Surah Al-Anbya, Ayah 74

The Migration of Ibrahim to Ash-Sham (Greater Syria), accompanied by Lut

Allah tells us that He saved Ibrahim from the fire lit by his people, and brought him out from among them, migrating to the land of Ash-Sham, to the sacred regions thereof.

وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُ إِسْحَـقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ نَافِلَةً

(And We bestowed upon him Ishaq, and Ya`qub Nafilatan.) `Ata' and Mujahid said, "Nafilatan means as a gift." Ibn `Abbas, Qatadah and Al-Hakam bin `Uyaynah said, "The gift of a son who has a son," meaning that Ya`qub was the son of Ishaq, as Allah says:

فَبَشَّرْنَـهَا بِإِسْحَـقَ وَمِن وَرَآءِ إِسْحَـقَ يَعْقُوبَ

(But We gave her glad tidings of Ishaq, and after Ishaq, of Ya`qub) 11:71. `Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam said, "He asked for one son, and said,

Commentary

The name of the city from which Sayyidna Lut (علیہ السلام) was saved and which has been mentioned in these verses was Sodom. There were seven other townships under this city which were thrown upside down by Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) except one which was left intact for Lut (علیہ السلام) and his followers. (Ibn ` Abbas, Qurtubl)

تَّعْمَلُ الْخَبَائِثَ (21:74) خَبَائِثَ (Khaba'ith) is the plural of خَبِئیثَہ meaning wickedness. Too many wicked things collectively are called Khaba'ith (خَبَائِثَ ). Their most abominable practice in which even the animals do not indulge, was sodomy or homosexuality. It is possible that because of its extreme wicked nature this practice is referred to as خَبَائِثَ that is in plural instead of خَبِئیثَہ in singular, as some commentators have explained. The second explanation is that the people of Sodom also indulged in other bad habits such as drinking, singing, shaving off beard, growing moustaches, wearing silk clothes, stone throwing, whistling etc. (Ruh ul-Ma` ani).

The Prophet Abraham was born in Iraq. When the people of his community and Iraq’s ruler, Nimrod, became his enemies, he left his native place after fully conveying the divine message to them. At God’s command he migrated to the lands of Syria and Palestine. Though his countrymen did not support him, God gave him sons and grandsons who followed in his footsteps. God accepted and appreciated his piety to the extent that He started a chain of prophets from amongst his descendants.