Surah Al-A'raf, Ayah 84

Allah says, We saved Lut and his family, for only his household believed in him.

Allah said in another Ayah,

فَأَخْرَجْنَا مَن كَانَ فِيهَا مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ - فَمَا وَجَدْنَا فِيهَا غَيْرَ بَيْتٍ مِّنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ

(So We brought out from therein the believers. But We found not there any household of the Muslims except one of Lut and his daughters) 51: 35-36. Only his wife (from his family) did not believe, remaining on the religion of her people. She used to conspire with them against Lut and inform them of who came to visit him, using certain signals that they agreed on. This is why when Lut was commanded to leave by night with his family, he was ordered not to inform his wife or take her with him. Some said that she followed them, and when the torment struck her people, she looked back and suffered the same punishment as them. However, it appears that she did not leave the town and that Lut did not tell her that they would depart. So she remained with her people, as apparent from Allah's statement,

In the fifth verse (84), the punishment which came on these people has been described in a few words - that an unusual rain was sent upon them. The details of this punishment appear in Surah Had where it is said:

فَلَمَّا جَاءَ أَمْرُ‌نَا جَعَلْنَا عَالِيَهَا سَافِلَهَا وَأَمْطَرْ‌نَا عَلَيْهَا حِجَارَ‌ةً مِّن سِجِّيلٍ مَّنضُودٍ ﴿82﴾ مُّسَوَّمَةً عِندَ رَ‌بِّكَ ۖ وَمَا هِيَ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ بِبَعِيدٍ ﴿83﴾

(So, when Our command-came, We turned its highest into its lowest, and We rained on it stones of hard clay, one over an-other marked, with your Lord. And they are not far from the transgressors - 11:82-83).

This tells us that the rain of stones came from above and from down below, angel Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) lifted up the whole crust of the earth and threw it back upside down. Then, the stones which rained down were one over the other, that is, the stone rained so ceaselessly that they kept collecting one on top the next. These stones were marked. Some commentators say that every such stone was marked with the name of the person who was destined to be destroyed with it. And in the verses of Surah Al-Hijr, also mentioned before the account of the punishment is: فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ الصَّيْحَةُ مُشْرِ‌قِينَ ﴿73﴾ that is, a Sound seized them at sunrise - 15:73).

This indicates that first to come was some harsh Sound from the skies, then came other punishments. The outward arrangement of the words shows that it was after this Sound that the earth crust was turned upside down and then, stones were rained on them to put a stamp on their disgrace. And it is also possible that the rain of stones came first and the turning over of the earth crust came later. The reason is that, given the style of the Qur'an, it is not necessary that some-thing mentioned earlier should have also occurred earlier.

Out of the horrendous punishments sent on the people of Sayyidna Lut (علیہ السلام) ، the punishment of turning the floor of the earth upside down has a particular correspondence with their act of shame and immodesty because they were guilty of perversion.

Towards the end of the verses of Surah Hud cited a little earlier, the Qur'an has warned the people of Arabia when it says: وَمَا هِيَ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ بِبَعِيدٍ ﴿83﴾ that is, these upturned habitations were not far from the transgressors. They pass by them while traveling to Syria but it is surprising that they would learn no lesson from them.

And these sights are not restricted with the time the Holy Qur'an was being revealed. They are still there between Bayt al-Maqdis and Jordon river, particularly the area known as the Sea of Lut or the Dead Sea. It lies way deep below the sea level. On a particular section, there is water which is unusual. No sea life survives there. Hence, the name: Dead Sea. This is said to be the legendary Sodom. May Allah keep us safe from His Punishment and Wrath.

Lot was Abraham’s nephew. The community to which he was sent as a prophet was settled on the banks of the river Jordan in southern Syria. The prosperity of the community led its members into an excessive love of luxury, and evil behaviour which went to extremes in sexual promiscuity and even homosexuality. The prophet warned them against this open shamelessness. The universe has a scheme of nature. This scheme is called the reformed state (islah) in Quranic terminology. Going against this means a disturbance in the balance of things (fasad) in this universe. It is only man who takes undue advantage of his freedom and goes against the way of nature. The community of Lot also committed such a disruption of the divine order. The natural form of sexual relationship is that of a husband and wife. This means following the way of islah. As opposed to this, if a sexual relation develops between man and man, and a woman and a woman, this amounts to transgressing the limits fixed by God. This is what is called fasad in the Quran. Only a few people close to Lot had any faith in him. The rest of the people were sunk in debauchery. They even said: ‘When these people consider us dirty and want to keep themselves pure, why should the clean live with the unclean? They had better leave our town.’ This statement of theirs smacked of their haughtiness. They had the courage to say this because they were in the majority and enjoyed material superiority; they thus considered themselves safe. When God’s retribution visited Lot’s community, the Prophet Lot’s wife was one of the victims. This shows the unbiased justice of God in the matter of reward and punishment. In the judicial balance of God there is no regard for relationships or friendships. God’s decision was so unbiased that it did not spare even Noah’s son, Abraham’s father, Lot’s wife and the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle. On the other hand, when Pharaoh’s wife performed righteous deeds, she was admitted to Paradise.