قَالَ فَمَا خَطْبُكُمْ أَيُّهَا ٱلْمُرْسَلُونَ · قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّآ أُرْسِلْنَآ إِلَىٰ قَوْمٍ مُّجْرِمِينَ · إِلَّآ ءَالَ لُوطٍ إِنَّا لَمُنَجُّوهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ · إِلَّا ٱمْرَأَتَهُۥ قَدَّرْنَآ إِنَّهَا لَمِنَ ٱلْغَٰبِرِينَ
Qāla fa-mā khaṭbukum ayyuhā'l-mursalūn · Qālū innā ursilnā ilā qawmin mujrimīn · Illā āla Lūṭin innā la-munajjūhum ajmaʿīn · Illā'mraʾatahu qaddarnā innahā la-mina'l-ghābirīn
"He said: 'What, then, is your real business, O messengers?' · 'We have been sent to a guilty people · — save the family of Lot; all of them we shall deliver. · Save his wife; we have determined that she is of those who stay behind.'"
The خ-ط-ب root: to speak, to address; and from this, "a matter important enough to be spoken about". Khuṭba, khiṭāb, khāṭib are from the same root.
The picture in the word is worth recording: a khaṭb is not an ordinary matter — it is a matter that requires talking about.
The same question occurs at al-Dhāriyāt 51/31 in exactly the same words: qāla fa-mā khaṭbukum ayyuhā'l-mursalūn. The same sentence in two sūras — a repetition that can be verified.
| Step | Expression | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ilā qawmin mujrimīn | A people |
| 2 | Illā āla Lūṭ | A family is taken out |
| 3 | Illā'mraʾatahu | One person from the family is put back |
I record this as an observation about the word order: the sentence narrows twice, the second from within the first. That is, deliverance is not given in the name of a family; even after the family is named, an exception remains.
And at al-Taḥrīm 66/10 the same line was treated for Lot's wife — two prophets' wives were given there as an example and it was recorded that the marriage tie does not deliver. I rely on that treatment.
The ق-د-ر root occurred in the twenty-first verse of the sūra (bi-qadarin maʿlūm). Here it returns as a verb.
| Verse | Word | What is determined |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | Bi-qadarin maʿlūm | The measure of what comes down |
| 60 | Qaddarnā | The end of one person |
The same root, one a measure and one a judgement. This is a repetition within the sūra that can be verified.
And a difference of variant reading is transmitted: the readings qaddarnā (doubled) and qadarnā (undoubled) are conveyed; the difference of sense is not marked. I give no imam's name.
ٱلْغَٰبِرِينَ — root غ-ب-ر: to stay behind; and dust (ghabara — it passed away / it stayed behind). The lexicographers record that the root is used in both directions. The sense here is "those who stay behind" — remaining together with those destroyed.