How Did Allah Destroy the People of Lut?
كيف أهلك الله قوم لوط عليه السلام؟
Allah Almighty sent down angels to tell Lut that they would destroy the people in his land, but asked him to take his family and the believers and leave the town, and they were not to look back, except for his wife, who would be doomed as she was not a believer. Then Allah destroyed the town and turned it upside down, and He Almighty sent down rain of stones of hardened clay and destroyed them. Each stone had the name of the person it was going to hit. “We poured upon them a rain of brimstone. See what was the end of the wicked!” (Surah Al-A’raf 7:84). “The angels said, ‘O Lot, indeed we are messengers of your Lord, therefore they will never reach you. So set out with your family during a portion of the night, and let not any among you look back, except your wife, indeed she will be struck by that which strikes them. Indeed, their appointment is for the morning. Is not the morning near?'” (Surah Hud 11:81). “So the mighty blast overtook them at sunrise. And We turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah upside down and rained upon them stones of baked clay” (Surah Al-Hijr 15:73-74).
جاءت رسل من رب العالمين فدخلوا على لوط عليه السلام، وأخبروه أن الله سيدمّر القوم، وطلبوا منه أن يخرج مع المؤمنين، وألّا يلتفتوا إلى الوراء، وقالوا له إن امرأته ستُدمَّر مع باقي القوم لأنها كانت غير مؤمنة. وقد دمر الله تعالى القرية كلها بأن جعل عاليها سافلها، أي انقلبت رأسا على عقب، وأرسل عليهم حجارة من سجيل، أي طين متحجر، معلَّمة بعلامة: على كل حجر اسم من يُقذف به. قال الله تعالى: وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهِم مَّطَرًا ۖ فَانظُرْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُجْرِمِينَ ﴿٨٤﴾ (سورة الأعراف: 84)، وقال تعالى: قَالُوا يَا لُوطُ إِنَّا رُسُلُ رَبِّكَ لَن يَصِلُوا إِلَيْكَ ۖ فَأَسْرِ بِأَهْلِكَ بِقِطْعٍ مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ وَلَا يَلْتَفِتْ مِنكُمْ أَحَدٌ إِلَّا امْرَأَتَكَ ۖ إِنَّهُ مُصِيبُهَا مَا أَصَابَهُمْ ۚ إِنَّ مَوْعِدَهُمُ الصُّبْحُ ۚ أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ ﴿٨١﴾ (سورة هود: 81)، وقال تعالى: فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ الصَّيْحَةُ مُشْرِقِينَ ﴿٧٣﴾ فَجَعَلْنَا عَالِيَهَا سَافِلَهَا وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ حِجَارَةً مِّن سِجِّيلٍ ﴿٧٤﴾ (سورة الحجر: 73-74).
1. Overturned Towns and a Rain of Stones | قلبُ القرى وإمطار الحجارة
The destruction combined two distinct forms of devastation: the towns being physically inverted, “We turned it upside down,” and a rain of stones striking from above.
جمع الله في إهلاكهم بين نوعين من العذاب: قلب قراهم، كما قال تعالى: (فَجَعَلْنَا عَالِيَهَا سَافِلَهَا) (الحجر 15: 74)، وحجارة أُمطرت عليهم من فوقهم.
2. Stones Marked With Names | حجارةٌ مُعلَّمة بالأسماء
The detail reported in some tafsir accounts that each stone carried the name of the person it would strike removes any sense of random or indiscriminate destruction. In these reports, the punishment is a precisely targeted judgment against specific individuals for specific deeds, not a natural disaster that happened to coincide with their wrongdoing.
وما ورد في بعض روايات التفسير من أن كل حجر كان يحمل اسم من يصيبه ينفي عن هذا العذاب كل معنى للعشوائية. فالعقوبة في هذه الروايات حكمٌ يصيب أفرادًا بأعيانهم جزاءً على أعمال بعينها، لا كارثة طبيعية صادفت معصيتهم.
3. A Narrow Escape Timed to the Hour | نجاةٌ في موعد محدد
Surah Hud gives Lut and his household a specific window, to leave in the night before an appointed morning, a timeline precise enough that the angels could tell him, “Their appointed time is the morning. Is the morning not near?” (11:81).
وجعل الله للوط وأهله وقتًا محددًا للخروج: أن يخرجوا ليلًا قبل صبح موعود، وقد بيّنت له الملائكة موعد العذاب بقولها: (إِنَّ مَوْعِدَهُمُ الصُّبْحُ ۚ أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ) (هود 11: 81).
Frequently Asked Questions | الأسئلة الشائعة
How did Allah destroy the people of Lut?
He turned their towns upside down and rained down stones of hardened clay on them.
Were the stones aimed randomly?
No, according to some tafsir reports, each stone was marked in advance with the name of the specific person it would strike.
When did Lut and the believers escape?
During the night, on Allah’s instruction, before the punishment struck at sunrise the next morning.