Al Ḥijr

قَالَ فَمَا خَطْبُكُمْ أَيُّهَا الْمُرْسَلُونَ

قَالُوا إِنَّآ اُرْسِلْنَآ إِلَي قَوْمٍ مُّجْرِمِينَ

57. “He said: ‘What is your business, then, O’ you (Divine) messengers?’”
58. “They said: ‘Verily we have been sent unto a guilty people (to annihilate them)’,”

Before starting their mission, the angels used to brief the Divine leaders about their own missions. Therefore, after hearing about this good news, Abraham (as) started thinking as to the fact that the angels, under those circumstances, had not merely come there to give him simply the news of having a son. Definitely, they had come to achieve a more important mission, and the conveying of the good news could be regarded only as a part of that mission.

It was for this reason that he went on asking them:

“He said: ‘What is your business, then, O’ you (Divine) messengers?’”

The angels responded that they had been sent to a sinful nation to annihilate them. The Qur’an announces their answer, as the verse says:

“They said: ‘Verily we have been sent unto a guilty people (to annihilate them)’,”

Thus they made him understand that they had come to destroy the sinful people of Lot, for the angels were not sent down to that nation but for their destruction.