本章简要叙述了努哈（Noah）之后被留在大地上的民族的历史。经文提到了一些蒙受真主恩惠的群体，也提到了一些招致祂的不悦、理应受到惩罚的群体。接下来提到易卜拉欣（Abraham）的故事的一部分，其中我们可以看到真主的恩典。随后讲述了鲁特（Lot）的民众的故事，他们遭受了痛苦的结局。在这两个故事中，真主对努哈所作的双重承诺都得到了应验。真主的承诺内容如下：

This sūrah gives a brief history of the people who were left in charge of the earth after Noah’s time. It refers to certain communities which received God’s blessings and to others which incurred His displeasure and deserved His punishment. We now have a reference to a part of Abraham’s story in which we witness God’s blessings. This leads to the story of Lot’s people who suffered a painful end. In both stories the dual promise God made to Noah is fulfilled. God’s promise ran as follows:

“有话说道：'努哈啊，你带着从我而来的平安与祝福下船吧，也降福于同你在一起的各族。还有一些族群，我会让他们暂时享受，然后他们将遭受我施予的严厉刑罚。'”（第48节）

“The word was spoken: Noah, disembark in peace from Us, and with Our blessings upon you as well as upon generations from those who are with you. As for other folk, We shall let them have enjoyment, and then there will befall them grievous suffering from Us.’” (Verse 48)

因此,得救者方舟中的部分后裔将获得真主的祝福,而其他族群则被容许暂时享乐,之后却因其罪行而遭受可怕的惩罚所吞没。祝福通过亚伯拉罕的两个儿子赐予他和他的后裔:以撒及其子孙,即以色列的众先知;以及以实玛利,其后裔中有穆罕默德ﷺ,他是真主最后的使者。

Thus, some of the offspring of those saved in the ark were to receive God’s blessings, while other communities were left to enjoy themselves for a while before terrible punishment overwhelmed them for their misdeeds. The blessings are given to Abraham and his seed through both his sons: Isaac and his children who were the Israelite prophets, and Ishmael whose offspring included Muĥammad, the last of God’s messengers.

这段经文以亚伯拉罕将要获得喜讯开篇："我的使者们带着喜讯来到易卜拉欣那里。"（第69节）经文并未立即告诉我们这喜讯是什么，而是要等到合适的时候，即他的妻子在场时才揭晓。这些使者是天使，他们的身份则未被言明，仍是一个谜。

The account of Abraham opens here with the fact that he was to receive good news: “Our messengers came to Abraham with good news.” (Verse 69) We are not told immediately what the good news was. This would come at the right moment, when his wife was present. The messengers were angels whose identity is left a mystery.

虽然一些《古兰经》注释者提到了一些名字和数字，但我们倾向于不作推测，因为我们没有任何证据支持这些说法。

Although some commentators on the Qur’ān mention names and numbers, we prefer not to speculate, since we have no evidence to support such contentions.

“他们向他致以问候，他回答说：‘愿平安归于你们。’”（第69节）亚伯拉罕从他的出生地伊拉克迁出，渡过约旦河，定居在迦南人的土地上，那里大部分是沙漠。依照贝都因人的待客传统，亚伯拉罕立刻着手为客人准备食物。“他便急忙拿来一只烤好的牛犊”（第69节）。他牵来一头肥壮的牛犊，烤好并备齐。

“They bade him peace, and he answered: ‘Peace [be to you].’” (Verse 69) Abraham had emigrated from his birthplace in Iraq, crossed the Jordan and settled in the land of the Canaanites which was largely a desert. Following the Bedouin tradition of hospitality, Abraham immediately went about preparing food for his guests. “He then hastened to bring them a roasted calf” (Verse 69) He gets a fat calf, roasts and prepares it.

他把它端给他的客人们,正如我们已经说过的,这些客人是天使。然而,天使不吃人类所吃的食物。因此,他们无法品尝那头牛犊,这让易卜拉欣感到忧虑:"当他看到他们的手没有伸向它时,他觉得他们的举动奇怪,便对他们心生戒备。"(第70节)客人不吃主人所给的食物,会令人担忧。这会使主人紧张,担心对方意图某种背叛。直到今天,乡下人和贝都因人仍认为,对与自己共餐的人施以背叛是一种极其严重的罪行。因此,如果他们拒绝吃别人的食物,其举动便表明他们要么意图加害,要么不信任主人的用意。于是,使者向易卜拉欣表明了身份,并告诉他们的使命:"他们说:不要害怕。我们是被派遣去罗特的民众的。"(第70节)

He presents it to his guests who, as we have already said, were angels. Angels, however, do not eat what human beings eat. Hence, they could not partake of the calf, and this worried Abraham: “When he saw that their hands did not reach out to it, he felt their conduct strange and became apprehensive of them.” (Verse 70) A guest who does not eat of the food given him causes worry. He makes his host nervous that he intends some kind of treachery. To this day, country people and Bedouins consider it a grave crime to act treacherously towards someone with whom they have shared food. Hence, if they refuse to eat someone’s food, their action suggests that they either intend to do harm or that they do not trust the host’s intentions. Hence, the messengers reveal their identity to Abraham and tell him about their mission: “They said: Do not be alarmed. We are sent to the people of Lot.” (Verse 70)

易卜拉欣明白了派遣天使去鲁特的族人意味着什么，但随后又发生了另一件事，话题随之转换："他的妻子站在旁边，笑了。"（第71节）她或许因恶人即将被毁灭而感到欣喜！接着，她也得到了属于自己的喜讯："我们便将以撒的消息，以及以撒之后的雅各布，告知她。"（第71节）她是一位从未生育过的老妇人。因此，生下以撒的消息极其出乎意料。然而，这是一个具有双重意义的喜讯，因为以撒将拥有自己的后代，雅各布将由他所生。任何女人，尤其是不孕的女人，听到这样的消息都会欣喜若狂。但她同时也感到困惑，这种困惑十分明显："她说：'哎呀！我已经是老妇人了，我还能生育吗？而这位是我年迈的丈夫。这实在是件奇怪的事。'"（第72节）

没有任何一件事是真主所做的而应被视为奇怪的。当某件事通常以某种方式发生时，这并不意味着这种方式是不可改变的。真主若愿意，为了祂自己的某个特定目的，可以打破常规。此处的目的，是要把祂的慈悯和应许的福佑赐予那一家中的信士。然而，当常规被打破时，随之发生的一切，都是依照真主整体的自然法则而发生的，而我们并不完全了解这些法则。我们不能依据某一短暂而有限的时段内所发生的事情，来评判真主的法则。

Nothing that God does should be considered strange. When it is the norm for something to happen in a particular fashion, this does not mean that that fashion is unchangeable. The norm can be broken when God so chooses, for a particular purpose of His own. The purpose here is to bestow His mercy and promised blessings to the believers in that household. Yet, when the norm is broken, whatever takes place as a result occurs in accordance with the overall divine laws of nature which we do not know in full. We cannot judge God’s laws according to what happens during a short, limited period of time.

那些试图把神的意志局限于他们所熟悉的自然法则之中的人，并不了解神性的真实本质，而这一点神在他的经典中已经说明。神所陈述的一切都是真实的。我们人类的心智对此毫无置喙之地。即便是那些把神的意志局限于神自己所宣示的律法之中的人，同样不了解神性的真实本质。神的意志是自由的，不受他自己的律法所限制。

Those who try to restrict God’s will to the laws of nature familiar to them are ignorant of the reality of Godhead as stated by God in His book. Whatever God states is true. Our human minds have no say in all this. Even those who restrict God’s will to what He Himself has stated to be His law are again unaware of the true nature of Godhead. God’s will is free and not restricted by His laws.

诚然，真主依照祂为此宇宙所设定的法则来管理宇宙万物的事务。然而，这与将真主的意志局限于这些自然法则之内，是两回事——自然法则一经设定运行之后，并不意味着真主的意志就被限定于此。自然法则时时刻刻都是依真主的意志而运作的，它们并非自动运行。在任何时候，真主都可以选择让祂的自然法则以另外的方式运作；每当这种情况发生，自然法则便会改变为真主所决定的新的模式。支配其他一切法则运作的总法则是：真主的意志是自由而绝对的。

It is true that God conducts the affairs of this universe according to the laws He has set for it. This is, however, different from restricting God’s will to these natural laws after they have been set in operation. The laws of nature work by God’s will all the time. They are not automatic. At any time, God may choose to cause His natural laws to operate in a different way. Whenever this happens natural laws will change to the new fashion God has determined. The overall law of nature which governs the operation of all other laws is that which states that God’s will is free and absolute.

每当任何一条特定的律则运作时，它都是依照真主自由而绝对的意志而运行的。

Every time any particular law operates, it does so according to God’s free and absolute will.

此时，亚伯拉罕安下心来。天使们带给他的喜讯令他欣喜。然而，这并没有使他忘记罗特和他的族人。罗特是他的侄子，与他一同从出生之地迁徙而来，住在邻近的地区。他意识到，这些使者，或者说天使，是被派去毁灭罗特族人的。亚伯拉罕仁慈、心肠柔软，他无法忍受整个族群就这样被毁灭。于是他开始为他们求情。“当亚伯拉罕的惧怕消失，他接受了这喜讯之后，他就开始为罗特的族人向我祈求。亚伯拉罕确实非常宽厚、心肠柔软，且虔诚敬主。”（第74-75节）

At this point, Abraham was reassured. He was delighted by the good news given him by God’s messengers. This, however, did not make him overlook Lot and his people. Lot was his nephew who had emigrated with him from their birthplace and who lived in the neighbouring area. He realized that the messengers, or the angels were sent to destroy Lot’s people. Compassionate and tender-hearted as Abraham was, he could not bear that the whole community should be so destroyed. He began to plead for them. “When his fear had left Abraham, and he received the happy news, he began to plead with Us for Lot’s people. Abraham was indeed most clement, tender-hearted, and devout.” (Verses 74-75)

当我的使者来到鲁特面前时，他因他们而忧愁，因为他无力保护他们。他说：“这是一个艰难的日子。”（第77节）

When Our messengers came to Lot he was troubled on their account, for he was powerless to offer them protection. He said: ‘This is a woeful day.’ (Verse 77)

罗特知道他的族人行为败坏，他们宁愿与男子满足性欲，而不与女子。如此一来，他们违背了自然。自然遵循真主的智慧，将万物创造成雌雄成对，以便繁衍和延续。未被扭曲的自然，本能地、自然而然地顺从这一智慧，并由此获得真正的快乐。

Lot was aware of the perversity of his people, who preferred to satisfy their sexual desires with men instead of women. In so doing they rebelled against nature, which avails itself of God’s wisdom in creating all species in pairs so that procreation and regeneration can take place. Undistorted nature finds true pleasure in conforming to this wisdom, naturally and instinctively.

各种变态行为确实存在。然而，鲁特（Lot）族人的情况是独特的。它表明，心理失常如同身体疾病一样具有传染性。某个社会中价值观的紊乱以及恶劣榜样的存在，制造出不健康的环境，由此可能导致像索多玛人那样的心理失常蔓延开来。尽管这种心理失常与自然相悖，它仍可能蔓延，而自然同样受着支配生命本身的那一规律所约束。这一规律决定了健全的天性从那些满足生命需要的事物中获得快乐，并借此保障生命的延续，而不是从那些扼杀生命的事物中获得快乐。性变态正属于后者，因为它把生命的种子投放到不利于其生长的恶劣土壤之中。正因如此，健康的人性不仅在道德上，更在本能上，厌恶鲁特族人的所作所为。健全的人性服从于赐予生命的真主的律法，真主使有益于生命的事物伴随健康的快乐。

There are indeed all kinds of perversion. The case of Lot’s people, however, is singular. It suggests that psychological disturbances are infectious, like physical illnesses. It is possible that a psychological disorder such as that of the people of Sodom may spread as a result of a disturbance of values in any particular society and the presence of bad examples which produces an unhealthy environment. It is possible that such a psychological disorder spreads despite the fact that it is in conflict with nature which is subject to the same law that governs life itself. This law determines that upright nature finds its pleasure in what meets the requirements of life and ensures its continuity not in what stifles life. Sexual perversion is of the latter sort because it puts the seeds of life in a wicked soil that is not conducive to their growth. For this reason, healthy human nature instinctively, not only morally, finds the practices of Lot’s people repulsive. Sound human nature is subject to God’s law who grants life and who has made healthy pleasure attendant on what enriches life.

有时，为了实现一个在我们看来比今生更崇高的目标，我们会从死亡中找到一种快乐。然而，这种快乐是道德上的，而非肉体上的。此外，这样的死亡并不扼杀生命。恰恰相反，它丰富了生命，并将其提升到崇高的境界。这种对死亡的快乐，与那种扼杀生命的变态行为，二者之间没有可比性。

Sometimes, we find pleasure in death for the achievement of a goal which is, to us, more sublime than this life. Such a pleasure, however, is moral, not physical. Besides, such death does not stifle life. On the contrary, it enriches life and elevates it to a sublime standard. There is no comparison between such a pleasure in death and a perversion that stifles life.