Lesson 7 - Prophet Loot/Lut لوط

Lineage: Lut AS is the son of Haran, son of Aazar whose lineage traces back to Sam, the eldest son of Nuh AS. Lut AS was the nephew of Ibraheem AS. Ibraheem AS father was Aazar. 

Loot is mentioned 27 times in the Quran in 14 Surah. 

Evidences that Loot AS is a Prophet

From Qur’an:

• Surah 37:133 - “Lot was also one of the messengers.” The Arabic word ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ is used. The root letters for this word is ل س ر which means messenger, like how we say Rasooli. 
• Surah 26:160- “The people of Lot, too, called the messengers liars.” Again, the Arabic word messenger is use, symbolising that he has was a messenger. 
• Surah 7:80 - “We sent Lot and he said to his people, ‘How can you practise this outrage? No one in the world has outdone you in this.” He was sent to a people, Prophets were sent to a nation so this indicates he was a prophet. 
• Surah 11:81 - “They [the messengers] said, ‘Lot, we are your Lord’s messengers. They will not reach you. Leave with your household in the dead of night, and let none of you turn back. Only your wife will suffer the fate that befalls the others. Their appointed time is the morning: is the morning not near?’” The messengers in this verse is referring to the three angels. In the first lesson, we speak about the argument where if an Angels present themselves or speaks to a person, that person is believed to be a Prophet. The Angels directly speak to Loot AS and this indicates that he is a prophet. 
• Surah 6:86 - “Ishmael, Elisha, Jonah, and Lot. We favoured each one of them over other people”. The verses between 83-89 mentions 18 Prophets including Esa AS, Musa AS, and Ibraheem AS. These verses are referring to the offsprings of Ibraheem who were the rightly guided, meaning the offsprings who became prophets. There’s a debate on Esa and Loot, Esa having no father but is a descendant from Maryam’s bloodline, and Loot being a nephew but we know in customary usage, referring to a nephew as a son was very common. 

Where can you find his story in the Quran?

• Surah 7:80-84 - see link
• Surah 11:69-83 - see link
• Surah 15:51-77 - see link 
• Surah 27:54-58 - see link
• Surah 26:160-175 - see link 
• Surah 29:28-35 - see link 

From Sunnah

• Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of hadiths on Prophet Lut AS. We do have some which are listed as weak and therefore I have not collated them here. 

Prophet (Nabi) or Messenger (Rasool)? Ijma - Some scholars believe that all prophets after Ibraheem AS to Musa AS followed the same shariah of Ibraheem and so they were prophets but not messengers. But Quran does mention Lut AS as a messenger. There is a disagreement on whether he is solely a prophet or prophet combined with messenger. 

Background

• He was born in the same village as Ibraheem AS, within the ancient landscape of Babylonia, near Iraq.
• He was pure from the beginning, he didn’t worship idols and he believed and followed his uncle, Ibraheem AS.
• He migrated with his uncle to Palestine and followed him on his journey to Babel (where there was a corrupt King who thought he was a God), to Syria (where the people worshipped the sun and stars), Egypt (where there was a corrupt King who tried to touch Sarah), Jerusalem and then settled in Hebron.
• Around the age of 40 Lut AS became a prophet and was commanded to go to an area to give dawah. This area was a village around the dead sea called Sadoom and Amora. In the Bible it is referred to as Sodom and Gomorrah. This location today sits between the boarder of Jordan and Palestine, near the dead sea. 
• There are five villages around the dead sea and they are referred to as the cities of Lut AS. He was commanded to settle there and marry from its inhabitants. He married a woman named Walehah and it is believed that he had either two or three daughters.

Corruption of His People

• This nation practiced homosexuality and worshipped Gods alongside Allah. They use to throw stones at travellers and rob them of their belongings. They were a stingy people and not very hospitable. 
• Iblis advised the people that if they caught someone stealing their fruits or other belongings from their farms, they should shame that individual by subjecting them to a public rape as a form of punishment. The people agreed to do this.
• Following that, Iblis appeared in the guise of a young man and stole some fruit. In response, the men, as a group, raped him. Subsequently, Iblis departed, having sown the seeds of corruption. This incident marked the beginning of the men engaging in homosexual practices.
• Homosexuality was introduce into the world by the people of Lut AS, no other mankind had ever experienced or practiced homosexuality before Sodom (see verses 7:80 and 27:54). This evil act was done on a state level and became a normalised practice.  

Message of Lut AS

• Allah commanded Lut AS to go to these people. He called them to believe in Allah alone with no partners, to fear Allah and obey His command and His messenger.
• He said I don’t want anything from you, I have no hidden agenda, or ask for any money or wage from them. see Surah 26:164 - “I ask no reward from you, for my only reward is with the Lord of the Worlds.”
• He warned them, to be careful as no nation had done this before them, and their punishment might come before Akirah. Surah 29:28 - “And Lot: when He said to his people, ‘You practise outrageous acts that no people before you have ever committed.”
• The answer of his people was to expel Lut AS and his family from the village because they were too pure and clean. Surah 7:82 “The only response his people gave was to say [to one another], ‘Drive them out of your town! These men want to keep themselves chaste!”
• After 20 years, only his daughters believed in him. His wife, however, did not believe and sided with her people. After a while, Prophet Lut AS made dua to Allah to demolish these people. Allah answered his dua, and sent three angels (Gibreel, Israfeel, Mikaeel). These angels initially visited Prophet Ibraheem AS before proceeding to meet Prophet Lut AS.
• Ibraheem AS, upon realising that these angels were sent to destroy the nation of Lut AS,  made dua to relieve the punishment. see verse 11:74 - Then, when the fear left Abraham and the good news came to him, he pleaded with Us for Lot’s people,
• Ibraheem AS asked to relieve the punishment if there were 10 believer among the people of Lut, Allah agreed, but the punishment went ahead as there were less than 10 followers,

The Angels go to Lut AS House

• Upon seeing the daughter of Prophet Lut AS, the traveller’s (the three angels in human form) expressed their need to stay for the night. However, she instructed them to wait outside the city limits. Informing her father of the situation, Prophet Lut AS commended her decision, considering the city's inhabitants' behaviour toward young men. He then went to meet the travellers at the city's border.
• Prophet Lut AS tried to change their minds, advising them of the practices of the people, their bad habits and tried to persuade them not to enter the city. The angels insisted that they needed to stay for one night. Lut AS persuaded them to enter the city at night time, to avoid detection and harm.
• Instructing his family to keep the guests' presence a secret, Prophet Lut AS wife managed to send a message to her people alerting them of the three beautiful guests, to come take them and to deal with them (as in to rape them). 
• Consequently, a crowd gathered around Prophet Lut AS home, demanding that the three guests be handed over to them.
• Asserting his duty to protect his guests, Prophet Lut AS refused to comply with their demands. They prohibited him from hosting any men and insisted on taking custody of the travellers themselves. see versees 16:68-69 - “and he told them, ‘These are my guests, do not disgrace me. Fear God, and do not shame me.”
• Prophet Lut AS told them that if you have desires, you can marry, he had daughters and he will give them for marriage. They said they were interested in men.  See Surah 11:78 - His people came rushing towards him; they used to commit foul deeds. He said, ‘My people, here are my daughters.They are more wholesome for you, so have some fear of God and do not disgrace me with my guests. Is there not a single right-minded man among you?’
• Prophet Lut AS did not allow them to take his guests, the people started pushing the door and tried to take the guests.
• Jibra’il AS spoke to Lut AS and said don’t worry we are Angels and we were sent by Allah because of your dua. Jibra’il AS said they will receive their punishment at Fajr.
• Jibra’il AS said move from the door and let them in, so the people came in and Jibra’il AS showed his normal form with 600 wings. With the tip of his wing, he hit and it made them temporarily blind. They started to leave and said wait until the morning, we will take your guest and humiliate them in the morning.
• They said Lut AS guests were magicians.
• The Angel advised Prophet Lut AS to get ready to leave. He left with his wife and daughters and was told by the Angel not to turn back and to see what is happening to the people. see verse 11:82 - They [the messengers] said, ‘Lot, we are your Lord’s messengers. They will not reach you. Leave with your household in the dead of night, and let none of you turn back. Only your wife will suffer the fate that befalls the others. Their appointed time is the morning: is the morning not near?’
• They left Sadoom and Amora. 

The Destruction of The People

• Jibra’il AS with his wing, scooped the earth and carried those villages on his wing, he raised it up to the sky, turned everything upside down and smashed it to the ground. see verse 11:82 - And so when what We had ordained came about, We turned their town upside down and rained down stones of baked clay on it, layer upon layer,
• The second punishment, Allah sent stones from the sky. see verse 7:84 - and We showered upon [the rest of] them a rain [of destruction]. See the fate of the evildoers.
• The last punishment was a loud noise, the Angel scream which when it’s heard, they would die instantly.
• Whilst this was happening, Lut AS was leaving, he could hear the raining of the stones, the screams and all the noises. The wife of Lut AS turned and witnessed what was happening to her people, and a stone came and hit her on her head outside the city. She was a kaafir. See verse 7:83 - We saved him and his kinsfolk- apart from his wife who stayed behind-
• This whole area was destroyed, and Lut AS left and went to a village called Saghar. This village is not that far from Hebron.
• He remained in that location until his passing, and it is believed that his grave lies there
• This area, known as the Jordan Valley, holds the distinction of being the deepest in the world, with the Dead Sea situated at 420 meters below sea level.

Lessons from Prophet Lut AS

• Warning against Homosexuality - the punishment they received was one of the biggest punishment ever sent. 
• The word sodomy - comes from the sin of Sodom which means anal sex between men.
• The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is mentioned in Genesis 29. Their version of the story, may Allah have mercy on them, is disgraceful where they elude that the daughters of Lut AS in turn intoxicate their father, lay with him on separate nights in order to fall pregnant so they can continue their bloodline. We as Muslim, do not believe this.
• An interesting debate by the gay muslim groups are that the people of Lut AS were punished for what is group rape rather than homosexuality. This is incorrect, we can gather from various parts of the Quran where Allah has made it explicit that man is for woman. We have no examples of any of our Prophets practicing homosexuality, we can see from the verses in the Quran, Surah 27:55 - “How can you lust after men instead of women? What fools you are!”. This verse is explicit is stating that the act of homosexuality - lusting after men - is wrong. I’ve added this here as I have personally met some muslims who raise this argument, and you should use this as your response.