Lūṭ | |
|---|---|
| لوط Lot | |
 Lut and his daughters sit in conversation with the angel Jibril while the background is littered with the ruins of the towns and corpses of their inhabitants. | |
| Born | Lut ibn Haran |
| Died | |
| Predecessor | Ibrahim |
| Successor | Ismail |
| Children | Lot's daughters |
| Parent | Haran |
| Relatives | Ibrāhīm (uncle) Ismā’īl (cousin) Ishāq (cousin) |
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Lut ibn Haran (Arabic:لوط,romanized: Lūṭ,[luːtˁ]) is aprophet and messenger ofGod who was mentioned in theQur'an.[1][2] According to Islamic tradition, Lut was born toHaran and spent his younger years inUr, later migrating toCanaan with his uncleAbraham.[3] He was sent to the cities ofSodom and Gomorrah as a prophet,[4] and was commanded to preach to their inhabitants onmonotheism.
Though Lut was not born among the people he'd been sent to preach to, the people of Sodom are still regarded as his "brethren" (Arabic:إِخْوَٰن,romanized: ikhwān) in the Qur'an.[5] Like theBiblical narrative, the Qur'an states that Lut's messages were ignored by the inhabitants of the cities, and Sodom and Gomorrah were subsequentlydestroyed. The destruction of the cities is traditionally presented as a warning againsthomosexuality in Islam as well as other things.
While the Qur'an does not elaborate upon Lut's later life, Islam holds that all prophets were examples ofmoral and spiritual 'righteousness'.[clarification needed]
Muslim tradition is debated about who Abraham's father is. Some maintain that his father wasTerah and his uncle wasAzar (Arabic:آزر,romanized: Āzar), which could be derived from the SyriacAthar. Other's believe that Azar was Abraham's father and the same person as Terah.[6][7][8][9] Abraham had two children,Isaac andIsmael, who both later became prophets. Abraham's nephew is said to have been the prophetLut, who was one of the other people who migrated with Abraham out of their community. Abraham himself is said to have been a descendant ofNuh through his sonShem.[10]
The Qur'an states that one day, a group ofangels visited Abraham as guests in the guise of men[11] in order to inform him of the fact that his wifeSarah was pregnant withIsaac. While there, they also told him that they had been sent by God to the "guilty people"[12] of Lut[13] to destroy them[14] with "a shower of stones of clay".[15] Lut and those who believed in him, were to be spared, but his wife was to die in the destruction, with the angels stating that "she is of those who lag behind".[16][17] The Qur'an also draws uponLot's wife as an "example for theunbelievers" as she wasmarried to a righteous man but refused to believe in his message and was thuscondemned toHell.[3][18]
The people of the twin cities transgressed against thebounds of God. According to the Qur'an, their sins included inhospitality and robbery.[19] They hated strangers and robbed travellers, apart from other abuses and rape. It was theirsin ofsexual misconduct as well which was seen as particularly egregious, with Lut strongly chiding them for approaching men with sexual desire instead of women.[20][21] Lut told and tried to help them to abandon their sinful ways, but they ridiculed him[19] and threatened to evict him from the cities.[22] Lut prayed to God and begged to be saved from the consequences of their sinful acts.[3][23]
Then three angels, disguised as handsome men, came to Lut as guests. He grieved the men, as he felt powerlessness to protect them from the people of the cities.[24] The cities' residents becoming aware of the visitors demanded that Lot surrender his guests to them.[25] Distressed and fearful that they would incur the wrath of God, suggested rather lawful marriage to his daughters[26] as pious and purer alternatives to their unlawful wishes, and perhaps as a source of guidance.[27] But they were unrelenting and replied "You certainly know that we have no need for your daughters. You already know what we desire!",[28] referring to his male guests.
The exegetesIbn Kathir,Al-Qurtubi andAl-Tabari do not read 'daughters' to mean Lot's literal daughters. They argue that since a prophet is like a father to his nation, Lot was directing the evildoers to turn away from their sins and engage in healthy and pious relationships with the daughters of the nation, i.e. women in general.[29]
The angels then revealed their true identities to Lot and said to him, “Indeed, we will save you and your family, except your wife; she is to be of those who remain behind".[3] They advised Lot to leave the cities during the night, telling him not to look back.[30] Keeping his faith in God, Lot left the cities in the darkness of night, bringing with him his followers and believing family members. Finally, morning came, and the Decree of God passed whereupon the Qur'an reads, “When Our command came, We turned the cities upside down and rained down on them clustered stones of baked clay,"[31] And thus was sealed the fate of the twin cities, falling into destruction and despair and marking the end of the civilizations of Sodom and Gomorrah.[3]
Lut is referenced a relatively large number of times in the Qur'an.[3] Many of these passages place the narrative of Lut in a line of successive prophets includingNoah,Hud,Salih andShuayb.[32]Islamic scholars have stated that these particular prophets represent the early cycle ofprophecy as described in the Qur'an.[3] These narratives typically follow similar patterns: a prophet is sent to a community; the community pays no heed to his warnings but instead threatens him with punishment; God asks the prophet to leave with his followers and the community and its people are subsequentlydestroyed in a punishment.[33] Elsewhere in the Qur'an, Lut is mentioned alongsideIsmael,Elisha andJonah as men whom God favored above the nations (Arabic:ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ,romanized: al-'aalameen,lit. 'the worlds').[34]
Manyschools of Islamic jurisprudence state that homosexual sex is a sin, based in part on the story of Lot.[35] Because the Qur'an states that Lot berated his people for sexually pursuing men, in addition to attempting to assault strangers, the incident is traditionally seen as demonstrating Islam's disapproval of both rape and homosexuality.[36] Lot's struggle with the people of the twin cities is seen as either concerning homosexuality in general or specifically homosexual anal sex. These interpretations have sometimes widened to condemn homosexuality beyond the physical act, including psychological and social dispositions.[35][undue weight? –discuss]
Many Muslims[who?] believe thatBani Na'im (Arabic:بني نعيم,romanized: Banī Naʾīm,lit. 'children of bliss') inPalestine houses the tomb of Lot in the center of the town. The tomb is located within a rectangularmosque with an inner court andminaret. The lintel of the mosque's northern gate is built from stones dating to the Byzantine era when a church had possibly stood at the site. Bani Na'im's association with Lot predates Islam, as the works of the Catholic scholarJerome[37] in the 4th century CE state that the tomb is located in a town named Capharbaricha, which is likely the former name of Bani Na'im.[38]
Tradition holds that the tomb of his daughters is located on a nearby hill.[39] To the southeast of Bani Na'im is a shrine dedicated to Lot, known asMaqam an-Nabi Yaqin (Arabic:مقام النبي يقين,lit. 'Shrine of the Truthful Prophet'). Local legend claims Lot prayed at the site and that the imprints of his feet are still visible in a rock there.[40] Similar alleged footprints of prophets and other holy men are found at Islamic shrines throughout the Middle East.[41]
The Prophet Ibrahim's actual father was a Muslim. His name is given as Tarakh by historians.
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