Lut: Difference between revisions

The story of Lot (لوط, Lūṭ) from the Hebrew Bible, is also to be found in the Qur'an, albeit retold with a few differences. Inter alia, the Qur'anic rendition links the destruction of Sodom specifically to the homosexual activities of its inhabitants, whereas in the Hebrew original although there is an attempted rape of the male angels sent to Lot's house their main sin is the inhospitable conduct towards these visitors, not the fact that they wanted to engage in (forced) homosexual relations with them. .

Qur'anic Claims

The story of Lot is repeated several times in the Qur'an, most of which can be read here. The story has some salient points which mark its importance in Islamic theology and separate it from its biblical progenitor:

All the men of Lot became homosexual:

Homosexuality was something that did not exist prior to the people of Lot:

Lot's wife was said to be complicit with his people:

All were annihilated except for the family of Lot:

Well, almost all the family of Lot:

Lot also offered his daughters to the homosexual men:

The Origins and Nature of Homosexuality: Comparison to Modern Scientific Study and Research

The narrative of the Qur'an makes a number of objective claims about the origins and nature of homosexuality in human beings. These are however almost wholly unsupported by the findings of modern scientific study into the nature of homosexuality in human males:

Homosexuality exists in low percentages

1. Scientifically it is highly unlikely that all the men in Lut's city, Sodom, would be homosexuals, as homosexuality exists only in low percentages, from 2-7%. These numbers are based on many scientific studies:

• ACSF Investigators (1992). AIDS and sexual behaviour in France. Nature, 360, 407–409

• Billy, J. O. G., Tanfer, K., Grady, W. R., & Klepinger, D. H. (1993). The sexual behavior of men in the United States. Family Planning Perspectives, 25, 52–60.

• Binson, D., Michaels, S., Stall, R., Coates, T. J., Gagnon, & Catania, J. A. (1995). Prevalence and social distribution of men who have sex with men: United States and its urban centers. Journal of Sex Research, 32, 245–254.

• Bogaert, A. F. (2004). The prevalence of male homosexuality: The effect of fraternal birth order and variation in family size. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 230, 33–37.

• Fay, R. E., Turner, C. F., Klassen, A. D., & Gagnon, J. H. (1989). Prevalence and patterns of same-gender sexual contact among men. Science, 243, 338–348.

• Johnson, A. M., Wadsworth, J., Wellings, K., Bradshaw, S., & Field, J. (1992). Sexual lifestyles and HIV risk. Nature, 360, 410–412.

• Laumann, E. O., Gagnon, J. H., Michael, R. T., & Michaels, S. (1994). The social organization of sexuality: Sexual practices in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

• Sell, R. L., Wells, J. A., & Wypij, D. (1995). The prevalence of homosexual behavior in the United States, the United Kingdom and France: Results of national population-based samples. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 24, 235–248

• Wellings, K., Field, J., Johnson, A., & Wadsworth, J. (1994). Sexual behavior in Britain: The national survey of sexual attitudes and lifestyles. London, UK: Penguin Books

These studies prove conclusively that the number of homosexuals in a society will not exceed 7%. Thus claiming that all of the people of Sodom became homosexuals is unrealistic, to say the least.

First to experience homosexuality

Although confirmed by multiple Islamic scholars such as Tabari and ibn Kathir, the claim that the People of Lot were the first to experience homosexuality is completely without basis in history or biology. Homosexuality has been recorded in ancient cultures far before the time of Lot and Abraham (1948–2123 BC). For example the ancient Egyptians who existed 6000 years before Christ knew of the practice, as did Chinese and Indian cultures back to 7000 BCE. There are many recorded tales which portray homosexuality in the literature of these civilizations, such as the story between Seth and Horus. It is also known from biology that human male homosexuality, and to a lesser degree female homosexuality, will occur in any large enough population, so again this claim is completely without merit.

Analysis of the Story

Lut's wife was complicit with his people

Lut's wife is accused by the Qur'an of complicity in the sin of his people. In the tafsir of ibn Kathir it is written:

{{quote يُخْبِرُ تَعَالَى عَنْ عَبْدِهِ لُوطٍ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ، أَنَّهُ أَنْذَرَ قَوْمَهُ نِقْمَةَ اللَّهِ بِهِمْ، فِي فِعْلِهِمُ الْفَاحِشَةَ الَّتِي لَمْ يَسْبِقْهُمْ إِلَيْهَا أَحَدٌ مِنْ بَنِي آدَمَ، وَهِيَ إِتْيَانُ الذُّكُورِ دُونَ الْإِنَاثِ، وَذَلِكَ فَاحِشَةٌ عَظِيمَةٌ، اسْتَغْنَى الرِّجَالُ بِالرِّجَالِ، وَالنِّسَاءُ بِالنِّسَاءِ The Most High (Allah) tells of his servant Lut, peace be upon him, warned his people of Allah's coming wrath upon them for their disgusting actions that had never been done before by on of the sons of Adam (id est by any human before), and that was the practice by men of sexual relations (with eachother) without women, and this is greatly disgusting, the men were satisfied with men, and the women with women}}

Killing the people of Lot

Allah destroys Lut's people, which is seen as justified in the Islamic tradtion, as homosexuality is viewed as a sin deserving of deaht.

Lot offers daughters to wicked men

Finally, why did Lot offer his daughters to wicked men? (Quran 15:67-71 and Quran 11:77-79)

In Islam, Lot is seen as a prophet and all prophets in Islam are supposed to be shining examples to mankind. So should we follow the example of Allah's prophet and offer our daughters to wicked men? Must all Muslims offer their daughters to homosexuals? What if the wicked man is a bisexual? He will take the girl.

Conclusion

Scientifically, historically and morally, this story makes little sense. It is one of many tales within the Qur'an which openly denies modern scientific knowledge and documented history, and by doing so, it proves the author of those verses was ignorant of reality, thus proving the verses were not divinely revealed.

See Also

• Parallelism Between the Qur'an and Judeo-Christian Scriptures