Verse 54
The Rocky Tract • makkah
View Aspects
11:71; 51:29.
Commentary:
When the messengers noticed the anxiety they had caused to Abraham they tried to allay it by saying that he need have no personal fear because for him they had brought nothing but glad tidings that related to the birth of an enlightened son.
Abraham and Lot were strangers in Canaan––their home at this time—having migrated from Ur of the Chaldees i.e. Iraq (Gen. 11:27, 28 & 12:4, 5). Seeing that it might cause Lot great grief to leave his present habitation, God revealed His wish to these men who apparently were native inhabitants of the country and sent them with the message to Lot so that they might advise him how to shift to another place and might console and comfort him.
The reason why the glad tidings about the birth of a son who shall be endowed with knowledge was given on this occasion is that, as Abraham was sure to be grieved at hearing of the impending destruction of the people of Lot, therefore by way of consolation he was told beforehand that, in place of the ignorant and disbelieving people who were going to be destroyed, an enlightened son, who would be the progenitor of a great nation, would be born to him. These words may also have been intended to refer to the fact that the promised son would be a Prophet, for, in the terminology of the Quran, knowledge and wisdom also denote spiritual knowledge and divine wisdom.
11:71; 51:29.