1
8. PROPHETS’ DU’A (PRAYER) IN THE QUR’AN (3) 5. Prophet Lot (Lūṭ : لوط) a.s. Prophet Lot in the Quran is considered to be the same as Lot in the Hebrew Bible. According to Islamic tradition, he lived in Ur (southern Babylonia) and was a nephew of Ibrahim (Abraham). He migrated with Ibrahim to Canaan and was commanded by Allah to go to the land of Sodom and Gomorrah (Amoura) located at the south of the Dead Sea (in Arabic, َبحْ ُرل ُ ْوط, Lot’s Sea) to preach monotheism and to stop them from practising homosexuality. His messages were ignored by the inhabitants, prompting Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction. Though Lut left the town, his wife stayed behind and was also destroyed with others. The name of Prophet Lūṭ (Lot in the English Bible) a.s. was mentioned 17 times in 14 chapters in the Qur’an.1 He was mentioned briefly in Qur’an, like that of other previous prophets, to give examples of the consequence of disbelieving and disobeying prophets sent to them, namely, punishment. He was the son of Hārān, son of Ᾱzar (Terah, Prophet Abraham’s father). He was then Prophet Abraham’s nephew. They both emigrated to the Shām (Greater Syria) area. Prophet Lot a.s. was sent by Allah to the people of Sadūm (Sodom) and the surrounding villages to call them to Allah, and to forbid them from their evil practices which was unknown before among the Children of Adam, not even crossed their minds, namely, homosexuality. So, it was the people of Sodom who invented this practise of having sexual intercourse with males instead of females. They desired men rather than women. They said to him that they desired men like the handsome men who had visited him. They were referring to the angels who had come into the shape of man to destroy them. They tried to expel him and his followers from their village. At night he and his family with the exception of his wife took 1
See Q. 6:86; 7:80; 11:70, 74, 77, 81, 89; 15:59, 61; 21:71, 74; 22:43; 26:160, 161, 167; 27:54, 56; 29:26, 28, 32, 33; 37:133; 38:13; 50:13; 54:33, 34; 66:10.
2
refuge to the neighbouring town Sughar (Zoar).2 Then Allah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with a violent earthquake. Prophet Lot’s wife who did not believe him, used to conspire with her people against him. She informed them who came to visit him with certain signals known by them. Therefore, he was ordered not to inform or to take her with him. The Qur’an mentions that Prophet Lot a.s. offered his people to marry his daughters instead of practising sodomy. He said: )78: (هود... َيا َق ْوم َهؤُ ََلء َب َناتي هُن أَ ْط َه ُر لَ ُك ْم “O my people! Here are my daughters; they are purer for you (if you marry them lawfully).” (Q. 11:78) A.Y. Ali gives his commentary on the following verse (71:ين (الحجر َ َقا َل َهؤُ ََلء َب َناتي إنْ ُك ْن ُت ْم َفاعل “These are my daughters (to marry lawfully), if you must (act) so.” (Q. 15:71) is that the expression “my daughters” in the above verse when it was said by a venerable man like Prophet Lot, the father of his people, may mean, as suggested by some commentators, any young girls of these town. It is common among Arabic speaking countries when an elderly man addresses a young man as “my son”.3 A.Y. Ali said further: 2
According to the Bible, Lot's wife who was travelling behind him looked back, and was turned into a pillar of salt (Gen. xix. 16). It is said that a pillar of salt named "Lot's wife" is located near the Dead Sea at Mount Sodom in Palestine. This is contrary to the Qur’an that makes it clear that she remained behind deliberately with the sinning people of Sodom, and had no faith with him, and she was said to have been a native of Sodom. (Q. 11:81 and 66:10). Although Christians also revere Lot as a righteous man of God, he was said to have committed incest with his elder daughter while he was drunk from the alcohol given to him by her, and Moab was born. According to the Bible, Jesus is a descendant of Lot through David's great-grandmother Ruth, who is descended from Moab. 3 According to the classical commentator ‘Ikrimah, Prophet Lot did not really mean when he offered his people to marry either his daughters or the
3
The Biblical narrative suggests that the daughters were married and their husbands were close by (Gen. xix. 14) and that these same daughters afterwards committed incest with their father and had children by him (Gen. ixi. 31). The Holy Qur’an nowhere suggests such abominations…. [1575]. When Prophet Lot’s people threatened him to drive him out of their village, he prayed, )161:ون (الشعراء َ ُ َرب َنجني َوأَهْ لي مما َيعْ َمل “My Lord! Save me and my family from what they do.” Q. 26:169( and when his people challenged him to bring punishment if he told the truth, he prayed, )33:ين ( العنكبوت َ َقا َل َرب ا ْنصُرْ ني َعلَى ْال َق ْوم ْال ُم ْفسد He said: “My Lord! Give me victory over the mischief-makers.” (Q. (Q. 29:30) Allah answered his prayer, saved him and his family from the punishment, except his wife who did not believe him. The question whether homosexuality is based on nature or nurture, whether it is something a person is born with, or is due to factors such as upbringing and environment is debatable among scholars. It was said that the people who moved to Sodom practised practiced sodomy only after they had moved to that town. In other words, it was nurture, environment and upbringing rather than nature, inborn. Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, a psychiatrist and Director of Comprehensive Counselling Services in W. Conshohocken, PA, gives his view about this issue. He said: The most common conflicts at different life stages that predispose individuals to homosexual attractions and behaviour are loneliness and sadness, profound feelings of inadequacy, mistrust and fear, narcissism, sexual addiction, excessive anger, sexual abuse in childhood and a lack daughters of people in town, but he said it so that they would go away. (Qurṭubī, Tafsīr)
4
of balance in one's life. (Fitzgibbons, Richard. “Origin and Healing of Homosexual Attractions and Behaviors.” 2nd Pan American Conference on Family and Education Toronto, Ontario May, 1996). Even if a person was born with unnatural tendency towards homosexuality, he or she must find cure for this abnormal behaviour, like any physical or mental abnormality after birth. He or she might suffer from sex hormone deficiency, and the doctor can treat him or her. One of many treatments given to a homosexual man is this. A picture a handsome man was shown to him on the screen and at the same time he was given an electric shock. Then a picture of a beautiful woman was shown to him on the screen, and at the same time the electric shock was released. This procedure was repeated several times, so that the patient associated the handsome man with pain, and the beautiful woman with relief. The great Greek philosopher Socrates (469?-399 BC) himself admitted that he had an inborn tendency to commit crime. One day while he was walking on the street, a man who did not know him said to the people that this man was a criminal. When the people who knew Socrates wanted to throw stones at that man, Socrates told them not to do so, because he admitted that he had an inborn tendency to commit crime, but he fought it. For us the Muslims, this is a kind of jihad against our own passion and tendency towards evilness. In conclusion, homosexuality in Islam is a disease, an abnormality which should be medically and psychologically treated, whatever the cause, either by nature or nurture. 6. Shu‘ayb (Shuaib) a.s. Prophet Shu‘ayb a.s. was the son of Mīkīl, son of Yashjur. His name in the Syrian language was Yathrῡn (Jethro). He was sent by Allah to the people of Madyan (Midian), he descendants Madan, son of Midyān, son of Ibrāhīm a.s. who lived in the lands of Hijaz, east of
5
the Gulf of Aqabah. According to one opinion, the land is actually the site of the city of Tabuk. They were a wandering Arab tribe. It was to the merchants of this Midianite tribe Joseph was sold into slavery, and who took him to Egypt. His name was mentioned 11 times in four chapters of the Qur’an.4 Prophet Shu‘ayb a.s. asked his people to worship Allah Alone, and to be honest in their business transaction. A. Yusuf Ali characterized their besetting sins as follows: 1. giving short measure or weight, whereas the strictest commercial probity is necessary for success. 2. a more general form of such fraud, depriving people of rightful dues. 3. producing mischief and disorder, whereas peace and order had been established (again in a literal as well as a metaphorical sense). 4. not content with upsetting settled life, taking to highway robbery, literally as well as 5. metaphorically, in two ways, viz., cutting off people from access to the worship of God, and abusing religion and piety for crooked purposes, i.e., exploiting religion itself for their crooked ends, as when a man builds houses of prayer out of unlawful gains or ostentatiously given charity out of money which he has obtained by force or fraud, etc. After setting out this catalogue of besetting sins, Shu‘ayb makes two appeals to the past: (1) You began as an insignificant tribe, and by God’s favour you increased and multiplied in numbers and resources; do you not then owe a duty to God to fulfil His Law? (2) What was the result in the case of those who fell into sin? Will you not take warning by their example? Prophet Shu‘ayb ended his argument with his people with his invocation as follows: َ َرب َنا ا ْف َتحْ َب ْي َن َنا َو َبي َْن َق ْوم َنا ب ْال َحق َوأَ ْن 81:ين (األعراف َ ت َخ ْي ُر ْال َفاتح 4
See Q. 7:85, 88,90, 92 (twice); 11:84, 87, 91, 94; 26:117; 29:36.
6
“Our Lord! Judge between us and our people in truth, for You are the Best of those who give judgment.” (Q. 7:89). Since Prophet Shu‘ayb knew he was right and they were wrong, the term iftaḥ in this verse should be in the sense of “open the truth” instead of “giving judgment” and the term al-fātiḥīn should be in the sense of “those who open the truth” rather than “those who give judgment. Therefore, Prophet Shu‘ayb’s invocation is “O Lord! Open the truth between us and our people, for You are the Best of those who open the truth.” As punishment for threatening to expel Prophet Shu‘ayb and his followers, Allah punished them. First, a gloomy cloud came over them containing fire, flames and a tremendous light. Next, a cry from the sky descended on them and a tremor shook them from beneath. Consequently, their souls were captured, their lives were taken, and their bodies became idle, they lay (dead), prostrate in their homes. It looked as if they never dwelled in the land from which they wanted to expel Prophet Shu‘ayb and his followers. This was the consequence of disobeying the prophet sent to them. (CIVIC, 8 August, 2014) : المراجع المكتبة الشاملة ( هـ313 .تفسير الطبري (ت ( هـ671 .تفسير القرطبى (ت ( هـ774 .تفسير ابن كثير (ت Abu Khalil, Dr. Shauqi . Atlas of the Qur’an. Riyadh, Darussalam, 2003 Ali, A.Yusuf. The Meanings of the Holy Qur’an Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’an. http://www.gallup.com/poll/13930/origin-homosexuality-britonscanadians-say-nature.aspx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lot_(biblical_person) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lot's_wife