Sodom, before Allah sent rain of brimstones to destroy it, was a city on the western shore of the Dead Sea. Prophet Lut, Alayhi Salam (AS), who was Prophet Ibrahim’s nephew, was the prophet sent to Sodom. Lut (AS) was raised by his uncle, Prophet Ibrahim (AS) and was chosen by Allah as a prophet with a message for the people of Sodom. Its residents waylaid, robbed and killed travellers and merchants who visited the city for trade. Sodom became notorious for all forms of vices and crimes. The worst was that men had sex with men instead of women. Allah states in Qur’an 7:81 “For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women; Ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds.” This unnatural behaviour was later named after the city of Sodom, and became known as sodomy; making them the first to practice this shameful act of sexual aberration.
From a recent court judgement that sentenced a 61-year-old Muhamamd Musa Danzuga to life imprisonment by Justice Musa Ubale of the Jigawa State High Court, it would seem that the 21st century Sodom is now here in Nigeria. Danzuga was found guilty of sodomizing a 13-year-old boy. Before Danzuga was jailed, three other young men received similar sentences from the same court presided over by the same Justice Justice Musa Ubale for the same crime. Justice Ubale should be commended for applying necessary provisions of the law to deter others. Sodomy is punishable by death in 11 of the 63 countries that have laws criminalizing homosexuality.
It was at the height of widespread immoralities in Sodom that Allah directed Prophet Lut (AS) to ask his people to give up their indecent behavior. Unlike other prophets such as Prophets Salih (AS) and Shuaib (AS) who were sent to their own people, Lut (AS) was not from Sodom even though he looked upon the people as his brethren; just as a man of God would have done. When Lut (AS) preached to his people to change from their evil ways, they threatened to drive him out of Sodom if he kept preaching to them. They were awfully hesitant to his call as if, by calling them to purity, he (Prophet Lut) was the sinner. Because Satan made their actions and thought appear good to them, not many of his people believed in his call except members of his family which did not include his wife (by name Wa’ilah). They said to Lut (AS) as Qur’an 26:167 reveals, “If you cease not, O Lut! Verily, you will be one of those who are driven out.”
Two angels in the shape of handsome young men came to Lut (AS) in the evening and became his guests by night. The residents of Sodom thought Prophet Lut’s guests were ordinary men, and in their lust for the unnatural crime of homosexuality, attempted to invade Lut’s house but were repelled. In the effort to correct their indecent way of life, Lut (AS) as told in Qur’an 15: 71 offered them his daughters (in marriage) but they rejected his offer. The next morning, Lut’s guests (the angels) warned Lut (AS) to escape with his family. Allah states in Qur’an 11:81 “The (Messengers) said ‘O Lut! We are messengers from the Lord. By no means shall they reach thee! Now, travel with thy family while yet a part of the night remains, and let not any of you look back but thy wife (will remain behind). To her will happen what happens to the people…”
When Allah’s decree to destroy the city struck, the city was turned upside down with rain of brimstones, which according to Qur’an 11:82, were as hard as baked-clay; spread layer upon layer. This was how the city of Sodom along with its entire population was erased from the face of this planet due to their unrepentant transgression. Being the wife of a righteous man of God isn’t enough to save an unrighteous woman from the wrath of Allah when it is time for the creator of the heavens and earth to pass His judgement. While Prophet Lut (AS) was escaping with his family, his wife looked back from behind him, and owing to her unrighteousness, was turned into a pillar of salt. She, like Prophet Nuh’s wife (Wahilah), did not believe in the message of Lut (AS). Wahilah and Wa’ilah, respectively as wives of Prophet Nuh (AS) and Prophet Lut (AS), were examples of unrighteous women married to righteous servants of Allah.
Allah in Qur’an 29:40 tells us how, in the past, nations were perished; many of them for a single crime such as happened to the Thamud people who were perished in a dreadful earthquake for killing the she-camel of Prophet Salih (AS). The people of ’Ayilah were turned into apes for defying the divine order that prohibited fishing on the Sabbath day. Pharaoh and his followers were made to drown in the red sea for arrogance. If Allah destroyed the whole population in Sodom for refusing to forsake an unnatural behaviour, today’s recklessness of the twenty-first century Nigerian in finding pleasure to indulge in the most unspeakable sins only portrays them, like other sinful men elsewhere in the world, as foolhardy sinners.
Were it not for Allah’s infinite mercy, and probably owing to the presence of His beloved servants among us, the contemporary society would have long been history. Our present society is that lived by scandalous, barbaric, and shameless persons unfit to live among humans. They indulge in incest, banditry, bloodshed, cultism, drug addiction, and hooliganism as if such were a revealed religion or civilisation. Sodomy, lesbianism, and incest have also become ‘popular’ vices of the 21st century human society. Allah’s choice, in spite of these aberrations, to allow us exist is simply a respite for us to repent. Allah states in Qur’an 16:61, “If Allah were to punish men for their wrongdoing, He would not leave on the (earth) a single living creature; but He gives them a respite for a stated term. When their term expires, they would not be able to delay (the punishment) for a single hour just as they would not be able to advance it forward (for a single hour).”
Let us take advantage of the respite granted us by Allah to repent and lead a righteous life before we regret our foolhardiness when we finally meet Allah. May Allah save us from the evils of a society engrossed in Sodomy and other abominable vices, amin.
