“He said, ‘Then what is your mission, O messengers?’ They said, ‘Indeed, we have been sent to a sinful people, to send upon them stones of baked clay, marked by your Lord for the transgressors.’ So We brought out those among them who were believers, but We found there no more than one household of Muslims. And We left therein a sign for those who fear the painful punishment.” (31–37)

“They said, ‘Thus has your Lord decreed’”—that is, just as we have told you, your Lord has decreed that you will bear a son—“Indeed, He is the All-Wise, the All-Knowing.”

“He said”—meaning Abraham (1)—“Then what is your mission, O messengers?” They said, “Indeed, we have been sent to a sinful people,” meaning the people of Lot.

“To send upon them stones of baked clay, marked”—that is, designated—“by your Lord for the transgressors.” Ibn Abbas said: for the polytheists; and associating partners with Allah is the most excessive and gravest of sins.

“So We brought out those among them who were believers”—that is, from the towns of the people of Lot. This is referred to in His saying: “So set out with your family during a portion of the night” (Hud 11:81).

“But We found there no more than one household of Muslims”—that is, no household other than the household of Lot: Lot and his two daughters. Allah the Exalted described them as possessing both faith and Islam, for every believer is a Muslim.

“And We left therein”—that is, in the city of the people of Lot—“a sign,” meaning a lesson, “for those who fear the painful punishment”: a sign for those who fear, showing them that Allah the Exalted destroyed them, so that they may fear a punishment like theirs.