al-Ṣaffāt

وَإِنَّكُمْ لَتَـمُرُّونَ عَلَيْهِم مُّصْبِحِينَ

وَبِالَّيْلِ أَفَلاَ تَعْقِلُونَ

137. “And verily you pass by them in the morning.”

138. “And at night; do you not then understand?”

Both deliverance and destruction are in the power of Allah. This verse declares that every morning you usually pass by their ruined cities and you see what kind of fate they afflicted with. The verse says:

Of course, these things are as a preparation for awakening the proud neglect ones. And, in the next verse, it says:

This statement is for the sake that the cities of the people of Lot were located alongside the way of the caravans of the people of Arabia toward Syria and, in their travelling, these people used to pass by them both day and night. If they had a spiritual ear they would hear the painful cries of this sinful afflicted people, because the ruins of their cities, by a mute tongue, teach all the passengers and make them aware of being afflicted in the grips of some other events similar to them.

Yes, there are a lot of lessons for taking example, but those who may take an example are few. Ali (as) says:

“How many are the objects of lessons, but how few the taking of lessons.” ²

There is a narration from Imam Sadiq (as) who, in answer to the question about the commentary of these verses, said:

“When you are reciting the verses of the Qur’an you pass by them. The Qur’an reiterates the news which Allah has stated for you.” ³

Footnotes

1. 2. Nahjul-Balaqah, saying No. 297
2. 3. Nur-uth-Thaqalayn, Vol. 4, P. 432