Did Prophet Lut’s People Request Punishment or Threaten Him with Expulsion?

Brief description of the dubiety

With due attention to verse 82 of Surah al-Araaf, in response to Prophet Lut’s advice, his people decided to expel this divine Prophet from the city, but in verse 29 of Surah al-Ankabut, it mentions that they responded by requesting a punishment from their Prophet. These two reports seem to be  contradictory to each other, so let us look at how they responded to their Prophet.

Detailed description of the dubiety

Contradictory Verses

Verse which mentions the request of divine punishment

In Surah al-Ankabut, verse 29 it says: “What! Do you come to men and cut off the way, and commit outrages in your gatherings?’ But the only answer of his people was that they said, ‘Bring down upon us Allah’s punishment if you are truthful.’” This verse mentions that the only answer of his people in response to Prophet Lut’s guidance was a request for punishment.

Verses which mention the decision to expel Prophet Lut

In verses 80-82 in Surah al-Araaf, we read the following: “And Lut, when he said to his people, ‘What! Do you commit an outrage that none in the world ever committed before you?! Indeed you come to men with desire instead of women! Indeed, you are a profligate lot.’ But the only answer of his people was that they said, ‘Expel them from your town! They are indeed a puritanical lot.’”  This verse mentions that they decided to expel Prophet Lut from the city only and nothing else.

There are other verses which mention this as well, for example in Surah al-Naml, verses 54-56 it says: “[We also sent] Lut, when he said to his people, ‘What! Do you commit this indecency while you look on? Do you approach men with [sexual desire instead of women?!] Indeed, you are a senseless lot!’ But the only answer of his people was that they said, ‘Expel Lut’s family from your town! They are indeed a puritanical lot.’”  

Summary

The Quran has referred to the reaction of the people of Prophet Lut in different verses. In verse 29 of Surah al-Ankabut, the reaction of the sinners in response to their Prophet was that they requested a punishment to come down upon them. However, in verse 82 of Surah al-Araaf, it mentions that their reaction was to expel Prophet Lut and his family. Therefore, the Quranic verses narrate that these people had two different reactions to the Prophet of their time. Thus, these verses appear to be incompatible and contradictory.

A summarized response

With due attention to the criteria, these verses are discussing two different discourses that Prophet Lut had with his people. Therefore, the answers of his people is in reference to different conversations in the different verses. For example, in one conversation, the answer of Lut’s people to their Prophet was ‘if you are telling the truth, then bring down the divine punishment;’ and in a separate conversation, they responded by saying ‘expel Lut and his family from the city.’ In reality, none of these verses refer to the same encounter between Prophet Lut and his people.

A detailed response

In order to correctly understand these verses, it is necessary to understand the atmosphere in which they  were revealed, also we must pay attention to the previous and following verses. It will shortly be confirmed that these verses were discussing two different discourses between Prophet Lut and his people by referring to the previous verses. Therefore, the responses of Lut’s people will be exclusive to that particular conversation.  So when they said: ‘if you are telling the truth, bring the divine punishment,’ and in a separate conversation, their answer was ‘expel Lut and his family from the city;’ then in reality, neither of these verses referred to the same dialogue between Prophet Lot and his people, and on this basis, there is no contradiction between the verses.

In verses 80-81 of Surah al-Araaf, it is mentioned that, “And Lut, when he said to his people, ‘What! Do you commit an outrage none in the world ever committed before you?! Indeed you come to men with desire instead of women! Indeed, you are a profligate lot.’” In these verses, Prophet Lut asked his people about how they are committing an outrage which has not been committed before them by anyone in the world, and he also calls them ‘a profligate lot’ to reprimand them.

In verses 54-55 of Surah al-Naml, it is says: “[We also sent] Lut, when he said to his people, ‘What! Do you commit this indecency while you look on? Do you approach men with [sexual desire instead of women?!] Indeed, you are a senseless lot!’”  In these verses, Prophet Lut asks his people, “Do you commit an outrage while you see the badness of it?” He also calls them an ignorant and senseless lot and rebukes them.

With due attention to these verses, it is clear that there were two different answers in two different instances with Lut’s people in verses 82 of Surah al-Araaf, and 56 of Surah al-Naml because in the previous verses of these two, there were separate discourses from Prophet Lut addressed to them. Prophet Lut’s reasoning in verses 80 of Surah al-Araaf and 54 of Surah al-Naml show that his objection and the answer of his people was different in both scenarios. In one verse, he asked why they were doing such an evil act when no one had ever committed it before? In the other verse, he used another form of reasoning and asked them why they would do this when they saw the wickedness in it? Also, in verse 81 of Surah al-Araaf, Prophet Lut called his people ‘a profligate lot,’ while in verse 55 of Surah al-Naml, he called them ‘a senseless lot.’ These differences in Prophet Lut’s words show that these were two separate conversations. This Prophet was naturally going to object to his people because they had been polluted by homosexuality for a while; and essentially it is the duty of a Prophet, someone who is responsible to guide mankind, to oppose his people if they do anything against the laws ordained by Allah.

No contradiction with due attention to the differences between the two conversations

Up until here, it has been proven that verses 80-82 of Surah al-Araaf, and verses 54-56 of Surah al-Naml are reporting two different conversations between Prophet Lut and his people, however the dubiety still has not been solved about how  there is no contradiction between the verses describing the answers of Lut’s people in these two conversations.

The proof that there is no contradiction lies in the fact that neither of these two verses express that it was the only answer that the people of Lut gave in all of the conversations, because in both verses, the exclusiveness of their answers was mentioned for that specific conversation, and thus one cannot conclude from these verses that this was their only answer in all of the dialogues between them.

In reality, verse 82 of Surah al-Araaf only tells their answer in the conversation that was being described in that chapter, and verse 56 of Surah al-Naml only tells their answer in the conversation reported in that chapter. The fact that their answer in the first conversation differs from their answer in the second conversation does not mean there was a contradiction. A disagreement would only exist if both verses mentioned their answer in all of the discussions.

Common example

All of the students in a class were cheaters except for one student. That good student tried to admonish his classmates in several encounters. In one conversation, he objected to them by saying, “Over my years of learning, my classmates have never been cheaters like you!” But his classmates replied: “Go and tell the headmaster if you dare!” In another conversation, when he said to his classmates, “Why do you cheat when you know that it is wrong?” they spoke to one another in objection to him, and said: “We are tired of his admonishment, let’s kick him out of our class.” Someone reports these occurrences. In the first incident, the person says that the answer of the cheaters was, “Tell the headmaster if you dare!” In the second instance, he says that the reply of the cheaters was, “We cannot take his admonishment anymore. Let us kick him out of our class.”

There is no contradiction between these two reports because the first report discussed what occurred in the first conversation, while the second report mentions what occurred in the second conversation. Neither of these two reports say that the answer of the cheaters was the same in both instances. Therefore, there is no contradiction between them. Similar is the case of the verses analysed above in reference to Prophet Lut and his people.