَّطَرًا

(Then afterward We destroyed the others. And We rained on them a rain) until Allah's saying;

وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ

(And verily, your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful.)