وَيَٰقَوْمِ لَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شِقَاقِىٓ أَن يُصِيبَكُم مِّثْلُ مَآ أَصَابَ قَوْمَ نُوحٍ أَوْ قَوْمَ هُودٍ أَوْ قَوْمَ صَٰلِحٍ وَمَا قَوْمُ لُوطٍ مِّنكُم بِبَعِيدٍ
"My people! Do not let your enmity towards me bring upon you the like of what came upon the people of Noah, or the people of Hūd, or the people of Ṣāliḥ. And the people of Lot are not far from you."
And the order is the sūra's own order: Noah (25-49) → Hūd (50-60) → Ṣāliḥ (61-68) → Lot (77-83). The fifth messenger counts off four of those who came before him.
I record this as an observation about the structure: the sūra does not tell its narratives as independent of one another; inside the fifth narrative the first four are used as evidence.
وَمَا قَوْمُ لُوطٍ مِّنكُم بِبَعِيدٍ — and this sentence is in word-for-word the same pattern as wa mā hiya mina'l-ẓālimīna bi-baʿīd, which came eight verses earlier (11/83).
| Place | Sentence | What is "not far" |
|---|---|---|
| 11/83 | wa mā hiya mina'l-ẓālimīna bi-baʿīd | The stones — from the wrongdoers |
| 11/89 | wa mā qawmu Lūṭin minkum bi-baʿīd | The people of Lot — from you |
The two sentences carry the same pattern in a way that can be verified from the text — and this repetition was already recorded at the closing of the Lot section (in the note written on 11/83).
The exegetes differ over what bi-baʿīd means: nearness in time, nearness in place (the distance between Midian and the land of the people of Lot), or likeness in deed. No preference is adopted; all three readings are compatible with the wording of the sentence.
The word occurs in two places in the Qurʾān as a name of God: here and at al-Burūj 85/14 (wa huwa'l-ghafūru'l-wadūd). Both were treated; I rely on that treatment.
And its placement is worth recording: the word comes immediately after four reminders of destruction. The sentence following the harshest reminder, that is, is the gentlest name.