Abu
Khadeejah Abdul-Wahid Christianity and Judaism, History, Society 4
------
This article discusses:
The Story Of The Prophet Loot (Peace Be Upon
Him) Or Prophet Lot (As In The Bible).
Contrast With The Biblical Account Found In The
Torah.
Accusations Of Drunkenness And Incest (Sex With
His Daughters) Against Prophet Lot In The Bible.
Genesis (In The Bible) And Homosexuality.
Homosexuality: Nurture Or Nature? Good Or Bad?
Both The Old And New Testament Condemn
Homosexuality.
Starting Point For Muslims In Talking To Non-Muslims.
-----
The Story of the Prophet Loot (peace be upon
him) or Lot (in the Bible):
Al-Hāfidh
Ibn Katheer and Imām As-Sa`dee mentioned that Loot (`alaihis-salām) was the nephew
of Ibrāheem (`alaihis-salām), the son of his brother, and his story follows on
from the story of Ibrāheem. He was his student, and he learned from him, and he
was like a son to him. So Loot was sent to the city of Sodom and Gomorra
(Saddoom and `Amoorah) which was the main city of that region, situated to the
south-east of the Dead Sea, approximately 100km from Jerusalem. It had outlying
areas and villages. The Prophet Loot (‘alaihis-salaam) is one of the Prophets
and Messengers of Allah who was sent to a people with hard hearts and harsh
natures – they gathered together deviation in belief and deviation in moral
character. A deviation in morality that opposed the nature of humanity itself
from the dawn of its creation till their time – something unheard of in the
history of mankind. Men of the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah would perform sexual
acts upon each other, acts of sodomy that go against human nature, and against
the intellect, that oppose one’s moral instincts and Revelation from God. So
the Prophet Loot (`alaihis-salām) was sent to them so that they may return to
the worship of Allah and show obedience to Him, and abandon this unnatural and
sinful deed. He strived against them and suffered at their hands until Allah
sent to them a severe punishment.
This
narration gives us an insight into the life of Loot and is an extension of what
is mentioned in the Qur’an – and in this narration is a defence of this noble
Prophet from the accusations levelled against him and false stories fabricated
about the reality of the events at the time.
Al-Hākim
reports in Al-Mustadrak (2/375) from Ibn `Abbās (radiyallāhu `anhumā) who said:
“When the
Angel Messengers of Allah came to Loot, he thought them to be guests with
strength. So he invited them to come closer until he sat them close to him.
Then he brought his three daughters and sat them between his guests and the
people of his town. So the people rushed towards him in a state of hysteria.
When Loot saw them, he said:
قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ هَٰؤُلَاءِ بَنَاتِي هُنَّ أَطْهَرُ لَكُمْ ۖ فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَلَا تُخْزُونِ فِي ضَيْفِي ۖ أَلَيْسَ مِنكُمْ رَجُلٌ رَّشِيدٌ
“O my people! Here are my daughters, they are
purer for you if you marry them lawfully. So fear Allah and degrade me not as
regards my guests!” (Hood
11:78)
They
responded:
قَالُوا لَقَدْ عَلِمْتَ مَا لَنَا فِي بَنَاتِكَ مِنْ حَقٍّ وَإِنَّكَ لَتَعْلَمُ مَا نُرِيدُ
“Surely you know that we have neither any
desire nor any need of your daughters, and indeed you know very well what we
want!” (Hood 11:79)
So Loot (`alaihis-salām) said:
قَالَ لَوْ أَنَّ لِي بِكُمْ قُوَّةً أَوْ آوِي إِلَىٰ رُكْنٍ شَدِيدٍ
“Would that I had strength to overpower you, or
that I could betake myself to some powerful support to resist you.” (Hood 11:80) Then Jibreel
(`alaihis-salām) turned to him and said:
يَا لُوطُ إِنَّا رُسُلُ رَبِّكَ لَن يَصِلُوا إِلَيْكَ ۖ
“O Loot! Verily, we are the Messengers from
your Lord! They shall not reach you!” (Hood 11:81)
So Jibreel
took out their eyes, and they turned back feeling for each other until they
exited to those who were at the gate. They said: We have come back to you from
the ablest of magicians who has taken out our sights. So they returned feeling
for each other until they entered the village. So the village was lifted up
when a part of the night had passed until it was between the sky and the
ground, such that the inhabitants could hear the sounds of the birds in the
sky. Then it was turned upside down and stones were rained down upon them, and
whoever was pelted by the stones was killed, and whoever fled the township, the
stones would follow and kill him.
So Loot
left out with his daughters, three of them, until they reached a place in Shām
(Syria) where his eldest daughter died, and there came out of that place a
spring called Al-Wariyyah. They continued upon the journey as Allah had willed,
then the youngest of his daughters died, and there came out of that place a
spring called Ar-Ra`ziyyah. So there remained none of his daughters, except
one.”
This
narration was reported by Al-Hākim 2/375 in Al-Mustadrak, The Book of Tasfeer,
Tafseer of Soorah Hood. He said, “This hadeeth is authentic upon the conditions
of the two shaikhs (Bukhāree and Muslim), but neither of them reported it.”
Adh-Dhahabee agreed upon its authenticity. Al-Hākim also said: “A person may
wrongly assume that this statement and what is similar to it, is from the
‘mawqoofāt’ (sayings of the Companions), but that is not the case. If a
Companions explains verses, then that is ascribed to the Prophet (ﷺ) in the view of the two shaikhs
(i.e. Bukhāree and Muslim).”
This
hadeeth affirms what is stated in the Qur’an regarding what occurred with Loot
(`alaihis-salām). The Angels came to him in the form of youth with handsome
faces. Loot hosted them but he feared for them that his people may become
obscene with them. He thought that these were handsome guests who had come to
this township, unaware of its reality – they were unknown to the people and did
not have their wicked habits and were not corrupt.
So when
these guests entered the house of Loot, all the people came and gathered at one
time at the house of Loot intending to violate the guests and to entice them
into obscene acts. So the Prophet (`alaihis-salām) brought forth his chaste and
pious daughters and placed them between his guests and the people of the town
and said to them: “Here are my daughters, they are purer for you if you marry
them lawfully.” They rejected them and persisted in seeking the company of the
guests in their attempts to commit lewd and immoral acts with them. So the
Prophet Loot was constricted and felt the impending harm and he feared for the
welfare of his guests. He wished he had the power and strength that would aid
him against his people. Upon that Jibreel informed him of the reality of their
purpose, that they were Messengers of Allah – and these foolish and lowly
people had no ability to harm them or to reach them. So Jibreel struck them
with his wing and he took out their eyes. So they fled in terror. Ibn Katheer
said hat the mufassiroon (Quranic scholars) have explained that the Angels who
came to Loot were Jibreel, Mikā’eel and Isrāfeel. They had left Loot’s uncle,
the Prophet Ibraheem (`alaihis-salām), and went on to Sodom (Arabic: Saddoom)
in the form of handsome youths, so Allah may put the people to test and
establish the proof upon them before their punishment. They reached Loot when
it was the time for sunset. Loot feared that if he did not host them, others
would. He did not know they were Angels so he treated them as humans. Ibn Abbās
and Mujāhid said: “It was a great test for Loot because he knew it would be
hard to protect them, especially at night – and his people had already told him
not to host anybody in his house.” Qatādah said: “When the Angels arrived he
was working on his land. They asked him to host them and felt ashamed to refuse
their request. He walked in front of them to his house and tried to hint to
them that they should not come to this town and go to another instead. He even
said to them: ‘y Allah! I have never known a people on earth more wicked than
those of this town.’ He repeated it four times. The angels were instructed not
to destroy them until their Prophet witnessed against them.”
Suddee said
that when they reached the river of Sodom, they met the daughters of Loot and
they asked them if there was any shelter. They told them to wait there and then
rushed to their father to tell him that there were handsome men at the gate of
the town and to do whatever he could to protect them from the harm of the
people of the town.
Ibn Katheer
said that it was the wife of Loot who rushed off to the people of the town and
informed them of the arrival of some handsome youths, with looks she had never
seen before. She was in alliance with
the sinners. Upon that the people came rushing:
وَجَاءَهُ قَوْمُهُ يُهْرَعُونَ إِلَيْهِ وَمِن قَبْلُ كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ السَّيِّئَاتِ ۚ قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ هَٰؤُلَاءِ بَنَاتِي هُنَّ أَطْهَرُ لَكُمْ ۖ فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ
“And his people came rushing towards him, and
since before that they used to commit crimes [of homosexuality]” (Hood 11:78)
In Genesis
19:8, it states that Lot offered his daughters to the townsmen: “Look, I have
two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you,
and you can do what you like with them…” Ibn Katheer states that this is a
blunder and clear error and a grievous mistake to say that he offered his two
daughters to “do what you like with them” without even the notion of marriage
or piety. This is an example of the latter-day biblical distortions.
So, they
were so deeply indulged in their lusts of desiring men that when their Prophet
guided them to the correct way of satisfying their sexual desires through
marriage with his daughters and the daughters of the town, they replied:
قَالُوا لَقَدْ عَلِمْتَ مَا لَنَا فِي بَنَاتِكَ مِنْ حَقٍّ وَإِنَّكَ لَتَعْلَمُ مَا نُرِيدُ
“You know that we no desire for your daughters
– you know very well what we desire.” (Hood 11:79)
Imam
as-Sa`dee brings another perspective saying that Loot (`alaihis-salām) knew
they would refuse his daughters outright, just as the Prophet-King Sulaymān did
with the two women who claimed the possession of the same baby. He said, bring
me a knife and I shall cut him into two so you can take a portion each, knowing
full well that it would not be done, and they would not agree to that. So this
is similar to that. That is because a Prophet of Allah would not allow the
marriage of his daughters except to believing men who worshipped Allah alone
and were righteous.
The Prophet
(ﷺ) said: “May
Allah bestow His Mercy on Loot. When his nation troubled him he wished if he
could betake himself to some powerful support…” (Bukhāree, 216) The Angels were
sent to aid him, and they commanded him to leave the town with his family
saying, “Morning is the time [appointed for their destruction] and is not the
morning very close?” (Hood 11:81) – i.e. You must leave O Loot with your
family.
Allah said
regarding the rescuing of Loot:
قَالُوا يَا لُوطُ إِنَّا رُسُلُ رَبِّكَ لَن يَصِلُوا إِلَيْكَ ۖ فَأَسْرِ بِأَهْلِكَ بِقِطْعٍ مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ وَلَا يَلْتَفِتْ مِنكُمْ أَحَدٌ إِلَّا امْرَأَتَكَ ۖ إِنَّهُ مُصِيبُهَا مَا أَصَابَهُمْ ۚ إِنَّ مَوْعِدَهُمُ الصُّبْحُ ۚ أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ
“The Angels
said: ‘O Loot! Verily, we are the Messengers from your Lord! They shall not
reach you! So travel with your family in a part of the night, and let not any
of you look back, but your wife (will remain behind), verily, the punishment
which will afflict them, will afflict her. Indeed, morning is their appointed
time. And is not the morning near?'” (Hood 11:81) When Loot left, he took his
daughters and no one else followed him. It is said (by some) that his wife was
with him. And when the punishment of Allah approached them, it was never going
to be averted. It is said that the wife of Loot stayed behind with her people,
others said she went with her husband and daughters but when she heard the
sound of the blast and the towns smashing back into the earth from the sky, she
turned back to her people in longing and said, “O my people!” And then a
brimstone fell upon her and she was broken into pieces. She was upon the
religion of her people, and she was a spy for them, informing them of the
guests who came to Loot.
فَلَمَّا جَاءَ أَمْرُنَا جَعَلْنَا عَالِيَهَا سَافِلَهَا وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهَا حِجَارَةً مِّن سِجِّيلٍ مَّنضُودٍ
مُّسَوَّمَةً عِندَ رَبِّكَ ۖ وَمَا هِيَ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ بِبَعِيدٍ
“So when
Our Commandment came, We turned (the towns of Sodom in Palestine) upside down,
and rained on them stones of baked clay, piled up. [Each stone] marked from
your Lord, and they are not ever far from the wrongdoers.” (Hood 11:82-83) Ibn
Katheer said: It is said that Jibreel uprooted those townships from the earth
and those around it – and they were in total seven towns – with its inhabitants
and animals. He lifted them up to the sky and then threw them back, upside
down.
So what is
apparent is that Jibreel lifted up that land in the last part of the night: the
townships, the land itself, the animals, the crops and plants, until the sounds
of birds could be heard in the sky – then that whole land was turned upside
down whilst in the sky, such that its highest part became its lowest, then that
was followed by the pelting of stones of baked clay, piled up, layer-upon-layer.
Ibn Katheer stated that Musawwamatan
in the verse indicates that every stone was denoted and targeted at a specific
person to destroy him, such that no one escaped.
However,
the mercy of Allah protected the believers. Ibn Katheer said that it was stated
by Sa’eed Ibn Jubair, Suddee, Ibn Ishaaq and Qatādah that Ibrāheem
(`alaihis-salām) said to the Angels who were sent to destroy the transgressing
people of Loot: “Will you destroy a town where there are 300 believers?” They
said: “No.” He said: “If there were 200 believers?” They said: “No.” He said:
“If there were 40 believers?” They said: “No.” He said: “If there were 14
believers?” They said: “No.” It continued until he said: “What if there was
only one believer?” They said: “No.” So “He said: ‘But Loot is there! They
said: ‘We are well aware of who is there.'” Referring here to the verse:
قَالَ إِنَّ فِيهَا لُوطًا ۚ قَالُوا نَحْنُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَن فِيهَا ۖ لَنُنَجِّيَنَّهُ وَأَهْلَهُ إِلَّا امْرَأَتَهُ كَانَتْ مِنَ الْغَابِرِينَ
“Abraham
said, “Indeed, within it is Lot.” They said, “We are more knowing of who is
within it. We will surely save him and his family, except his wife. She is to
be of those who remain behind.” (Al-Ankaboot 29:32)
So all of
this is present in the Qur’an, Hadeeth and narrations of the Salaf. What is a
point of special note from the hadeeth of Al-Hākim is that those who were saved
from the punishment included his three daughters. So he left out with them to
the land of Shām. The elder daughter died on the journey and Allah brought out
at that place a spring of water called Al-Wariyyah. Then he moved out once more
upon the journey, far from the land of those punished. Then his youngest
daughter passed away (rahimahallāh), so Allah brought out from the place where
she died another spring called Ar-Ra`ziyyah. Then there remained no one with
him except the second (middle) daughter.
The Bible
mentions in detail the forbiddance of homosexuality and the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah.
The Contrast With The Biblical Account Found In
The Torah:
Though
there are some similarities between the accounts found in the Torah with that
which is found in Qur’an and Prophetic Tradition, Muslims affirm that which is
found in the Qur’an and Prophetic Tradition without reservation – and that
which is found in the Biblical account which contradicts the Quranic
Revelation, then it is considered false and unfounded – and is a latter-day
distortion of the Torah by the Jews and Christians. Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) stated:
بَلِّغُوا عَنِّي وَلَوْ آيَةً، وَحَدِّثُوا عَنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَلاَ حَرَجَ، وَمَنْ كَذَبَ عَلَىَّ مُتَعَمِّدًا فَلْيَتَبَوَّأْ مَقْعَدَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ
“Convey
from me, even it is a single verse and narrate from the People of the Book and
there is no harm. And whoever lies upon me deliberately, then let him take his
seat in Hellfire.” (Bukhāree, 3461)
From the
distortions of the Torah is their claim that the Angels who, on their way to
Loot, passed by Ibrāheem, ate from the food that was served by Ibrāheem
(`Alaihis-Salām). Genesis (18:7-8) states: “Then he (Abraham) ran to the herd
and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to
prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been
prepared, and set these before them.” Additionally, Genesis 19:3 states that
they ate also with the Prophet Loot: “But he (Lot) insisted so strongly that
they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking
bread without yeast, and they ate.” The Qur’an opposes and falsifies this claim
in Soorah Hood (11:69-71):
وَلَقَدْ جَاءَتْ رُسُلُنَا إِبْرَاهِيمَ بِالْبُشْرَىٰ قَالُوا سَلَامًا ۖ قَالَ سَلَامٌ ۖ فَمَا لَبِثَ أَن جَاءَ بِعِجْلٍ حَنِيذٍ
فَلَمَّا رَأَىٰ أَيْدِيَهُمْ لَا تَصِلُ إِلَيْهِ نَكِرَهُمْ وَأَوْجَسَ مِنْهُمْ خِيفَةً ۚ قَالُوا لَا تَخَفْ إِنَّا أُرْسِلْنَا إِلَىٰ قَوْمِ لُوطٍ
وَامْرَأَتُهُ قَائِمَةٌ فَضَحِكَتْ فَبَشَّرْنَاهَا بِإِسْحَاقَ وَمِن وَرَاءِ إِسْحَاقَ يَعْقُوبَ
“And
certainly did Our messengers come to Abraham with good tidings; they said,
“Peace (salām).” He said, “Peace,” and did not delay in bringing them a roasted
calf. But when he saw their hands not reaching for it, he distrusted them and
felt from them apprehension. They said, “Fear not. We have been sent to the
people of Lot.” And his wife was standing, and she laughed. Then we gave her
good tidings of Isaac and after Isaac, Jacob.”
When they
did not eat, Ibrāheem felt apprehensive because when guests refuse what is
offered, then usually that is a sign of their displeasure and possible evil
intent. So to allay that, they made clear why they will not eat – because they
are the Angels of Allah sent to the people of Loot, and it is not from the
nature of Angels to eat or drink.
Another
point where the Qur’an corrects a latter-day distortion of the Torah is in the
number of the Angels. The Torah asserts in Genesis (19:1): “The two angels
arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the
city.” However, the Quranic texts and Hadeeth tradition make clear that there
were more than just two Angels.
Accusations of Incest against Lot in the Bible:
However,
the worst of the distortions of the Biblical texts that was introduced by those
with a sickness in their hearts is what they fabricated against this noble
Prophet who spent his life worshipping Allah alone without associating partners
in worship with Him and calling the people to that; in the enjoinment of good
and the forbidding of evil, who waged war against immoral and lewd acts, and
gave all his years in obedience to Allah – a man who raised his daughters with
honour, dignity, the best of morals, chastity and piety. And Allah saved them
from the punishment He inflicted upon the people of Sodom. Yet the Torah was
distorted by the hands of wicked men, and they inserted the claim that after
Lot left his township his daughters plied him with wine until he was drunk, and
then committed fornication with him in a cave, close to the city of Zoar which
was not far from Sodom. Both became pregnant with his children. Genesis
19:30-38 states:
“30. Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and
settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two
daughters lived in a cave.
31. One day the older daughter said to the
younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us
children—as is the custom all over the earth.
32. Let’s get our father to drink wine and then
sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”
33. That night they got their father to drink
wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it
when she lay down or when she got up.
34. The next day the older daughter said to the
younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again
tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line
through our father.”
35. So they got their father to drink wine that
night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was
not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
36. So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant
by their father.
37 The older daughter had a son, and she named
him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today.
38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she
named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.”
How quick
they are in ascribing wicked deeds to this noble Prophet and his daughters. An
ascription that is impossible for a man of piety who has chaste daughters, let
alone for a noble Prophet sent by the Lord of the worlds!
The
Messengers of God are completely innocent and protected from ever falling into
fornication and infidelity. Loot had fought all his life against such
wickedness and raised his daughters upon piety, such that Allah saved them all
from the destruction that He inflicted upon the people of disbelief and
homosexuality. After knowing that, a pure heart would never accept such an evil
accusation against this noble Prophet and his pious daughters. Compare this
distortion to the words of the Quran and the Hadeeth regarding Loot and his
daughters; no sincere heart would believe the fabrications introduced into the
Biblical records. This one story alone should be sufficient for any fair-minded
Jew or Christian to abandon the falsehoods contained within their scriptures
and submit to the justice and beauty of the Qur’an that was revealed to the
final Prophet, Muhammad (ﷺ).
Furthermore,
the Bible asserts that Loot had two daughters which is another proof of their
later tampering with the texts. The Prophetic texts prove that he had three
daughters; and Loot did not settle in a mountain cave near Zoar (Arabic:
Sau`ar), rather he made his way to the lands of Shām. Two of his daughters died
during his lifetime on this journey, and one survived. And all praise is due to
Allah who purified this noble family from the false accusations of those who
played with the words revealed to Moosā (ﷺ) in the Torah, and to the other
Prophets, in order to misguide the people to attain a temporary worldly gain.
Genesis and Homosexuality
There are
of course many similarities also in the story of Loot between the texts, not
least is the agreement of the People of the Book (Ahlul-Kitāb) regarding the
religious abhorrence of homosexuality. The Bible states in Genesis 19:
“4. Before they had gone to bed, all the men
from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house.
5. They called to Lot, “Where are the men who
came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
6. Lot went outside to meet them and shut the
door behind him
7. and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this
wicked thing…
8. …don’t do anything to these men, for they
have come under the protection of my roof.”
9. “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This
fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll
treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved
forward to break down the door.
10. But the men inside reached out and pulled
Lot back into the house and shut the door.
11. Then they struck the men who were at the
door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find
the door.
15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged
Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you
will be swept away when the city is punished.”
24. Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on
Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens.
25. Thus he overthrew those cities and the
entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation
in the land.”
Homosexuality: Nurture or Nature? Good or Bad?
So in the
affair of the rulings of homosexuality, the People of the Book are agreed: the
Jews, Christians and Muslims – at least from a textual point of view. However, there
have appeared in the modern era ‘liberal thinkers’ who ascribe themselves to
the scriptures and seek to impose upon the religious texts their own distorted
views in an attempt to provide “alternative facts” which in reality amount to
nothing short of contradiction and opposition of the Religious texts that are
found in the Torah, the Gospels and the Qur’an. These people claim that
homosexuality is normal and natural within humans, and even sanctioned by God.
In reality, homosexual practices oppose the innate nature (Fitrah) of human beings which seeks the opposite sex for intimacy
and procreation. Homosexuality opposes sound intellect because a
reasonable-minded person will come to the conclusion that the rectum/anus of a
man is not the place where the seeds of reproduction are to be sown. The rectum
was not made for that purpose as it brings about no benefit. Rather, entering
into that place only brings about harm, infectious disease, rectal, anal and
bowel dysfunction as is recorded in the scientific literature.
When a man
has sexual relations with one’s wife, it has positive outcomes and effects – it
leads to good health without harmful side-effects, and results in the birth of
children due to the fact that the womb of the woman is the place for the seed
of the man. This, in turn, brings about a society that functions as it should.
Homosexuality opposes all the revealed texts that clearly state that it is
unnatural, sinful, devoid of benefit, destructive, and it earns the anger of
the Lord of the worlds both in this life and Hereafter. Even atheists and
Darwinists must concede that sex between men is unnatural and irrational and
goes against the natural order and the forces of nature, because if
homosexuality is seen as normal within humans then the end result would be the
extinction of the species. After all, how many generations would a community
consisting of purely homosexual males survive? The answer, “None” since
reproduction of the species can never take place in a single gender.
A man can
have sexual relations with his wife for many decades without any damage to her
womb – indeed it is proven through research that sexual relations between a man
and his wife are good for health, body and mind, whereas anal sex destroys and
damages rectal tissue and bowel function. There are huge amounts of research
which proves the increased risks to the health and wellbeing of those who
engage in homosexual activities.
Most men
who engage in homosexual activity (initially at least) feel a strong sense of
guilt and sinfulness (in their hearts) because they sense the inherent wrong in
this act – these men know it is unnatural and angers God, so they suffer from
depression, mental anguish and grief. Furthermore, suicide rates among
homosexuals and transgender people are far higher than any other part of
society. For this reason, many scientists see their behaviour as a mental and
psychological illness that can be remedied over time. People who travel to
Europe (and the West in general) from war-torn countries, after losing their
entire families (to mindless killing) and witness the destruction of their
homes, and then they face alienation, racism, poverty, verbal and physical
abuse in Europe still have far, far fewer incidents of suicide than homosexuals
and transgender people living in Europe, Canada and the US. Ask yourselves why?
Most people
recognise that homosexuality is environmental, something learned, maybe even
fashionable or adopted a result of traumatic sexual abuse experienced as
children, and not a result being “born gay”. So the fact is that homosexuality
can be unlearned just as it was once learned through reasoned discussion,
studying the Word of God and debate.
Both the Old and New Testament Condemn
Homosexuality:
Both the
Old and New Testament speak of the sinful nature of homosexuality, and the
biblical punishment is so severe that it leaves little or no room for anyone to
claim that God allows such relationships.
Leviticus
(Old Testament) 20:13 states:
“If a man has sexual relations with a man as he
does with a woman, both men have committed an abomination. They are to be put
to death and their blood is upon them.”
Romans 1:27
(New Testament) states:
“Likewise, the men abandoned relations with
women and burned with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with
other men, and received in themselves the due penalty of their error.”
Deuteronomy
23:17 (Old Testament):
“There shall be no whore of the daughters of
Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.”
Paul wrote
in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 6:
“Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not
inherit the kingdom of God? So do not be deceived: neither the sexually
immoral, nor the idolators, nor the adulterer, nor the men who have sex with
men.”
According
to Paul, and in line with scripture, these categories of wrongdoers shall not
inherit the kingdom of God. Likewise, 1 Timothy 1:10 in the New Testament
condemns homosexuality, whereas Jude 1:7 in the New Testament uses the story of
Sodom and Gomorrah as a reason for condemnation:
“In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the
surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and pursued unnatural
desire, they serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.”
So what was
the unnatural desire pursued by the people of Sodom and Gomorrah that led to
the punishment of God upon them? It was homosexuality.
Starting Point for Muslims:
The Qur’an
and Prophetic Tradition is no different in regarding the deeds of homosexuality
to be forbidden, unnatural and sinful. However, Muslims should not forget that
the first affair that they call all people to is: the worship of the One God,
the Lord of all creation, and He is Allah – and to abandon the worship of all
other beings and objects that are taken as gods besides Him. This is the point
at which all the Prophets and Messengers of Allah began their call.
Homosexuality is a sin no doubt, and it is from the major sins, but once a
person realises that God Almighty is the One worthy of worship and servitude,
he will come to realise that Allah knows what is best for His creation, and
through that a person will do that which His Lord has commanded and abandon
that which He has forbidden from sins and indecent acts.
Related Articles:
The Holy Quran: Why Were The Verses On The People Of Lut
Revealed?
To Sustain an LGBTQ Affirming Islamic Discourse, Lateral
Violence Must End
Why Gay Muslims Are Upheld To Standards That Not Even
Prophets Fulfil?
Original Headline: Islam and Homosexuality: What happened in
Sodom and Gomorrah? The Prophet Lot (Loot) and his Daughters: In the Bible and
the Qur’an.
Source: The Abu Khadeejah
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/homosexuality-bible-quran-homosexuality-pursued/d/123070
New
Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism