Verse 73
The Rocky Tract • makkah
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Important Words:
لعمرك (by thy life). عمر (‘amrun) is the same as عمر (‘umurun) and means, life or the age to which life extends or the period in which the body is inhabited by life. The Arabs say لعمرك لافعلن کذالك i.e. by thy life I will assuredly do such a thing. The expression لعمرك therefore means, by thy life; or by thy religion, for عمر (‘amrun) also means religion (Lane).
Commentary:
This verse is addressed to the Holy Prophet by God and not to Lot by the angels, as some commentators seem to think.
The expression لعمرك (by thy life) therefore beautifully hints at the purity of the Holy Prophet’s life by citing it as a witness against the wickedness of evildoers.
The case of Lot was in fact similar to that of the Holy Prophet in more than one respect. Just as the people of Lot prohibited him from entertaining outsiders, fearing lest the latter should conspire against them, similarly the Meccans prohibited the Holy Prophet from having any dealings with strangers, for they feared that he might form an alliance with outside people and thus seek to do them harm. And just as Lot had his two daughters married among his enemies, similarly the Holy Prophet had three of his daughters married among disbelievers: Ruqayyah and Ummi Kulthum having been married to ‘Utbah and Shaibah, the two sons of Abu Lahab and Zainab to Abul ‘As bin ar-Rabi‘. The relevancy of the present verse to the previous one is that the Holy Prophet felt grieved by the reference to Lot’s daughters having been married among his opponents, for this reminded him of his own daughters who were married among disbelievers and of their being likely to suffer at the hands of their husbands. God has therefore here consoled the Holy Prophet by saying to him, "Your enemies have indeed proved more wicked than the people of Lot, who at least abstained from persecuting his daughters. But We offer your whole life as a witness that even as Lot’s people were punished by God, your people, who are the greater sinners, will not escape God’s punishment for persecuting you who are by far a greater Prophet."
It may also be briefly mentioned in passing that God’s swearing by His creatures is quite different from man’s swearing by them. When a man swears by a thing other than God, he does so to express his special reverence for it, which is denounced by the Quran. But God swears by a thing in order to offer it as a witness for establishing the truth of a certain claim and He, being the Creator of all things, has the right to offer anything as a witness. But man cannot do so. It is therefore not allowed to him to swear by anything except God. For a full discussion of the subject of "oaths" in the Quran and their significance see under 75:2.