SAM, you're way off on this one. I understand these are circumstances focused around Lut, but it isn't as if the recollection of Lut is invalid. Allah says he was sent as a messenger, so his message should be taken seriously, especially if it is mentioned in the Qur'an.
27:54 (We also sent) Lut (as a messenger): behold, He said to his people, “Do ye do what is shameful though ye see (its iniquity)?”
27:55 Would ye really approach men in your lusts rather than women? Nay, ye are a people (grossly) ignorant!
27:56 But his people gave no other answer but this: they said, “Drive out the followers of Lut from your city: these are indeed men who want to be clean and pure!”
27:57 But We saved him and his family, except his wife; her We destined to be of those who lagged behind.
27:58 And We rained down on them a shower (of brimstone): and evil was the shower on those who were admonished (but heeded not)!
Allah sent Lut, and he spread the message of homosexuality being forbidden. No punishment? The punishment says a 'shower of brimstone'.
Here, Allah tells us to remember Lot's words. By telling us to remember them, it is pretty obvious and self-explanatory that we are supposed to believe them. Especially if Allah doesn't show any disagreement with it.
7:80 Remember the words of Lot, who said to his people: “Will you persist in these indecent acts which no other nation has committed before you?
7:81 You lust after men instead of women. Truly, you are a degenerate people.”
7:82 Their only answer was: “Banish him from your city, him and all his followers. They are men who would keep chaste.”
7:83 We delivered Lot and all his kinsfolk, except his wife, who stayed behind,
7:84 and let loose a shower upon them. Consider the fate of the evil-doers.
Like I said the original word used is a word that applies to hospitality; the story of Lot is the story of guests and how they are to be treated. Its not a story about gay sex. The people of Sodom waylaid travelers and treated them shabbily. They were punished for being rapists and and for their inhospitality.
I believe the story should be told like this:
The people of Lot denied the Apostles. When their brother said to them, “Will you not fear? Surely I’m a faithful Apostle to you. Then fear God and obey me. And I do not ask you any reward for it; my reward is only with the LORD of the Nations. You approach the males among the Nations and leave what your LORD created for you in your mates? Nay, you are transgressing people.” They said, “If you don’t stop, O Lot, you will be among the expelled.” He said, “Surely I am among the abhorrers of your doing. My LORD, deliver me and my family from what they do.” So, We delivered him and his family all. Except an old woman among the doomed. Then, We destroyed the last of them. And, We rained down on them a rain; so evil was the rain on the warned. Surely in that is a sign and most of them are not believers. And surely your LORD is the Mighty, the Merciful.
In the Qur’an, one of the accusations these people faced was: wataqda`una sabila or “You rob the road.” (2) The cities – Sodom and Gomorrah – have been identified as once being where the ruins of Bab edh-Dhra and Numeira are today, the south portion of the Dead Sea. (3) So, what does that mean? They robbed the Greeks, the Arabs, and the Canaanites, among other nations.
Establishing the words nations rather than “creations” or “worlds,” or “among” instead of “of all,” puts the story in a different spot. If the Qur’an actually says, “Do you approach the males above of all creatures” what does that mean? It means it is about their approaching the males. Which then confuses the hell out of the reader when he reads the verse 29:29, which quotes the prophet Lot as saying: “Surely you approach the males and rob the road, and you approach vice in your meetings” (half verse.)
If you translate it as “Do you approach the males among the nations” in 26:165, and later you get to 29:29 and you see it is talking about them also robbing the road, it immediately becomes apparent to you that these people were a) robbing the road, b) abusing the poor businessmen [from other nations] on that road. And what about the munkar or vice in their meetings? Meetings where robbery and abuse is planned sounds pretty evil to me.
Reading the story, it is pretty clear that Lot is not in danger physically. The only danger he is in is joining “among the expelled.” And since they don’t believe in him (note how they challenge him to bring the wrath of God if he is being ‘truthful’), we can assume they are not leaving him alone because he is an Apostle of God. So why are they leaving him alone? Perhaps this is not against the men in town. Well, this theory is further supported by the presence of the males who visit Lot. It is actually Angels. Let me quote the Qur’an:
And when our Apostles came to Lot, he was grieved for them and he lacked strength to protect them, and said, “This is a hard day.” And came his people, rushing towards him, and already they did evil deeds. He said “O my people, these are my daughters -- they are purer for you, so fear God and do not disgrace me with my visitors; is there not among you one right-minded man?” They said, “Certainly you know that we have no right among your daughters and surely you know what we want.” He said, “Ah! Had I the power to suppress you, rather I shall have recourse to a strong support.” They said, “O Lut! We are the Apostles of your LORD; they shall by no means reach you; so travel yours family in a part of the night -- and let none of you turn back -- except your wife, surely it shall befall her what befalls them; surely their appointed time is the morning; isn’t the morning close?” So when our decree came to pass, we turned them upside down and rained down upon them stones, of what had been decreed, one after another. Marked (for punishment) with your LORD and it is not far off from the unjust. (4)
Here, we find our answer about who exactly the people of Lot were after. Lot seems to be depressed, knowing what is waiting for his people because he knows they won’t be able to resist the visitors and that will be the last straw with God. What if they just left the Angels alone? What if they didn’t try to rush in and abuse the Angels… and rather went home and repented?
The traditional Muslim insists that the people of Lot were Homosexuals. What is a Homosexual? If Homosexual is someone who has psychological and physical attraction to their same sex then the people of Lot were certainly not Homosexuals. For one thing, Lot offers them his daughters, but we know from another verse, 26:166, that they already have azwaj or mates. So, of course, like they say, they “have no right among” his daughters. The men even tell Lot that he knows what they want. And so do we.
What do they want? Well, we go back a little and we find out that they want a) to rob the road and b) approach the males among the nations. This cannot be from the same nation, because then they will face wars and what have you. They want to rob and sexually abuse men from other nations who are either traveling for business or visiting people or whatever. They plot and scheme to abuse others. For whatever the reasons, that is what they want.
It seems that the men of these cities are not after men who move there, as was the case with Lot who moved from Ur [Mesopotamia] with his uncle Abraham and relocated to where he is when the story of these people takes place. So while they want to abuse the visitors and the traveling businessman on the road, they are apparently unwilling to abusing permanent residents.
Another point is that the people of Lot are forcing people, whether sexually or financially. Do Homosexuals force people? I don’t know any Homosexual who forces people. But we certainly know people who rape others and rob them. And they are not Homosexuals but they are people who are just – like the Qur’an puts it – transgressing people. The people of Lot were as much Homosexuals as are the straight men who raped others in Somalia or Iraq or any other country where the “subjugation” of other straight males is seen as ‘fun’ or ‘empowering.’
