26:166 Ash-Shu'araa (The Poets)

قال لهم وقالوا كما قال من قبلهم, تشابهت قلوبهم في الكفر, فتشابهت أقوالهم، وكانوا - مع شركهم - يأتون فاحشة لم يسبقهم إليها أحد من العالمين، يختارون نكاح الذكران, المستقذر الخبيث, ويرغبون عما خلق لهم من أزواجهم لإسرافهم وعدوانهم فلم يزل ينهاهم حتى قَالُوا له لَئِنْ لَمْ تَنْتَهِ يَا لُوطُ لَتَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُخْرَجِينَ أي: من البلد، فلما رأى استمرارهم عليه قَالَ إِنِّي لِعَمَلِكُمْ مِنَ الْقَالِينَ أي: المبغضين له الناهين عنه، المحذرين.

لما نهاهم نبي الله عن ارتكاب الفواحش وغشيانهم الذكور وأرشدهم إلى إتيان نسائهم اللاتي خلقهن الله لهم ما كان جوابهم له.

Lut's Denunciation of His People's Deeds, Their Response and Their Punishment

The Prophet of Allah forbade them from committing evil deeds and intercourse with males, and he taught them that they should have intercourse with their wives whom Allah had created for them. Their response was only to say:

لَئِن لَّمْ تَنتَهِ يلُوطُ

(If you cease not, O Lut,) meaning, `if you do not give up what you have brought,'

لَتَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُخْرَجِينَ

(verily, you will be one of those who are driven out!) meaning, `we will expel you from among us.' This is like the Ayah,

فَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِ إِلاَّ أَن قَالُواْ أَخْرِجُواْ ءَالَ لُوطٍ مِّن قَرْيَتِكُمْ إِنَّهمْ أُنَاسٌ يَتَطَهَّرُونَ

(There was no other answer given by his people except that they said: "Drive out the family of Lut from your city. Verily, these are men who want to be clean and pure!") (27:56). When he saw that they would not give up their ways, and that they were persisting in their misguidance, he declared his innocence of them, saying:

إِنِّى لِعَمَلِكُمْ مِّنَ الْقَـلِينَ

(I am, indeed, of those who disapprove with severe anger and fury) `Of those who are outraged, I do not like it and I do not accept it, and I have nothing to do with you. ' Then he prayed to Allah against them and said:

رَبِّ نَّجِنِى وَأَهْلِى مِمَّا يَعْمَلُونَ

(My Lord! Save me and my family from what they do.) Allah says:

فَنَجَّيْنَـهُ وَأَهْلَهُ أَجْمَعِينَ - إِلاَّ عَجُوزاً فِى الْغَـبِرِينَ

(So, We saved him and his family, all. Except an old woman among those who remained behind.) This was his wife, who was a bad old woman. She stayed behind and was destroyed with whoever else was left. This is similar to what Allah says about them in Surat Al-A`raf and Surah Hud, and in Surat Al-Hijr, where Allah commanded him to take his family at night, except for his wife, and not to turn around when they heard the Sayhah as it came upon his people. So they patiently obeyed the command of Allah and persevered, and Allah sent upon the people a punishment which struck them all, and rained upon them stones of baked clay, piled up. Allah says:

ثُمَّ دَمَّرْنَا الاٌّخَرِينَ وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ مَّطَرًا

(Then afterward We destroyed the others. And We rained on them a rain) until Allah's saying;

وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ

(And verily, your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful. )

كَذَّبَ أَصْحَـبُ لْـَيْكَةِ الْمُرْسَلِينَ - إِذْ قَالَ لَهُمْ شُعَيْبٌ أَلاَ تَتَّقُونَ إِنِّى لَكُمْ رَسُولٌ أَمِينٌ

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.

Commentary

Unnatural act is unlawful even with one's own wife

وَتَذَرُ‌ونَ مَا خَلَقَ لَكُمْ رَ‌بُّكُم مِّنْ أَزْوَاجِكُم

And leave what your Lord has created for you, that is, your wives? - 26:166

In the phrase مِّنْ أَزْوَاجِكُم the word مِّنْ (min) Min could be descriptive (which is translated above as 'that is1) if taken in the technical sense, which would mean that in order to satisfy your lust you go after the homosexual men instead of your wives, whom Allah has given you to meet your natural urge. This is indeed a proof of malignity. The other possibility is that the letter 'Min' is used to mean 'from' or 'out of; then the meaning of the verse would be that it is a special part in the body of your wives which is created for the satisfaction of your natural urge. But you indulge in unnatural act with them, which is totally unlawful. Thus according to this second interpretation, it has also been made clear that it is not permitted to have unnatural intercourse with one's wife. In a hadith Holy Prophet ﷺ has cast curse on such a person. نَعُذ باللہ منۃ (Ruh al-Ma’ ani).