excerpt from Shaykh Mubashar Ahmad Rabbani’s book Ahkām wa Masā’il – In the Light of the Qur’an and Sunnah, strictly following your guidelines.
In our society, the act of the people of Lūṭ is widespread. In such a situation, a group is spreading the claim that the narrations concerning the prescribed punishment (ḥadd) for the doer and the one upon whom it is done are weak. Kindly clarify this issue, and explain what the ruling is for the active partner and the consenting passive partner in this matter.
The act of the people of Lūṭ is so heinous and filthy that no amount of condemnation is sufficient. Allah Almighty has declared this act to be obscenity (faḥishah). Allah the Exalted says:
﴿وَلُوطًا إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِ أَتَأْتُونَ الْفَاحِشَةَ وَأَنْتُمْ تُبْصِرُونَ﴾
[al-Naml: 54]
“And [remember] Lūṭ, when he said to his people: Do you commit an obscenity while you see?”
And at another place He says:
﴿وَلُوطًا إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِ إِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ الْفَاحِشَةَ مَا سَبَقَكُم بِهَا مِنْ أَحَدٍ مِّنَ الْعَالَمِينَ﴾
[al-ʿAnkabūt: 28]
“And [remember] Lūṭ, when he said to his people: Indeed, you commit such an obscenity as none among the worlds has preceded you in.”
From these verses it becomes clear that this act is based upon obscenity and immorality.
Its punishment has been reported in authentic ḥadīth as execution. A firmly established narration from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما states that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
من وجدتموه يعمل عمل قوم لوط فاقتلوا الفاعل والمفعول به
“Whomever you find committing the act of the people of Lūṭ, then kill both the one who does it and the one to whom it is done.”
This ḥadīth has been declared authentic by Imām al-Ḥākim, Imām al-Dhahabī, Imām Ibn al-Jārūd, Imām al-Ḍiyāʾ al-Maqdisī, Imām Ibn al-Qayyim, ʿAllāmah al-Suyūṭī, ʿAllāmah al-Albānī, and ʿAllāmah Abū Isḥāq al-Ḥuwaynī, among others.
Some people have raised criticism regarding ʿAmr ibn Abī ʿAmr in its chain, but Imām al-Dhahabī رحمه الله states:
حديثه صالح حسن منحط عن الرتبة العليا من الصحيح
“His ḥadīth is sound and ḥasan, though below the highest level of ṣaḥīḥ.”
Ibn Ḥajar رحمه الله states:
ثقة ربما وهم
“Reliable, though he sometimes errs.”
Dr. Bashshār ʿAwwād, commenting on Ibn Ḥajar, writes:
بل صدوق حسن الحديث، فقد وثقه أبو زرعة والبجلي واحتج به البخاري ومسلم فى صحيحيهما وقال أبو حاتم وأحمد وابن عدي لا بأس به
“Rather, he is truthful and ḥasan al-ḥadīth. Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī and al-Bujlī declared him reliable, and al-Bukhārī and Muslim relied upon him in their Ṣaḥīḥ collections. Abū Ḥātim, Aḥmad, and Ibn ʿAdī said: there is no harm in him.”
In summary, according to the majority of the imams of ḥadīth, Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿAmr is ḥasan al-ḥadīth, and thus this narration is a decisive proof. It also has supporting narrations, such as:
◈ The narration of Dāwūd ibn al-Ḥuṣayn, reported by Ibn Mājah, al-Dāraqutnī, al-Bayhaqī, and Musnad Aḥmad.
◈ The narration of ʿAbbād ibn Manṣūr, reported by Musnad Aḥmad, al-Ḥākim, al-Bayhaqī, and Ibn ʿAsākir.
It also has corroborating evidence, such as the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه, reported by Abū Yaʿlā:
من وقع على بهيمة فاقتلوه واقتلوها معه
“Whoever commits intercourse with an animal, kill him and kill the animal with him.”
ʿAllāmah al-Haythamī رحمه الله said:
فيه محمد بن عمرو بن علقمة وحديثه حسن وبقية رجاله ثقات
“Its chain contains Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAlqamah, whose ḥadīth is ḥasan, and the remaining narrators are trustworthy.”
ʿAllāmah al-Suyūṭī has mentioned further supporting evidences, detailed in al-Ḥāwī lil-Fatāwī.
Sayyid Badīʿ al-Dīn Shāh Rāshidī discussed this issue extensively in al-Qandīl al-Mushʿal.
Ibn Abī Shaybah reported in al-Muṣannaf, Kitāb al-Ḥudūd (6/395) that when ʿUthmān رضي الله عنه was besieged, he said to the people:
أما علمتم أنه لا يحل دم امرئ مسلم إلا بإحدى أربع، رجل عمل عمل قوم لوط
“Do you not know that the blood of a Muslim is not lawful except in four cases, one of them being a man who commits the act of the people of Lūṭ?”
ʿAllāmah al-Suyūṭī stated that its chain is authentic.
Likewise, Ibn Abī Shaybah and al-Haytham ibn Khalaf al-Dūrī reported with an authentic chain:
سئل ابن عباس ما حد اللوطي؟ قال: ينظر أعلى بناء فى القرية فيرمى به منكوسا ثم يتبع بالحجارة
“Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما was asked about the punishment of the one who commits sodomy. He said: He should be taken to the highest building in the town, thrown down headfirst, and then stoned.”
Imām Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله writes:
وقال ابن القصار وشيخنا أجمعت الصحابة على قتله وإنما اختلفوا فى كيفية قتله
“Ibn al-Qaṣṣār and our Shaykh (Ibn Taymiyyah) stated that the Companions unanimously agreed on killing the one who commits sodomy; they only differed regarding the method of execution.”
Thus, the punishment for committing this heinous act is execution, and there is consensus among the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ on this ruling.
Question:
In our society, the act of the people of Lūṭ is widespread. In such a situation, a group is spreading the claim that the narrations concerning the prescribed punishment (ḥadd) for the doer and the one upon whom it is done are weak. Kindly clarify this issue, and explain what the ruling is for the active partner and the consenting passive partner in this matter.
Answer:
The act of the people of Lūṭ is so heinous and filthy that no amount of condemnation is sufficient. Allah Almighty has declared this act to be obscenity (faḥishah). Allah the Exalted says:
﴿وَلُوطًا إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِ أَتَأْتُونَ الْفَاحِشَةَ وَأَنْتُمْ تُبْصِرُونَ﴾
[al-Naml: 54]
“And [remember] Lūṭ, when he said to his people: Do you commit an obscenity while you see?”
And at another place He says:
﴿وَلُوطًا إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِ إِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ الْفَاحِشَةَ مَا سَبَقَكُم بِهَا مِنْ أَحَدٍ مِّنَ الْعَالَمِينَ﴾
[al-ʿAnkabūt: 28]
“And [remember] Lūṭ, when he said to his people: Indeed, you commit such an obscenity as none among the worlds has preceded you in.”
From these verses it becomes clear that this act is based upon obscenity and immorality.
Its punishment has been reported in authentic ḥadīth as execution. A firmly established narration from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما states that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
من وجدتموه يعمل عمل قوم لوط فاقتلوا الفاعل والمفعول به
Reference: al-Muntaqā li Ibn al-Jārūd: 860
Reference: Abū Dāwūd, Kitāb al-Ḥudūd, Bāb: Whoever commits the act of the people of Lūṭ: 4462
Reference: al-Tirmidhī: 1456
Reference: Ibn Mājah: 1561
Reference: Musnad Aḥmad: 1/300
Reference: al-Dāraqutnī: 3/122
Reference: al-Mustadrak: 4/355
Reference: al-Bayhaqī: 8/232
Reference: Zād al-Maʿād: 5/40
Reference: al-Ṭabarānī al-Kabīr: 11/169, ḥadīth 11527
Reference: Sharḥ al-Sunnah: 10/308
Reference: al-Ḥāwī lil-Fatāwī: 2/110
Reference: Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl: 2350
“Whomever you find committing the act of the people of Lūṭ, then kill both the one who does it and the one to whom it is done.”
This ḥadīth has been declared authentic by Imām al-Ḥākim, Imām al-Dhahabī, Imām Ibn al-Jārūd, Imām al-Ḍiyāʾ al-Maqdisī, Imām Ibn al-Qayyim, ʿAllāmah al-Suyūṭī, ʿAllāmah al-Albānī, and ʿAllāmah Abū Isḥāq al-Ḥuwaynī, among others.
Some people have raised criticism regarding ʿAmr ibn Abī ʿAmr in its chain, but Imām al-Dhahabī رحمه الله states:
حديثه صالح حسن منحط عن الرتبة العليا من الصحيح
Reference: Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl: 3/282; Tahdhīb: 4/269
“His ḥadīth is sound and ḥasan, though below the highest level of ṣaḥīḥ.”
Ibn Ḥajar رحمه الله states:
ثقة ربما وهم
“Reliable, though he sometimes errs.”
Reference: Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb
Dr. Bashshār ʿAwwād, commenting on Ibn Ḥajar, writes:
بل صدوق حسن الحديث، فقد وثقه أبو زرعة والبجلي واحتج به البخاري ومسلم فى صحيحيهما وقال أبو حاتم وأحمد وابن عدي لا بأس به
Reference: Taḥrīr Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb: 3/102
“Rather, he is truthful and ḥasan al-ḥadīth. Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī and al-Bujlī declared him reliable, and al-Bukhārī and Muslim relied upon him in their Ṣaḥīḥ collections. Abū Ḥātim, Aḥmad, and Ibn ʿAdī said: there is no harm in him.”
In summary, according to the majority of the imams of ḥadīth, Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿAmr is ḥasan al-ḥadīth, and thus this narration is a decisive proof. It also has supporting narrations, such as:
◈ The narration of Dāwūd ibn al-Ḥuṣayn, reported by Ibn Mājah, al-Dāraqutnī, al-Bayhaqī, and Musnad Aḥmad.
◈ The narration of ʿAbbād ibn Manṣūr, reported by Musnad Aḥmad, al-Ḥākim, al-Bayhaqī, and Ibn ʿAsākir.
It also has corroborating evidence, such as the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه, reported by Abū Yaʿlā:
من وقع على بهيمة فاقتلوه واقتلوها معه
Reference: Abū Yaʿlā: 5987
“Whoever commits intercourse with an animal, kill him and kill the animal with him.”
ʿAllāmah al-Haythamī رحمه الله said:
فيه محمد بن عمرو بن علقمة وحديثه حسن وبقية رجاله ثقات
Reference: Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid: 6/273 (old), 6/421 (new)
“Its chain contains Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAlqamah, whose ḥadīth is ḥasan, and the remaining narrators are trustworthy.”
ʿAllāmah al-Suyūṭī has mentioned further supporting evidences, detailed in al-Ḥāwī lil-Fatāwī.
Sayyid Badīʿ al-Dīn Shāh Rāshidī discussed this issue extensively in al-Qandīl al-Mushʿal.
Ibn Abī Shaybah reported in al-Muṣannaf, Kitāb al-Ḥudūd (6/395) that when ʿUthmān رضي الله عنه was besieged, he said to the people:
أما علمتم أنه لا يحل دم امرئ مسلم إلا بإحدى أربع، رجل عمل عمل قوم لوط
“Do you not know that the blood of a Muslim is not lawful except in four cases, one of them being a man who commits the act of the people of Lūṭ?”
ʿAllāmah al-Suyūṭī stated that its chain is authentic.
Likewise, Ibn Abī Shaybah and al-Haytham ibn Khalaf al-Dūrī reported with an authentic chain:
سئل ابن عباس ما حد اللوطي؟ قال: ينظر أعلى بناء فى القرية فيرمى به منكوسا ثم يتبع بالحجارة
“Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما was asked about the punishment of the one who commits sodomy. He said: He should be taken to the highest building in the town, thrown down headfirst, and then stoned.”
Imām Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله writes:
وقال ابن القصار وشيخنا أجمعت الصحابة على قتله وإنما اختلفوا فى كيفية قتله
Reference: Zād al-Maʿād: 5/40
“Ibn al-Qaṣṣār and our Shaykh (Ibn Taymiyyah) stated that the Companions unanimously agreed on killing the one who commits sodomy; they only differed regarding the method of execution.”
Conclusion:
Thus, the punishment for committing this heinous act is execution, and there is consensus among the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ on this ruling.
