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The Prophet Lot
When the
great prophet Abraham started conveying the message of God, Lot, who was his
nephew, became his follower. He was such a devoted follower that he left his
father, country, riches, and relations and immigrated with Abraham to an
unknown land. Lot started as a follower, but when Abraham settled in Cannon,
God honored Lot with prophet hood, and told him to deliver the message of God. The
area given to him was Sodom and Gomorrah.
There was a
trade-route running from Yemen to the Dead Sea. It was a very well-known way of
travelling at that time. The caravans of the Quraish usually used this route for
business. The city of Sodom was near the Dead Sea, and the land was full of
sulphur-mines and volcanic mountains.
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The prophet
Lot settled among the people of Sodom and started his mission by proclaiming that
he was a prophet sent by God almighty to warn them about the consequences of
their actions. He also told them that he was not looking for compensation in
the form of money or any worldly goods. God—who nourishes the whole universe—was
going to reward him for his work. He said to them,
“Oh people of
Sodom, you are doing a thing which has not been done by any nation before you.
You are choosing men as your sexual partners instead of women, who are created
for this purpose. In this way you lose a lot of useful oomph. You do not get
any positive result out of this energy; you simply waste it in a non-constructive
manner. You are very thoughtless and extravagant in the use of your energy.
“Look at the
whole universe. The plan of nature is apparent. Other species are made in the
pattern of male and female. They seek union with the opposite sex. Why are you
crossing the boundaries drawn by God?
“The sexual
urge is given to all species for the purpose of procreation. Each species has
children after union with the opposite sex. You are the only ones who are
trying to stop this process of procreation by leaving your wives and going
after men. In this way, you fall below the level of animals. Animals never
break the laws which nature has formed for them.”
Lot did
everything that he could do to explain the consequences of their odious
behavior. The answer he got was, “Turn him out of the town; he is trying to be
very clean and pious.” The prophet Lot carried on his mission without any fear.
Before him, many prophets had come to warn the nation about the result of this
transgression. The nation paid no heed to any warning and made no attempt to
improve.
The people of
Sodom were great robbers. Their city was situated close to the trade-route.
They often attacked the caravans carrying precious materials. When Lot repeatedly
pointed out the abomination of this act, the leaders said among themselves,
“How can an act that brings so much wealth to us be wrong? Lot is a fool who is
trying to stop us from this profitable action.” And they threatened Lot: “If
you will not stop admonishing us, we certainly will turn you out of our city.”
Lot explained
his message in various ways, so that the nation could understand it easily. He
said to them, “Do you think that your actions will not bear fruit? You are forgetting
the old wise saying ‘What one sows, one must reap.’ God is looking over your
actions. He is giving you time to think and reflect upon them and their
consequences. Let not the delay in the retribution fool you. If you do not act
upon my advice and improve your behavior the doom will get you.”
Lot’s good
intentions and warnings produced no effect on the nation. They said among themselves,
“We have been acting in this way for a very long time. Nothing bad has happened
so far, and nothing is going to happen in the future. Lot’s warnings are only
empty threats. Pay no heed to them.” So they continued their wrong behavior and
jeeringly said to Lot, “Bring God’s doom upon us, if you are a truth teller.”
