Concerning His saying, “They said, ‘Peace,’” that is, they offered a greeting of peace. Abraham said, “Peace”: meaning, “Peace be upon you.” It is also said that it is in the nominative as a direct quotation, as in His saying, “And say, ‘Relieve us of our sins!’” (al-Baqarah 85; al-A‘raf 161). Hamzah and al-Kisa’i recited it here and in Surat al-Dhariyat as silm, with an i-vowel on the initial s and without the long a. It is said that it has the same meaning as salam, just as hill and halal are both used for what is lawful, and hirm and haram for what is forbidden. It is also said that it means reconciliation: that is, “We come in peace with you, not in war.”

“Then, before long, he brought a roasted calf.” The terms hanidh and mahnudh refer to meat roasted over stones in a hollow in the ground. It was a fat calf, dripping with grease, as He says elsewhere: “Then he brought a fat calf” (al-Dhariyat 26). Qatadah said: Most of Abraham’s wealth consisted of cattle.

“When he saw that their hands did not reach for it, he became suspicious of them and felt fear of them. They said, ‘Do not be afraid. We have been sent to the people of Lot.’ (70) And his wife was standing by, and she laughed. So We gave her the good news of Isaac, and after Isaac, Jacob. (71)”

Concerning His saying, “When he saw that their hands did not reach for it”: that is, for the calf. “He became suspicious of them” means that he found them unfamiliar. “And felt” means that he harbored, “fear of them”: that is, fear. Muqatil said: Fear entered his heart. The basic meaning of the word awjasa is entry, as though fear had entered his heart.

Qatadah said: This was because, whenever a guest came to them and did not eat of their food, they thought that he had not come with good intentions, but had come with evil. “They said, ‘Do not be afraid,’ O Abraham [for we are messengers of your Lord—that is:] (1) we are angels of Allah, sent to the people of Lot.”

“And his wife”: Sarah, daughter of Haran son of Ahwar, (2) who was Abraham’s cousin. “Was standing”: behind a curtain, listening to their conversation. It is also said that she was standing and serving the messengers, while Abraham was sitting with them. “And she laughed”: Mujahid and ‘Ikrimah said that this means she menstruated at that time. The Arabs say, “The rabbit laughed,” meaning that it menstruated. The majority, however, held that what is meant is ordinary laughter.

They differed concerning the reason for her laughter. It is said that she laughed because the fear had left both her and Abraham when they said, “Do not be afraid.” Al-Suddi said: When Abraham brought the food near to them and they did not eat, Abraham became afraid and thought that they were thieves. He said to them, “Will you not eat?” They replied, “We do not eat food except for a price.” Abraham said, “It has a price.” They asked, “And what is its price?” He said, “That you mention Allah’s name at its beginning and praise Him at its end.” Gabriel then looked at Michael and said, “This man truly deserves that his Lord take him as a close friend.” When Abraham and Sarah saw that their hands did not reach for it, Sarah laughed and said, “How astonishing our guests are! We ourselves serve them in order to honor them, yet they do not eat our food.”