(33-40) “The people of Lot rejected the warnings. We sent against them a storm of stones, except the family of Lot, whom We saved before dawn—a favor from Us. Thus do We reward whoever gives thanks. He had certainly warned them of Our mighty assault, but they disputed the warnings. They demanded his guests from him, so We blinded their eyes: ‘Taste, then, My punishment and My warnings!’ A lasting punishment overtook them at daybreak. ‘Taste, then, My punishment and My warnings!’ We have certainly made the Quran easy to remember; is there anyone who will take heed?”

That is, “The people of Lot rejected” Lot, peace be upon him, when he called them to worship Allah alone, without partner, and forbade them idolatry and the obscenity that no one in all the worlds had ever committed before them.

They rejected him and persisted in their idolatry and vile deeds. Indeed, when Lot’s people heard of the angels who had come to him in the guise of guests, they came to them (1) in haste, intent on committing the obscenity with them—may Allah curse and disgrace them—and demanded that he hand them over.

Allah therefore commanded Gabriel, peace be upon him, who blinded their eyes with his wing. Their prophet had warned them of Allah’s mighty assault and punishment, “but they disputed the warnings.” “A lasting punishment overtook them at daybreak.” Allah overturned their dwellings upon them, turning them upside down, and pursued them with stones of layered baked clay, marked by your Lord for the transgressors. Allah saved Lot and his family from the terrible distress as a reward for their gratitude to their Lord and for worshipping Him alone, without partner.