Exegesis of Verses (33 - 40) of Surat al-Qamar.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
As for what follows:
We are resuming this meeting, called the Open Door Meeting, which takes place every Thursday, after we had left it during the summer vacation, considering that people disperse here and there. So we begin this resumption on this day, Thursday, the nineteenth of the month of Jumada al-Ula in the year one thousand four hundred and nineteen. We ask Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, to bestow upon us and upon you beneficial knowledge and righteous deeds.
The questioner : Amen.
The Shaykh : We had intended that the beginning of the meeting be the exegesis of the noble verses in the Surahs of al-Mufassal, and we had reached the saying of Allah the Exalted in Surat al-Qamar:.
The questioner : We had finished with it.
The Shaykh : Huh? Did we read the one before it?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Very well, we had reached the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Al-Qamar 54:33]:
The people of Lut were people who disbelieved in Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and associated partners with Him. And what they were distinguished by in sins was this ugly, abominous act, which is: sodomy, meaning: approaching a male with a male. Their Prophet warned them of this and said to them:[Ash-Shu'ara 26:165-166], but they, may Allah protect us, persisted in this until the punishment came to them. And in this Surah, Allah the Exalted mentioned the stories of the Prophets in a general manner. He said in what preceded what has been discussed, and He said here: [Al-Qamar 54:33]:
Al-Nudhur: the plural of Nadhir, and they are the words by which Lut, peace be upon him, warned them. The plural indicates that he used to repeat this to them, but they refused and persisted in this act. So Allah made clear their punishment by His saying:
[Al-Qamar 54:34]:
Hasi-ban: meaning something that strikes them from the sky. Allah rained stones of Sijjil upon them, so they demolished their houses until their top became their bottom, because when a building collapses, its top becomes its bottom.[Al-Hijr 15:59] The family of Lut are the people of his household except his wife, as He the Exalted said: [Adh-Dhariyat 51:35-36] A Prophet sent to his people, and none followed him except the people of his household, except his wife also, for she was a disbeliever. And despite that, he was patient until permission was given to him to leave.
[Al-Qamar 54:34] Meaning: by the magic of the morning. And that is because these people were taken by the punishment in the morning, just as the punishment of 'Ad began in the morning: [Al-Haqqah 69:7] Because it began in the morning, so the punishment took them, may Allah protect us, and Allah destroyed them.
[Al-Qamar 54:35] Meaning: We bestowed upon the family of Lut a blessing from Allah, Mighty and Majestic, from two aspects:
The first aspect: that Allah saved them.
And the second aspect: that Allah destroyed their enemy, because the destruction of the enemy is among the blessings of Allah. So the blessing of Allah upon the family of Lut was by their salvation and the destruction of their enemy.
Meaning: such is the reward, which is salvation and blessing, that We reward those who are grateful for the blessing of Allah. And the gratitude for the blessing of Allah the Exalted, O my brothers, is the performance of obedience to Him, and it is not merely the person saying: I thank Allah. Rather, it is necessary to perform obedience. For this reason, whoever says: I thank Allah, while he is persisting in his sins, then he is not a grateful person, but rather he is a disbeliever in the blessing, mocking Allah, Mighty and Majestic. For the implication of the blessing is to thank Allah, but he reversed the matter. Allah the Exalted said: [Ibrahim 14:28-29] So whoever thanks Allah, then Allah the Exalted saves him and destroys his enemy.
Meaning: that Lut, peace be upon him, warned his people of the seizing, which is: taking by force.
Meaning: they doubted him and did not believe in him.
[Al-Qamar 54:37] Meaning: that his people sought to seduce him regarding his guest who came to him from the angels. And Allah the Exalted had sent to him the angels in the form of young men of beauty and stature, as a test from Allah, Mighty and Majestic. So when the people of Lut heard of these guests, they rushed to them, hastening, wanting these guests to commit the indecency with them, may Allah protect us. So they sought to seduce him regarding his guest. Then Allah blinded their eyes. As for how He blinded their eyes?
Whether Jibril struck them with his wing or otherwise, Allah knows best. It is only upon us to believe that Allah the Exalted blinded their eyes until they could not see.
[Al-Qamar 54:37] And the command here is for humiliation, or it is a cosmic command, meaning: that Allah commanded them with a command of humiliation or a cosmic command to taste the punishment. And like this is the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, regarding the companion of the Fire: [Ad-Dukhan 44:49] For this command is a command of humiliation without doubt, and it is not a command of honor nor a command of permission.
[Al-Qamar 54:37-39] Meaning: that the punishment dawned upon them and came to them in the morning, at the time of their rising from sleep and facing their day, and they were joyful. Each one of them was thinking about what he would do that day, when suddenly the punishment fell upon them. We ask Allah for safety.
[Al-Qamar 54:39-40]:
From the lesson in this verse:
That these people, whose fitrah and nature Allah had inverted, Allah inverted the buildings upon them by striking them with stones of Sijjil. So the buildings collapsed until their top became their bottom. And it is said: that Allah the Exalted inverted their homes and uprooted them from their foundations until He raised them and then inverted them. If this is correct, then Allah is capable of all things. And if it is not correct, then it is not upon us except to take the apparent meaning of the Qur'an that they were rained upon with stones of Sijjil and the buildings collapsed upon them.
The knowledge taken from that is that the sodomite is killed in all cases, the active and the passive. And this is the stronger position: that sodomy requires killing in all cases, and it is not like zina, where zina distinguishes between the married and the unmarried. As for sodomy, killing is required in all cases, as long as the active and the passive are adults and of sound mind, then it is obligatory to kill them in all cases, except the coerced, for the coerced has nothing upon him. The Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "The Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, agreed upon killing the active and the passive", except that they differed in how they are killed. So some of them said:
They are killed by stoning with stones until they die.
And some of them said: They are killed by being thrown from the highest place in the city and followed by stones.
And Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, burned the sodomite with fire, and likewise Khalid ibn al-Walid, and one of the Caliphs of the Banu Umayyah burned them with fire for the magnitude of their crime, may Allah protect us. And because this indecency, if it spreads among a people, their men become women, and one of them pursues the males of men until they commit the indecency with him, may Allah protect us. And the conditions were inverted, and the lineage was lost, meaning: that people turn to males and leave the women who are the harvest for men. And guarding against it is difficult, because it is not possible to find two and say: how did this person accompany this one, for example. But if we find a man and a woman, it is possible to guard against them. Therefore, the cure for the society from this ugly, abominous act is: that the active and the passive are killed. And there came a hadith from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that he said:Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1456Hasan (Darussalam), and for this reason it is obligatory upon us, O my brothers, to guard against this to the utmost extent, and to check on our sons where they went, and where they came from, and who their friends are, and whether they are on the straight path or not, so that we protect the society from this vile act.
Then Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said:[Al-Qamar 54:17] Allah, Mighty and Majestic, made the Qur'an easy for remembrance: for its preservation and for understanding its meaning. And this report is intended to encourage the preservation of the Qur'an and the contemplation of its meaning, because it is made easy and simple. And you try it: contemplate in the verses of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, to understand their meaning, and look how Allah makes it easy for you to understand them until you understand from them what many people do not understand. For this reason He said: [Al-Qamar 54:15] And the interrogation here is for encouragement, meaning: does anyone remind, remember, take a lesson from what is in the Qur'an?
Then He, Mighty and Majestic, said:[Al-Qamar 54:41-42] The verses.
And now it is the turn of questions, and we start with the right, and each person has one question, except the citizens, for they have no right; the right is for the guests until they are finished.
As for what follows:
We are resuming this meeting, called the Open Door Meeting, which takes place every Thursday, after we had left it during the summer vacation, considering that people disperse here and there. So we begin this resumption on this day, Thursday, the nineteenth of the month of Jumada al-Ula in the year one thousand four hundred and nineteen. We ask Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, to bestow upon us and upon you beneficial knowledge and righteous deeds.
The questioner : Amen.
The Shaykh : We had intended that the beginning of the meeting be the exegesis of the noble verses in the Surahs of al-Mufassal, and we had reached the saying of Allah the Exalted in Surat al-Qamar:
'Ad denied
كذّبت عادThe questioner : We had finished with it.
The Shaykh : Huh? Did we read the one before it?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Very well, we had reached the saying of Allah the Exalted:
The people of Lot denied the warning.
كذّبت قوم لوط بالنّذرThe people of Lut were people who disbelieved in Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and associated partners with Him. And what they were distinguished by in sins was this ugly, abominous act, which is: sodomy, meaning: approaching a male with a male. Their Prophet warned them of this and said to them:
(165) Do you approach males among the worlds (166) And leave what your Lord has created for you as mates? But you are a people transgressing."
أتأتون الذّكران من العالمين وتذرون ما خلق لكم ربّكم من أزواجكم بل أنتم قوم عادونThe people of Lot denied the warning.
كذّبت قوم لوط بالنّذرAl-Nudhur: the plural of Nadhir, and they are the words by which Lut, peace be upon him, warned them. The plural indicates that he used to repeat this to them, but they refused and persisted in this act. So Allah made clear their punishment by His saying:
Indeed, We sent upon them a storm of stones, except the family of Lot - We saved them before dawn
إنّا أرسلنا عليهم حاصباً إلاّ آل لوط نجيّناهم بسحرHasi-ban: meaning something that strikes them from the sky. Allah rained stones of Sijjil upon them, so they demolished their houses until their top became their bottom, because when a building collapses, its top becomes its bottom.
Except the family of Lot
إلاّ آل لوط(35) So We brought out whoever was in the cities of the believers. (36) And We found not within them other than a [single] house of Muslims.
فأخرجنا من كان فيها من المؤمنين * فما وجدنا فيها غير بيت من المسلمينexcept the family of Lot - We saved them before dawn
إلاّ آل لوط نجّيناهم بسحرfor seven nights and eight days in succession
سبع ليال وثمانية أيّام حسوماًAs favor from us
نعمة من عندناThe first aspect: that Allah saved them.
And the second aspect: that Allah destroyed their enemy, because the destruction of the enemy is among the blessings of Allah. So the blessing of Allah upon the family of Lut was by their salvation and the destruction of their enemy.
Thus do We reward whoever is grateful
كذلك نجزي من شكر(28) Have you not considered those who exchanged the favor of Allah for disbelief and settled their people [in] the home of ruin? (29) [It is] Hell, which they will [enter to] burn, and wretched is the settlement.
ألم تر إلى الذين بدّلوا نعمت الله كفراً وأحلُّوا قومهم دار البوار * جهنّم يصلونها وبئس القرارAnd We certainly warned them of Our severe punishment
ولقد أنذرهم بطتشتناSo they disputed regarding the warnings
فتماروا بالنّذرAnd they had demanded from him his guests
ولقد راودوه عن ضيفناWhether Jibril struck them with his wing or otherwise, Allah knows best. It is only upon us to believe that Allah the Exalted blinded their eyes until they could not see.
Taste My punishment and warning."
فذوقوا عذابي ونذر[It will be said], "Taste! Indeed, you are the honored, the noble!
ذق إنّك أنت العزيز الكريمTaste My punishment and warning." (38) And there came upon them by morning an abiding punishment. (39) So taste My punishment and warning.
فذوقوا عذابي ونذر * ولقد صبَّحهم بكرة عذاب مستقرّ * فذوقوا عذابي ونذر(39) So taste My punishment and warning. (40) And We have certainly made the Qur'an easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember?
فذوقوا عذابي ونذر * ولقد يسّرنا القرآن للذّكر فهل من مدّكرFrom the lesson in this verse:
That these people, whose fitrah and nature Allah had inverted, Allah inverted the buildings upon them by striking them with stones of Sijjil. So the buildings collapsed until their top became their bottom. And it is said: that Allah the Exalted inverted their homes and uprooted them from their foundations until He raised them and then inverted them. If this is correct, then Allah is capable of all things. And if it is not correct, then it is not upon us except to take the apparent meaning of the Qur'an that they were rained upon with stones of Sijjil and the buildings collapsed upon them.
The knowledge taken from that is that the sodomite is killed in all cases, the active and the passive. And this is the stronger position: that sodomy requires killing in all cases, and it is not like zina, where zina distinguishes between the married and the unmarried. As for sodomy, killing is required in all cases, as long as the active and the passive are adults and of sound mind, then it is obligatory to kill them in all cases, except the coerced, for the coerced has nothing upon him. The Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "The Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, agreed upon killing the active and the passive", except that they differed in how they are killed. So some of them said:
They are killed by stoning with stones until they die.
And some of them said: They are killed by being thrown from the highest place in the city and followed by stones.
And Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, burned the sodomite with fire, and likewise Khalid ibn al-Walid, and one of the Caliphs of the Banu Umayyah burned them with fire for the magnitude of their crime, may Allah protect us. And because this indecency, if it spreads among a people, their men become women, and one of them pursues the males of men until they commit the indecency with him, may Allah protect us. And the conditions were inverted, and the lineage was lost, meaning: that people turn to males and leave the women who are the harvest for men. And guarding against it is difficult, because it is not possible to find two and say: how did this person accompany this one, for example. But if we find a man and a woman, it is possible to guard against them. Therefore, the cure for the society from this ugly, abominous act is: that the active and the passive are killed. And there came a hadith from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that he said:
Whomever you find doing the actions of the people of Lut then kill the one doing it, and the one it is done to.
مَن وجدتموه يعمل عمل قوم لوط فاقتلوا الفاعل والمفعول بهThen Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said:
And We have certainly made the Qur'an easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember?
ولقد يسّرنا القرآن للذّكر فهل من مدّكرso is there any who will remember?
فهل من مدكّرThen He, Mighty and Majestic, said:
(41) And there certainly came to the people of Pharaoh warning. (42) They denied Our signs, all of them,
ولقد جاء آل فرعون النّذر * كذّبوا بآياتنا كلّهاAnd now it is the turn of questions, and we start with the right, and each person has one question, except the citizens, for they have no right; the right is for the guests until they are finished.