Al-Anbya · Makki · ayah 75 of 112

Al-Anbya 21:75

وَأَدْخَلْنَـٰهُ فِى رَحْمَتِنَآ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ مِنَ ٱلصَّـٰلِحِينَ

“And We admitted him into Our mercy. Indeed, he was of the righteous.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Out of the town of foul things, and into mercy: not merely shielded from the punishment, but brought inside.

A reflection

Not only out of the town, but into mercy

The ayah before ended on the town: foul deeds, a people of evil, gone out from obedience. This one opens a door in the opposite direction. Wa adkhalnāhu fī raḥmatinā: and We brought him into Our mercy.

The preposition matters. Lut was not only kept away from the punishment. He was brought in. The commentators give several readings of what he entered. Some say the rescue itself, or prophethood. Others say among the people of Allah's mercy, or into Paradise itself. For that last reading one commentator cites a hadith in both Sahihs. Allah says to Paradise: you are My mercy, by which I have mercy on whom I will of My servants.

So the passage moves from one enclosure to another. A town that gathered foulness like a basin. Then a mercy wide enough to live inside. One classical view ties raḥma to the raḥim, the womb, named for bending over what it holds. To be brought into mercy is to be held like that.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.