Lut: Difference between revisions

The story  of '''Lut''' (لوط, Lūṭ, "Lot" in the Hebrew tradition) from the [[Taurat|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 by the men of the city, the main sin of Lot's people is the inhospitable conduct towards these visitors, not the fact that they wanted to engage in (forced) homosexual relations with them.  

The story of Lut in the Qur'an represents its apotheosis in all of the traditions in which it is found: by the 7th century, the original story of Lot, the single righteous man of Sodom who protected his guests even at the cost of his own begotten daughters virginity, has evolved into a tale simply demonizing homosexuality. Although the loss of the point of the original story is striking in the Qur'anic text, and the tasfirs which evolved surrounding it, which also build out the story by clarifying that the women of Sodom and Gomorrah were also homosexuals and thus also deserved to be destroyed, the transformation of the story of Lot into a condemnation of homosexuality is not without precedent: witness the English slur "sodomite", pointing like the Arabic "luti" to the sin of the people of Lot within the English-speaking Christian tradition.

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:

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.

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==

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