Lut and Homosexuality

The prophet sent to the people of Sodom as mentioned in both the

Bible and the Qurān. In the latter, he is attested twenty seven times.
Among the qurānic stories of divine punishment (see punishment
stories; chastisement and punishment), that of Lot (LūT and Sodom is
second in terms of quantity to that of Noah (q.v.) and the fl ood. As in
the Bible, it continues, in q 11:69-83, 15:57-77, and q 29:31-5, the story
of the three angels (see angel) who visited Abraham (q.v.), announcing
the birth of Isaac (q.v.), and of Abraham’s d ispute with them on the
fate of Sodom (Gen 18-9). More frequently it is an independent tale,
the angels playing their part as Lot’s guests: q 7:80-4; 26:160-74; 27:54-
8; 37:133-8; 54:33-7.

In many details, the story is the same as other qurānic tales of divine
punishment: Lot was the brother (akhū) of his people (qawm, see
brother and brotherhood), a messenger (q.v.; mursal, rasūl) who
admonished his people to fear (q.v.) God; he demanded obedience
(q.v.) and did not ask for remuneration. Like Noah, Hūd (q.v.), āli
(q.v.), Moses (q.v.) and other prophets (see prophets and
prophethood), he was accused of being a liar (cf. q 3:184; see lie). His
people were addicted to homosexuality (q.v.), held up travelers (see
hospitality and courtesy; highway robbery), and practiced wickedness
in their councils (see good and evil; sin, major and minor). In vain Lot
tried to convert them, offering them his daught ers for marriage (see
marriage and divorce). He showed hospitality to the a ngels, protecting
them from the obtrusiveness of his people. The evildoers (see evil
deeds) tried to enter his house by force but were deprived of their
eyesight by divine interference (see vision and blindness). When the
inhabitants threatened to expel Lot from the city, he prayed to God for
help. The angels told Lot and his family to leave the city at night,
forbidding them to turn back. Punishment came at sunrise. Rain fell on
the evildoers, the city was turned upside down, and stones (hijāra min
sijjīl) hailed from the sky. According to other versions, the punishment
was a cry, a sandstorm (āib) or a convulsion from the sky (rijz min al-
samā). Lot and his family were rescued but his wife remained in the city
and died. She was punished because she had conspired with the
sinners. Like Noah’s wife, she is an example of unbelieving wives who
betrayed their husbands (q 66:10; see women and the qurn). In Muslim
folklore the story has been developed extensively from biblical and e
xtra-biblical Jewish and Christian tradition, much of which has been
included in the exegetical tradition (tafsīr, see exegesis of the qurn:
classical and medieval). Lot’s people lived in three c ities, fi ve cities
according to some, of which Sodom was the capital. It was r educed to
an ugly, evil smelling lake, which is obviously the Dead Sea. God made it
“a sign for those who believe” (q 15:77; see belief and unbelief; signs;
geography). The cities are called alMutafi kāt because Gabriel (q.v.) tore
them out of the earth, lifted them with his wing, turned them upside
down, and crushed them on the ground, then stones were hurled on
them. Lot’s people, men and women alike, were the fi rst of humankind
to practice homosexuality. The men were married but had unnatural
intercourse with their wives. Lot did not offer them his own daughters,
for as a prophet he was the father of his community, the same as
Muammad (whose wives have been called “mothers of the believers”;
cf. q 33:6; see wives of the prophet). In Arabic, homosexuality is
“lūiyya” and unnatural intercourse of men with women is termed
“minor lūiyya”( lūiyya ughrā, cf. Wensinck, Concordance, vi, 152; see
sex and sexual- ity). According to a adīth (see adth and the qurn), lūiyya
is forbidden on pain of death for both partners. Homosexuals will be
stoned as stones killed Lot’s people (see stoning; boundaries and
precepts). Abū
anīfa (d. 150⁄767) taught that the transgressors should be thrown from a
height (al-lāi yulqā min shāhiq), and then stoned. Pg 232

Sex and Sexuality in the Qur’an