Al Ḥijr

فَاَسْرِ بِاَهْلِكَ بِقِطْعٍ مّـِنَ الَّيْلِ وَاتَّبِعْ أَدْبَارَهُمْ وَلاَ يَلْتَفِتْ مِنكُمْ أَحَدٌ وَامْضُوا حَيْثُ تُؤْمَرُونَ

وَقَضَيْنَآ إِلَيْهِ ذَلِكَ الاَمْرَ أَنَّ دَابِرَ هَؤُلآءِ مَقْطُوعٌ مُّصْبِحِينَ

65. “So set forth, you with your family, in a part of the night and do you go behind them and let not any one of you turn back, and go whither you are ordered.”
66. “And We made known this decree to him that the roots of those (sinners) should be cut off by the morning.”

Do not take the Divine warnings and threats as a joke, for the Divine punishments are always based on justice, the truth and what the culprits deserve. And at the time of war or of exodus, the leader must move keeping abreast with the weakest of the people so as no believer would be left behind and no foes or pagans could join, and rest assured of Allah’s grace in important circumstances, which will be herded down moment by moment and will be of assistance to him once he is in dire need.

The verse says:

“So set forth, you with your family…”

It will be shown to him as to when the exodus must take place, and with whom, by what means, and finally, towards what destination. The verse continues saying:

“…in a part of the night and do you go behind them and let not any one of you turn back, and go whither you are ordered.”

And as the small group of believers (the household of Lot except his wife) was to be rescued from such a campaign safely, Lot was provided with the necessary instructions. He should take his family out of the town late at night when the sinners were in deep asleep or they were drunk or engaged in gratifying their sexual desires. However, he should move behind them so that he might be sure that no one was left behind. In the meantime, none of them was allowed to look or turn back.

Then, the tone of the statement changes, where Allah says:

“And We made known this decree to him that the roots of those (sinners) should be cut off by the morning.”