Lūṭ (AS)

Lot, known in Arabic as Lūṭ, is recognized in Islam as a prophet and messenger of Allah who was sent to guide the people of Sodom and the surrounding towns. He was closely related to Abraham (Ibrāhīm AS), and Islamic tradition commonly identifies him as his nephew. The Qurʾān portrays Lūṭ (AS) as a righteous prophet who called his people to monotheism, moral purity, and obedience to Allah.

The people to whom Lūṭ (AS) was sent were notorious for corruption, injustice, and sexual immorality. The Qurʾān repeatedly states that they committed acts “not practiced by anyone before them among the worlds” (Q. 7:80). Lūṭ (AS) warned them against their sinful behavior and urged them to repent, but they rejected his message and mocked him. According to the Qurʾānic narrative, Allah sent angels in the form of men to Lūṭ (AS). When the people attempted to approach the guests with evil intentions, the angels informed Lūṭ (AS) that divine punishment was imminent and instructed him to leave the city with the believers during the night.

The Qurʾān describes the destruction of the people of Lūṭ (AS) as a severe punishment involving an overturning of the land and a rain of stones from the sky. Lūṭ (AS) and the believers were saved, while his wife perished with the disbelievers because she sympathized with the sinful people and betrayed the prophetic mission. Muslim exegetes regard the account as a lesson concerning divine justice, moral accountability, and the consequences of persistent rebellion against Allah.

The story of Lūṭ (AS) appears frequently in the Qurʾān and is often linked with the stories of earlier prophets who warned their nations against disbelief and immorality. Classical tafsīr works discuss the historical setting of Sodom and Gomorrah, generally associating them with the region near the Dead Sea. Islamic scholarship emphasizes Lūṭ’s steadfastness, patience, and unwavering commitment to conveying Allah’s message despite hostility and rejection.

The Qurʾān frequently refers to events connected with Madīnah and the Muslim community established there. Numerous verses revealed during the Madinan period addressed matters of law, worship, warfare, communal relations, ethics, and governance. The Qurʾān also praises the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār, stating: “And the first forerunners among the Emigrants and the Helpers and those who followed them with excellence—Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him” (Qurʾān 9:100). Another verse refers to the migration to Madīnah and the establishment of the Muslim community: “Those who believed and emigrated and strove in the cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives are greater in rank before Allah” (Qurʾān 9:20).

The Sunnah al-Nabawiyyah further emphasizes the sacred and blessed status of Madīnah. In Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ described Madīnah as a sacred sanctuary (ḥaram) and prayed for blessings upon it and its inhabitants. He declared: “O Allah, make Madīnah beloved to us as You made Makkah beloved to us, or even more so” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ḥadīth no. 1889; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, ḥadīth no. 1376). Another narration states: “Madīnah is a sanctuary between its two lava plains” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ḥadīth no. 1867). The Prophet ﷺ also praised patience during hardship in Madīnah and emphasized the spiritual merit of residing in the city.

Madīnah occupies a central place in sīrah literature because it was there that Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ established the first organized Muslim society after the hijrah. Upon his arrival, he constructed al-Masjid al-Nabawī, which became the religious, educational, and political center of the Muslim community. The Prophet ﷺ also established brotherhood between the muhājirūn and the anṣār and formulated agreements regulating relations among Muslims, Jews, and other tribal groups of the city. Major events of the Madinan period, including the battles of Badr, Uḥud, al-Khandaq, and the Treaty of Ḥudaybiyyah, shaped the development of the Islamic state and community.

Classical Muslim historians and sīrah scholars such as Ibn Isḥāq, Ibn Hishām, al-Ṭabarī, and Ibn Kathīr devoted extensive attention to Madīnah because it served as the center of the Prophet’s ﷺ mission during the final ten years of his life. Islamic legal, social, and political institutions developed significantly during this period, and a large portion of Qurʾānic revelation was revealed there.

Madīnah is also the burial place of Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, whose tomb is located within al-Masjid al-Nabawī alongside the graves of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq and ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb. Throughout Islamic history, the city remained a major center of scholarship, devotion, and pilgrimage. In Islamic spirituality and sīrah tradition, Madīnah symbolizes the establishment of the Muslim Ummah, the implementation of Qurʾānic guidance, and the enduring legacy of Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ.

## References

1 Al-Qurʾān, 9:20, 100. 2 Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī , ḥadīth nos. 1867, 1889. 3 Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, n.d.), ḥadīth no. 1376. 4 Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, Sīrat Rasūl Allāh, ed. Muṣṭafā al-Saqqā, Ibrāhīm al-Abyārī, and ʿAbd al-Ḥafīẓ Shalabī (Cairo: Maktabah Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, 1955). 5 ʿAbd al-Malik Ibn Hishām, Al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah, ed. Muṣṭafā al-Saqqā, Ibrāhīm al-Abyārī, and ʿAbd al-Ḥafīẓ Shalabī (Cairo: Maktabah Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, 1955). 6 Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-Rusul wa al-Mulūk (Cairo: Dār al-Maʿārif, 1960). 7 Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar Ibn Kathīr, Al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1985). 8 W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad at Medina (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956). 9 Muḥammad Ilyās ʿAbdul Ghanī, Pictorial History of Madinah Munawwarah, trans. Umar Abdul Rasheed Geloo (Lahore: Al-Rasheed Printers, 2004). 10 Shaykh Ṣafī al-Raḥmān Mubārakpuri, History of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, trans. Nāṣiruddīn al-Khaṭṭāb (Riyadh: Darussalam, 2004). 11 Harry Munt, The Holy City of Madina: Sacred Space in Early Islamic Arabia (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014). 12 Iftikhār Aḥmad Qādrī, Ziyārāt Madīnah Munawwarah: Madīnah Munawwarah kī Mutabarrak o Taʾrīkhī Maqāmāt [Urdu] (Rawalpindi: Ashraf Book Agency, 2008). 13 Muḥammad Ṭāhir-ul-Qādrī, Shahr-i Madīnah aur Ziyārat-i Rasūl ﷺ (Khaṣāʾiṣ-o Faḍāʾil) [Urdu] (Lahore: Minhāj al-Qurʾān Publications, 2005).