Al-Mu'tafikah
Definition
Al-mu'tafikah — the overturned — is the Quranic term for the destroyed settlements of Lut's people, cities that Allah literally inverted: lifted from the earth, turned upside down, and then rained upon with stones of baked clay (sijjil). Ibn Kathir notes the theological precision of the term: the physical inversion mirrors the moral inversion the inhabitants practiced. A civilization that had inverted the natural order of human life was destroyed by an act of physical inversion. The stones that rained upon the overturned cities are described in the Quran as 'marked by your Lord' — specifically designated for this purpose, sent with intentional, individual precision rather than as a random geological event.
As understood in the classical tradition of Ibn Kathir and the scholars of his school.
How the scholars use Al-Mu'tafikah.
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"of baked clay as described in the Quran. The stones were marked for each recipient destined to destroy them. As Allah said, Marked by your Lord for those who transgressed. And he said, And we rained upon them a rain, and evil was the rain of those who were warned. The Almighty also said, And he overthrew the cities. So there covered them that which covered, meaning he overturned them, and covered them with a rain of stones from Sijil. It is said that Lot's wife remained with her people. Others say she left with her husband and daughters, but turned back upon hearing the cry and fall of the town, disobeying the command of her Lord. A stone struck her, killing her, and"
— Ibn Kathir, Volume 1 — From Creation to Mūsā
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"has informed us that the actions of the hearts are a cause for the rust that covers them. He also informed us that He overturned the hypocrites due to what they earned, saying: "And اللّٰه overturned them for what they earned." He further informed us that breaking the covenant He took from His servants is a cause for the hardening of the heart, saying: "So for their breaking of the covenant, We cursed them and made their hearts hard."
— Ibn al-Qayyim, Volume Two
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"so He spared none of them. And the people of Noah before, indeed they were more unjust and rebellious. And the overturned cities He hurled down and covered them with what He covered. So which of the favors of your Lord do you doubt? In Surah Al-Qamar, Allah describes, Ad denied the warnings. Then how was My punishment and My warnings? Indeed, We sent upon them a screaming wind on a day of continuous misfortune, plucking people as if they were trunks of uprooted palm trees. So how was My punishment and My warnings? And We have certainly made the Quran easy to remember, so is there anyone who will remember? And in Surah Al-Haqqah, Allah says, As for Ad, they were destroyed"
— Ibn Kathir, Volume 1 — From Creation to Mūsā
Appears in
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