The Witness of Their Own Nabī

The angels left. They came to Ibrāhīm to deliver to him news, and that is Isḥāq and Yaʿqūb, and they left on their way to fulfil their mission. They're heading to Sadūm.

When they reached the outskirts of the town, it is said that the first one who saw them was the daughter of Lūṭ. She saw these three handsome young men. She immediately rushed towards her father and told him: my father, there are three young, handsome men coming in town. The father immediately rushed outside to meet them, and to tell them: be my guests. Because Lūṭ knows if they are not his guests, they're going to be guests with somebody else among the people of Sadūm. If he does not take care of them, they would be in trouble. And these are three young, handsome men.

Lūṭ was walking into the town. He was walking in front of them, to make sure that nobody will see them. If they're seen, they would be in trouble. So he's leading them in the streets of the town. And then Lūṭ looked back at them and said: wallāhi mā aʿlamu ʿalā wajhi al-arḍi aḥadan afsada min ahli hādhihi al-qaryah. He said: in the name of Allah, I don't know of anyone on the face of the earth who is more evil than these people. They didn't respond. He turned again to them and said: in the name of Allah, I don't know that there's anyone on the face of the earth more evil than these people.

What is Lūṭ trying to do? Lūṭ does not want to tell them: leave. He doesn't want to say explicitly, leave, because they might interpret it as: he doesn't want to host us, so let's leave him alone and go and find somebody else. He doesn't want to do that, because he knows if they go and find another host, they would be in trouble. But he wants to give them a correct assessment of the situation. He thinks that these are foreigners; they don't know what's going on. So he wants to tell them: do you know where you're going? Do you know what town this is? Do you know the evil that is happening here? So that they would take the initiative and leave on their own. And he kept on doing that again and again, three or four or five times. Every now and then he would turn back and say: these are the most evil people; these people are corrupt.

Lūṭ doesn't know what's happening. Lūṭ is speaking to these three men, and he does not know what's happening. Because Ibn Kathīr says that these three angels in the form of men were given instructions by Allah (swt): that you do not destroy the people of Lūṭ until you hear the witness of their Nabī against them. So the angels were recording everything Lūṭ was saying, because he is their Nabī. They have to hear what he says about them. He is the one who will be asked about them on the Day of Judgement. So before these people are punished, they need to get the most important witness, and that is the witness of their own Nabī. So the angels were silent, and they were recording everything Lūṭ was saying: these people are the most evil people on the face of the earth. And the angels are writing that down. They got the witness of Lūṭ, and now they can go ahead with the punishment.