“when they entered upon him and said, ‘Peace.’ He said, ‘Indeed, we are apprehensive of you.’ (52) They said, ‘Do not be afraid. Indeed, we bring you glad tidings of a learned son.’ (53) He said, ‘Do you give me glad tidings when old age has overtaken me? Then of what do you give me glad tidings?’ (54)

Regarding His saying, “And indeed, My punishment is the painful punishment,” Qatadah said: “It has reached us that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: ‘If the servant knew the extent of Allah’s pardon, he would not scrupulously refrain from any forbidden act; and if he knew the extent of His punishment, he would destroy himself.’” (1)

Abd al-Wahid al-Mulayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Nu'aymi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Isma'il narrated to us; Qutaybah ibn Sa'id narrated to us; Ya'qub ibn Abd al-Rahman narrated to us, from Amr ibn Abi Amr, from Sa'id ibn Abi Sa'id al-Maqburi, from Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: I heard the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say: “Allah created mercy in one hundred portions on the day He created it. He kept ninety-nine portions with Him and sent one portion among all His creation. If the disbeliever knew the entirety of the mercy that is with Allah, he would not despair of Paradise; and if the believer knew the entirety of the punishment that is with Allah, he would not feel secure from the Fire.” (2)

Regarding the saying of Allah, Most High, “And inform them of the guests of Abraham”: that is, of his guests. The term “guest” may refer to one person, two people, or a group, and may be used of either males or females. They were the angels whom Allah, Most High, sent to bring Abraham, peace be upon him, glad tidings of a child and to destroy the people of Lot.

“When they entered upon him and said, ‘Peace,’ Abraham said, ‘Indeed, we are apprehensive of you’”—that is, fearful, because they did not eat his food.

“They said, ‘Do not be afraid’”—that is, do not fear—“Indeed, we bring you glad tidings of a learned son”: that is, a son who would be a boy in his youth and learned in his maturity. This refers to Isaac. Abraham, peace be upon him, was astonished at his own old age and that of his wife.

“He said, ‘Do you give me glad tidings’”—that is, of a child—“when old age has overtaken me,” that is, despite my state of old age. He said this by way of astonishment. “Then of what do you give me glad tidings?” That is, what is this glad tiding you give me? Nafi recited it as tubashshiruni, with a light nūn carrying kasrah. Ibn Kathir recited it as tubashshirunni, with a doubled nūn, the plural nūn having been assimilated into the first-person possessive nūn. The others recited it with a light nūn carrying fathah.