The Prophet Lot 1

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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.”