Sodomy and Homosexuality Part IV of IV

By Dr. Antar Ibn-Stanford

Part IV of IV

26:166--"And leave those whom Allah has created for you to be your wives? Nay, you are a trespassing people!"
26:167-- They said: "If you cease not. O Lout (Lot)! Verily, you will be one of those who are driven out!"
26:168-- He said: "I am, indeed, of those who disapprove with severe anger and fury your (this evil) action (of sodomy).
26:169—"My Lord! Save me and my family from what they do."
26:170-- So We saved him and his family, all,
26:171-- Except an old woman (his wife) among those who remained behind.
26:172-- Then afterward We destroyed the others.
26:173- And We rained on them a rain (of torment). And how evil was the rain of those who had been warned.
26:174-- Verily, in this is indeed a sign, yet most of them are not believers.
26:175-- And verily! Your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful.
27:56-- There was no other answer given by his people except that they said: "Drive out the family of Lout (Lot) from your city. Verily, these are men who want to be clean and pure!"
27:57— So We saved him and his family, except his wife. We destined her to be of those who remained behind.
27:58-- And We rained down on them a rain (of stones). So evil was the rain of those who were warned.
29:28-- And (remember) Lout (Lot), when he said to his people: "You commit Al-Fahishah (sodomy the worst sin) which none has preceded you in (committing) it in the 'Alamin (mankind and jinns)."
29:29--"Verily, you do sodomy with men, and rob the wayfarer (travellers, etc.)! And practise Al-Munkar (disbelief and polytheism and every kind of evil wicked deed) in your meetings." But his people gave no answer except, that they said: "Bring Allah's Torment upon us if you are one of the truthful."
29:30— He said: "My Lord! Give me victory over the people who are Mufsidun (those who commit great crimes and sins, oppressors, tyrants, mischief-makers, corrupts).
29:31-- And when Our messengers came to Abraham with the glad tidings they said: "Verily, we are going to destroy the people of this town (Sodom). Truly, its people have been wrong-doers.”
29:32— Ibrahim (Abraham) said: "But there is Lout (Lot) in it." They said:"We know better who is there, we will verily save him [Lout (Lot)] and his family, except his wife, she will be of those who remain behind (i.e. she will be destroyed along with those who will be destroyed from her folk)."
29:33— And when Our Messengers came to Lout (Lot), he was grieved because of them, and felt straitened on their account. They said: "Have no fear, and do not grieve! Truly, we shall save you and your family, except your wife, she will be of those who remain behind (i.e. she will be destroyed along with those who will be destroyed from her folk).
29:34— Verily, we are about to bring down on the people of this town a great torment from the sky, because they have been rebellious (against Allah's Command)."
29:35-- And indeed We have left thereof an evident Ayah (a lesson and a warning and a sign the place where the Dead Sea is now in Palestine) for a folk who understand.
37:133— And verily, Lout (Lot) was one of the Messengers.
37:134— When We saved him and his family, all,
37:135— Except an old woman (his wife) who was among those who remained behind.
37:136— Then We destroyed the rest [i.e. the towns of Sodom at the place of the Dead Sea (now) in Palestine]. [See the "Book of History" by Ibn Kathir].
37:137— Verily, you pass by them in the morning.
37:138— And at night; will you not then reflect?
54:33-- The people of Lout (Lot) belied the warnings.
54:34-- Verily, We sent against them a violent storm of stones (which destroyed them all), except the family of Lout (Lot), whom We saved in last hour of the night,
54:35— As a Favour from Us, thus do We reward him who gives thanks (by obeying Us).
54:36-- And he [Lout (Lot)] indeed had warned them of Our Grasp, but they did doubt the warnings!
54:37-- And they indeed sought to shame his guest (by asking to commit sodomy with them). So We blinded their eyes, "Then taste you My Torment and My Warnings."
54:38-- And verily, an abiding torment seized them early in the morning.
54:39--"Then taste you My Torment and My Warnings."

Fiqh Positions on Homosexuality

Ahkam al-Qur’an by Muhammad ibn Abdullah aka Ibn al-Arabi

7:80-- And (remember) Lot, when he said to his people: "Do you do the nasty act that no one in the world before you has done?

The nasty act (الفاحشة) is an unlawful sexual act (الزنا). It is an act of disobedience. The verse indicates that the stoning of the people with stones of died clay was punishment of the nasty act. Scholars differ on what punishment is required for such an act.

Al-Majmu’ Sharh al-Muhadhdhab by an-Nawawi

An-Nawawi writes that sodomy is forbidden because of Q. 7:80-- And (remember) Lot, when he said to his people: "Do you do the nasty act that no one in the world before you has done?” Also, the fact that Allah punished the people of Lot with what He had never punished people before indicates that it is forbidden. The Shafi’I school requires that its punishment is the same as the one for a fornicator. If the fornicator is a non-virgin, he is whipped and banished. If he is a virgin, he is to be stoned because the Prophet (pbuh) said: “When a man has sex with a man, they are fornicating. When a woman has sex with a woman, they are fornicating.” Also, Ibn Abbas (mabp) narrated that the Prophet (pbuh) said: “Whoever is found doing what the people of Lot did, kill the doer and one it is done to.”

Abu Hanifah states that the punishment has not been mentioned in the Qur’an or hadith (التعزير).

Ash-Shafi’I and a group of scholars state that the punishment is the same as the punishment for an unlawful sexual act (الزنا).

Malik and a group of scholars state that the punishment is flogging.

Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, an-Nisa’I and others recorded that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: “Whomever you find doing the thing the people of Lot did, then kill the one doing it and the one it is done to.” Ibn al-Arabi state that the hadith is not accepted as valid by consensus.

Al-Mughni wa Sharh al-Kabir by Ibn Qudama

Ibn Qudama states that the scholars agree that sodomy is forbidden.

Ibn Qudama wrote that Abu recorded that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: “Whomever you find doing the thing the people of Lot did, then kill the one doing it and the one it is done to.” One narration read “stone the upper class and the lower class.” He writes that the companions agreed on killing the sodomite but not on the method. He argues that the one who opposes the prescribed punishment is disregarding the text of hadith and consensus. Performing sodomy on a woman is forbidden but has no prescribed punishment. Two women having sex have no prescribed punishment because there is no penetration. However, there is to be an appropriate punishment. Ibn Qudama points out that there is no difference between people who fornicate through the vagina or the behind. He adds that there is no punishment for a husband to sex with his wife in the behind.

The criteria for accepting or rejecting a passage or verse from books that appear in the different bibles or other religious scriptures are whether the Qur’an supports them. God says in the Qur'an 3:3: "He is the One Who has sent down the Book (the Qur'an) to you (Muhammad) with truth, confirming what came before it. He also sent down the Torah and the Gospel before it, as a guide to mankind. He sent down (each one as) the criterion between right and wrong.” Al-Bukhari (Book of Witnesses, Chapter of Not Asking Polytheists) recorded that Abu Hurayrah said that the Messenger of God said: “Do not verify the truthfulness of the people of the Book, nor deny their truthfulness. On the contrary say: ‘We believe in God and in what He has revealed to us’” (the Qur’an 2:136).

"And this Qur'an is not such that it could be invented by anyone other than God. On the contrary, it is a confirmation of that which was before it and an elaboration of the written regulations—in which there is no doubt—from the Lord of the worlds (the Qur’an 10:37).

Conclusion

The most serious reason for opposing certain sexual behavior is because Allah, the Exalted, opposes it. Those who engage in it and support it are saying they know better than Allah. Any punishment or discrimination for sodomy in contemporary times comes from Allah, the Exalted, via punishments in the hereafter and worldly trials and tribulations.