Allah, Almighty, said:
".. He said, "O my people, these are my daughters; they are purer for you.. " 11:78
What is the logical explanation of these words?
People have the right to ask..
because in our religion..
nothing is obscure.
And if a person was asked..
he can answer if he knows..
and if he doesn't know.. he can say; Allah knows best.
But, there is nothing that would prevent people from inquiring.
And here, we are dealing with the story about Lot, peace be upon him.
Lot, peace be upon him..
he was at his place.
His daughter told him..
about nice looking visitors came..
to his place.
At the beginning, he hesitated to accept hosting them..
because of what his people were famous of doing,
we seek refuge with Allah
But they..
in spite of that..
It was narrated that Allah, Almighty, has inspired the Angels..
not to punish the people of Lot..
only after their prophet testify against them..
4 or 3 testimonies.
So, when they came to him..
they told him that they were guests.
He asked them to excuse him.
and he mentioned the situation of his people..
But, the Angels insisted.
Then, again he told them about the behavior of his people.. in a different way..
And, Jibril was saying to Michael and Israfil..
this is the first.. this is the second..
i.e. he was counting his testimonies against his people.
Until he said 4 testimonies..
without him knowing that they were counting his testimonies.
And, yet, he didn't know, they were Angels.
because they were in the image of nice looking youth.
So, they went with him to his house.
In his house..
and we know, his wife was not following the religion of Islam..
So, she sent to his people..
somehow..
maybe she set a fire and they saw the smoke..
or by using any way of communication with them.
So, they came, Allah said:
"And his people came hastening to him.. "
".. and before [this] they had been doing evil deeds.. "
".. He said.. " i.e. Lot said..
".. "O my people, these are my daughters.. "
The word; These, is a demonstrative pronoun.. so they ought to be present.
or at least in the house with them.
".. these are my daughters; they are purer for you.. "
".. So fear Allah.. "
".. and do not disgrace me concerning my guests.. "
".. Is there not among you a man of reason?". "
The scholars, may Allah put mercy on them..
they had a very big disagreement..
while explaining this saying of Lot.
And, we want a logical explanation..
that the mind can accept.
And, the reasonable explanation is as follows.
Now..
I'll give you an example..
to help you understand the situation.
Let's leave the story of Lot, peace be upon him, aside.
and have this example..
Suppose there was a man..
he was known to be generous, a man of honor who defends his guests..
a master in a tribe, a prestigious man.. a celebrity..
he has his mansion.. his court..
and people come to his place for help, regarding their issues...
at the same time, he feeds them etc..
from the favors given to him from Allah.
On day..
a man killed a person from a tribe..
He fired shots at him, and killed him
then, the killer escaped..
people, seeing the man dead..
they chased the killer, to kill him..
The killer ran to this man.. to this master..
to the honored man, who protects people.
he entered in his place..
being in his place, he became under his protection.
he became his guest.. in his house.
Then, the people who were after him.. came..
they were only seeking capturing the killer..
the man who killed one of their tribe..
And, this master.. he have sons.
So, when these people entered in his place..
after the killer.. they asked him..
to hand the man over to them.
So, this honored man, he knows that this was a killer.
and he knows that the people after him are..
only seeking the killer..
the man who had killed their father..
And he wants to clear his conscience..
in front of others.
in front of the guest..
in front of people around him..
without forcing the chasers above their capacity.
keeping in mind..
and, this is important.
keeping in mind..
that, they only want the killer of their father..
So, he said to them;
Take my sons..
take my sons instead of him.
And, he knows for sure..
that these people..
will not accept to take his sons.
Even if they were ten sons..
and they accepted to take them and kill them..
this won't benefit them any good.. it won't cure their hearts.
The killer of their father is still alive.
and killing the sons of the man won't do them any good.
And, this wise honored man, he knows this.
he knows that giving them 100 sons..
will not do them any good.
And, they are not asking for this..
they do not want this.
And that, they won't accept..
if they were given the whole tribe.
they will not accept..
Even after killing the whole tribe..
next morning..
they will see the killer of their father, alive!
So, this master knows for sure..
this honorable man.. who protects people..
he knows that when he offers his sons..
he is saying to the killer..
I did the best I could do!
As we say in dialect language
'My face is free of responsibility, as regards your request for protection.'
I gave them my sons, and they refused.
I can't prevent them..
they've refused to take my sons..
they only want you!
So, pardon me..
I can't do more than..
giving them my sons to ransom you.
and I did offer to give them my sons..
but, they refused to take them.
and he knows that they won't accept.
because killing them won't do them any good.
Is this clear, now?
Now, let's go back to our story of Lot..
Prophet, Lot, he knew that these people are very evil..
very wicked..
very deluded.
and that, they, themselves, have wives.
He lives among them..
and he knows that they do not have desire for women.
they do not care for having wives.
and, they have left their wives in their homes..
So, he said to them..
in order to clear his conscience..
in front of the guests..
and, he doesn't know that they were Angels.
he thought they were guests.
He wanted to say to his guests..
I did the best I could do.
So, he said, in front of everyone..
knowing that these men do not car for having his daughters..
they did not care about his daughters.
".. He said, "O my people, these are my daughters; they are purer for you.. "
So, what Lot has anticipated, has occurred
Allah, Almighty, said:
"They said, "You have already known that we have not concerning your daughters any claim.. " 11:79
"..and indeed, you know what we want.". "
So, they understood why Lot said that..
"..and indeed, you know what we want.". "
So, they knew that Lot was aware of the situation.
and that he knew their desire..
and that they did not care about having his daughters.
That was the only explanation..
that we would approve in this story..
When I say this is the sole explanation..
from my point of view..
as others may have other explanations.
But, this interpretation is the most agreeable with logic..
about the saying of prophet, Lot:
".. these are my daughters; they are purer for you,, "
".. So fear Allah and do not disgrace me concerning my guests. Is there not among you a man of reason?". "
Then, later..
the Angels exposed their identity..
and told about their mission..
Allah, Almighty, said:
".. but We obliterated their eyes.. " 54:37
Ibn Katheer said:
They went out.. unable of seeing their way..
only guided by patting on the walls..
threatening the messengers of the Merciful..
saying that they will do something about this, next morning..
So, Allah, Almighty, said:
".. Indeed, their appointment is [for] the morning.. " 11:81
".. Is not the morning near?".