Death Penalty for Both Active and Passive Partners in the Act of the People of Lūṭ
By: Imrān Ayyūb Lāhorī
❖ Principle
Whoever commits the indecent act of the people of Lūṭ (homosexual intercourse), whether the active or the passive partner, is to be executed, even if unmarried. If the passive partner was consenting, he too is executed.
❖ Evidences
➊ Ibn ʿAbbās (RA):
The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:
“Man wajadtumūhu yaʿmalu ʿamala qawmi Lūṭ faq’tulū al-fāʿil wa al-mafʿūl bih.”
“Whomever you find doing the deed of the people of Lūṭ, kill the doer and the one with whom it is done.”
[Ḥasan Ṣaḥīḥ: Abū Dāwūd: 3745, 4462; Musnad Aḥmad: 1/300; Ibn Mājah: 2561; al-Tirmidhī: 1456; al-Ḥākim: 4/355; al-Bayhaqī: 8/232; Irwā’ al-Ghalīl: 2350]
➋ Abū Hurayrah (RA):
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“Uqtulū al-fāʿil wa al-mafʿūl bih, aḥṣanā aw lam yuḥṣanā.”
“Kill both the active and passive partners, whether they are married or unmarried.”
[Ḥasan: Ibn Mājah: 2076, 2562; al-Ḥākim: 4/355]
❖ Opinions of the Scholars
- Abū Bakr & ʿAlī (RA): Kill with the sword, then burn.
- ʿUmar & ʿUthmān (RA): Collapse a wall upon him.
- Ibn ʿAbbās (RA): Throw from a high building of the town.
- al-Shāfiʿī, Abū Yūsuf, Muḥammad (رحمهم الله): His punishment is like that of a fornicator.
- Mālik & Aḥmad (رحمهما الله): Stone him to death, whether married or unmarried.
- Abū Ḥanīfah (رحمه الله): No fixed ḥadd; only discretionary punishment (taʿzīr) such as lashes.
[Nayl al-Awṭār: 4/567; al-Targhīb wa al-Tarhīb: 3/289; Sharḥ al-Sunnah al-Baghawī: 10/309; Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī: 4/847; al-Umm: 7/163; al-Mughnī: 12/350]
❖ Rājiḥ View
The strongest opinion is that any punishment should be given which serves as a deterrent to rebels and sinners, resembling the punishment Allāh inflicted upon the people of Lūṭ—they were buried under the earth and showered with stones.
[Nayl al-Awṭār: 4/568]
