إِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ ٱلرِّجَالَ شَهْوَةً مِّن دُونِ ٱلنِّسَآءِ ۚ بَلْ أَنتُمْ قَوْمٌ مُّسْرِفُونَ 81
Translations
Indeed, you approach men with desire, instead of women. Rather, you are a transgressing people."
Transliteration
Innakum lata'tunnar-rijala shahwatan min doonin-nisaa. Bal antum qawmun musrifoon.
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah condemns the practice of homosexuality, describing it as an excessive and unnatural desire that deviates from the natural inclination toward women. Classical scholars like Ibn Kathir and Al-Tabari interpret this as addressing the people of Lot (Lut), emphasizing that such behavior constitutes a grave transgression of divine boundaries and represents a society that has exceeded all limits in depravity and moral corruption.
Revelation Context
This ayah appears within the narrative of Surah Al-A'raf concerning the people of Prophet Lot, who were destroyed for their rejection of divine guidance and immoral practices. The broader context discusses various communities that violated Allah's boundaries, with the story of Lot's people serving as a major example of divine punishment for moral transgression.
Related Hadiths
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: 'Whoever you find committing the act of the people of Lot, execute the one who does it and the one to whom it is done' (Jami' at-Tirmidhi). Additionally, in Sahih Bukhari, the Prophet warned against the spread of immorality in communities, linking it to divine punishment.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah teaches that straying from Allah's natural design and moral boundaries leads to spiritual ruin and divine punishment; it reinforces the importance of adhering to Islamic ethics and recognizing that excessive desires contrary to divine law represent a state of profound moral disorder requiring repentance and reform.
Related Ayahs
يَأْتُوكَ بِكُلِّ سَـٰحِرٍ عَلِيمٍ
Who will bring you every learned magician."
ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّخَذُوا۟ دِينَهُمْ لَهْوًا وَلَعِبًا وَغَرَّتْهُمُ ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَا ۚ فَٱلْيَوْمَ نَنسَىٰهُمْ كَمَا نَسُوا۟ لِقَآءَ يَوْمِهِمْ هَـٰذَا وَمَا كَانُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِنَا يَجْحَدُونَ
Who took their religion as distraction and amusement and whom the worldly life deluded." So today We will forget them just as they forgot the meeting of this Day of theirs and for having rejected Our verses.
وَنَزَعْنَا مَا فِى صُدُورِهِم مِّنْ غِلٍّ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهِمُ ٱلْأَنْهَـٰرُ ۖ وَقَالُوا۟ ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى هَدَىٰنَا لِهَـٰذَا وَمَا كُنَّا لِنَهْتَدِىَ لَوْلَآ أَنْ هَدَىٰنَا ٱللَّهُ ۖ لَقَدْ جَآءَتْ رُسُلُ رَبِّنَا بِٱلْحَقِّ ۖ وَنُودُوٓا۟ أَن تِلْكُمُ ٱلْجَنَّةُ أُورِثْتُمُوهَا بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
And We will have removed whatever is within their breasts of resentment, [while] flowing beneath them are rivers. And they will say, "Praise to Allāh, who has guided us to this; and we would never have been guided if Allāh had not guided us. Certainly the messengers of our Lord had come with the truth." And they will be called, "This is Paradise, which you have been made to inherit for what you used to do."
وَلَمَّا وَقَعَ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلرِّجْزُ قَالُوا۟ يَـٰمُوسَى ٱدْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ بِمَا عَهِدَ عِندَكَ ۖ لَئِن كَشَفْتَ عَنَّا ٱلرِّجْزَ لَنُؤْمِنَنَّ لَكَ وَلَنُرْسِلَنَّ مَعَكَ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ
And when the punishment descended upon them, they said, "O Moses, invoke for us your Lord by what He has promised you. If you [can] remove the punishment from us, we will surely believe you, and we will send with you the Children of Israel."