A Hadith Regarding the People of Lut and the Aims of Islamic Law

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam
Question: Is the following hadith authentic? If so, what exactly is the deed being referred to?
On the authority of Jabir, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: “Verily, what I fear most for my nation is the deed of the people of Lut.”
Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
I pray that you are in the best of health and faith, insha’Allah.
It is reported in Imam Ahmad’s Musnad and elsewhere that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Truly what I fear most for my community is the action of the people of Lut.” Shaykh Shu`ayb al-Arna’ut notes that it is a weakly transmitted report.
The Action of the People of Lut
In a sound tradition (hadith), also found in Ahmad’s Musnad, the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said [as part of a longer hadith], “May Allah curse him who does what Lut’s people did.”
Being cursed is being distanced from Divine Mercy as Nahlawi explains. [Nahlawi, al-Durar al-Mubaha fi al-Hazr wa al-Ibaha]
Their crime was homosexuality. Allah Most High said, “Must you, unlike [other] people, lust after males and abandon the wives that God has created for you? You are exceeding all bounds.” [26.165-166]
These verses were succinctly explained in Tafsir al-Jalalayn, “What! Of all people you come unto males [to fornicate], and forsake the wives your Lord has created for you?, in other words, [you forsake intimacy with] their front parts? Nay, but you are a transgressing folk’, overstepping [the bounds of] what is lawful into what is unlawful.”
The Aims of the Shari`ah
Of the most fundamental of aims (maqasid) of the Noble Shari`ah is to preserve human benefit through the preservation of life and the family, in particular.
Ibn `Ashur writes, “It has been the will of the Originator of the cosmos to ensure the survival and continuation of humankind and the different forms of life. For this purpose, He has made the law of procreation an essential aspect of their governing order. As part of that law, He has endowed mankind and species with a natural impulse propelling individuals to pursue that objective spontaneously, without external incitement or compulsion, to ensure fulfilment of that law at all times and under all circumstances. This natural impulse consists of the inner inclination of the males of each species toward its females and vice versa.” [Ibn `Ashur, Maqasid al-Shari`ah]
And thus, this is what we see the Lawgiver consistently encouraging.
Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, Ahmad and others report that a man came to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and said, “I have set my eye on a woman of lineage and beauty except that she cannot [or will not] have children. Shall I marry her?” The Prophet said no. The man came back a second time and the Prophet forbade him again. When he came back a third time the Prophet said: “Marry the loving, child-bearing woman (al-wadud al-walud) for I will boast of you before the nations.”
And Allah alone gives success.
wassalam,
Tabraze Azam
Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani