The Qur’ān says:
• "The people of Lot (those dwelt in the towns of Sodom) rejected the Messengers.
• When their brother (the Prophet) Lot said to them, 'Will you not fear Allah and obey Him?
• Verily! I am a trustworthy Messenger to you.
• So fear Allah, keep your duty to Him, and obey me.’’ (Qur’ān 26:160-3)
B. The Prophet Lot/Lūt (pbuh) invited his people to give up their illegal activities and their homoerotic-ness but they refused to pay heed.
As the Qur’ān relates:
1. ‘’We (sent) Lot to his people, saying: ‘Do you commit the worst of sins which no people in creation (ever) committed before you? Indeed, you approach men with carnal desire, instead of women. You are indeed a people who have transgressed (Allah’s limit) beyond bounds.’’ (Qur’ān 7:80)
2. "Of all the creatures in the world, will ye approach males and leave those (women) whom Allah has created for you to be your wives? Without any doubt, you are a people who have transgressed (the limits imposed by Allah). (Qur’ān 26:165-6)
3. ‘’And [remember] Lot, when he said to his people, "Do you commit such indecency (immorality, abomination, lewdness) [knowingly] with your eyes open? Do you practice your carnal lust on men instead of women? You are a people, definitely, persistent in ignorance (by rejecting the truth).’’ (Qur’ān 27:54-5)
4. ‘’Indeed, you approach men (for sex instead of women) and obstruct the road and commit evil every time you people meet." (Qur’ān 29:29)
C. The Prophet Lot (pbuh) repeatedly appealed to them to seek sexual gratification in a lawful way i.e., that the men of Sodom seek sexual fulfillment in lawful marriages with the women from the city of Sodom:
> “O my people! Here are my daughters (i.e. the daughters of my nation); they are purer for you (if you marry them lawfully). So fear God…” (Qur’ān 11:78)
> But the people of Sodom refuted him by saying:
“Surely you know that we have neither any desire nor in need of your daughters, and indeed you know well of what we want (i.e, men and not women)!” (Qur’ān 11:79)
D. The years rolled by, and still, no one accepted his message. Moerover, he (pbuh) continued to suffer due to their wickedness and unnatural behaviors, yet he (pbuh) patiently continued to deliver his message. He (pbuh) persisted:
> ‘’Verily! I am a trustworthy Messenger to you. So fear Allah and obey me.” (Qur’ān 26:162-3)
E. Upon him (pbuh) being persistent that they change their evil doings, the people of Sodom threatened to banish him and his family from the city. They retorted angrily:
> “If you do not stop, O Lot, then you will be, surely, among those who are banished (from this city)!” (Qur'ān 26:167)
F. Besides belittling and mocking at his message, they arrogantly taunted him (pbuh) by challenging him to bring God’s torment upon them, as the Qur'ān attests:
> "Bring Allah's Wrath upon us if you (think that you) are one of the truthful!" (Qur’ān 29:29)
G. Receiving the above answer from his people, Lot (pbuh) asked for the help of Allah:
1. ‘’He (Lot) said: ‘I detest profoundly what you do. O my Lord! save me and my family from such (reprehensible) things that they do!" (Qur’ān 26:165)
2. “O my Lord! help me against these mischievous and disobedient people!” (Qur’ān 29:30)
H. Upon Lot’s (pbuh) prayer, Allah sent two angels in the form of men, as the Qur’ān narrates:
1. ‘’They (the Messengers) said: “O Lot! We are Messengers from your Lord! By no means shall they (the people of Sodom) reach (to hurt) you! So travel with your family while still a part of the night remains (in the early part of the night), and let not any of you look back: but your wife (will remain behind): To her will happen what happens to the people. Morning is their time appointed: Is not the morning near?” (Qur’ān 11:81)
2. ‘’And when Our messengers came to Lot... they said, "Fear not, nor grieve. Indeed, we will save you and your family, except your wife; she is to be of those who remain behind.'' (Qur’ān 29:33)
3. ‘’Indeed, (the Messengers said
We will bring down on the people of this city (Sodom) punishment from the sky because they have been defiantly disobedient (to Allah)." (Qur’ān 29:34)I. The Punishment
So, Allah took the decision and decreed that the city of Sodom would now perish.
Description of the Punishment
The Qur’ān relates:
1. ‘’When Our Decree issued, We (Allah) turned (the cities) upside down, and rained down on them brimstones hard as baked clay, spread, layer on layer. Marked (approved) from your Lord...’’ (Qur’ān 11:82-83)
2. ‘’But the (Saihah) mighty 'Blast' overtook them at the time of sunrise. And We (Allah) turned (the city of Sodom) upside down, and rained down on them stones of baked clay.’’ (Qur’ān 15:73-76)
3. ‘‘We (Allah) rained on them a rain (of wrath/torment/destruction). And how wrathful was the rain (on them), as they were already warned!’’ (Qur’ān 26: 172-175)
J. Thus, Prophet Lot (pbuh) was saved, by Allah, along with the believers and his family with the exception of his wife - who was sided with the wrongdoers . As for the perverted people, they were destroyed and their dwellings were razed to the ground.
Allah says:
1. "So we saved him and his family, all, except an old woman (his wife) who was among those who remained behind (refusing to come with Lot (pbuh). Then afterward, We destroyed the others.’’ (Qur’ān 26:170-172)
2. ‘’Verily in this (i.e., the destruction of the people of Sodom), there is a Sign (for all people): but most of them choose not to believe. And verily your Lord is He, the Exalted in Might, Most Merciful.’’ (Qur’ān 26: 174-5)
Part 2
From the Prophet Muhammad’s Sayings: Ahādīth (sing. Hadith)
The Prophet (pbuh) said:
1. ‘’There is nothing I fear more for my Ummah (the Muslim community globally) than the deed of the people of the Prophet Lot (pbuh)- i.e., Homosexuality.’’
(Sunan al-Tirmidhī)
2. ‘’Allah has cursed the one who commits bestiality (sex with animals), and (he-pbuh repeated three times that): Allah has cursed the one who acts like the people of the Prophet Lot (pbuh) did.”
(Musnad Imām Ahmad, and classed as saheeh by al-Albāni in Saheeh al-Jāmi’)
3. ‘’If a man comes upon a man, then they are both adulterers; If a woman comes upon a woman, they are both adulteresses." (Sunan Abu Dawud; Saheeh al-Tirmidhi; Imām Sulaiman al-Tabarāni)
(Mohammad Samir Khan Bundhoo)
(Sources: Tafsir Ibn Kathir; Tafsir al-Jassās; Tafseer al-Qurtubī; Tafsir al-Jalalayn; Al-Mawsū’ah al-Fiqhiyyah; Fath al-Qadīr; Shu`ab al-Īmān; al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr & al-Sagheer)
