Since all historians have narrated the story of the prophet Lôt going to the Mutafakât, in connection with the narrative of Ebrahim, and the propriety of this proceeding is evident to all intelligent and discerning minds, the writer of these lines, who is a gleaner from their granary, follows the same method, and says: The majority of chroniclers agree that the Mutafakât were five towns in the vicinity of the Ardan* in Syria, and a few have maintained that they were in the land of Kermân. The first opinion, however, is the most correct. The names of those places are given by historians in various ways, but the languid mind [of the modest author of this work] has fixed on the following; namely, Sodôm, A’dôm, Assoâim, Adhôma, and Zha’r. Each of these towns contained one hundred thousand warriors and more, who, according to some opinions, were idolaters, committed wicked acts, sodomy, highway robbery, and the like. It is said that the first who walked on the unaccustomed path were the inhabitants of the Mutafakât; the origin of this wickedness being that Eblis entered the garden of one of the inhabitants in human form and began to destroy it. The owner of the garden intended to catch him, but he fled, and when the man came out of the garden Eblis continued his work again, until his wicked purpose was accomplished; and the man’s efforts to get rid of him remained fruitless. One day Eblis asked him: ‘Wantest thou me to leave the garden?’ He replied: ‘What is the use of these words? I wish thou hadst never entered it.’ Eblis continued: ‘There is no advantage until thou bringest my soul under thy subjection.’ To this the owner of the garden agreed. He even considered himself under obligations, and committed the obscene act. When Eblis had departed from that garden he went to another, making his former proceeding the occasion of seduction. Thus he went successively to all the gardens, until his crime became common among the inhabitants.
It is narrated, after Ebn A’bbâs, that dearth and scarcity arose in some portions of Syria, whereon the people went to the Mutafakât, because abundant and cheap provisions were obtainable there. The inhabitants of that region were therefore so pestered by strangers that they assembled one day to consult in what way they might get rid of them. Then Eblis suddenly made his appearance in their assembly, and hinted at the wicked act which he had taught the owners of the gardens. The citizens followed his instructions, whereon all the strangers fled from the country, and it became a usage in that town to deal thus with every stranger who entered it. In course of time the ungodliness and obscenity of that town had augmented to such a degree that Lôt—u. w. b., etc.—was sent to guide the people to the true way. He took one of their females to be his wife, forbade the people to commit acts of wickedness, and, lastly, invited them to acknowledge the unity of the Lord of Glory, to accept the Law, to believe in his mission, and admonished them to keep in mind his promise and threats. He preached to them and advised them; they, however, did not believe his words or listen to his admonitions, but conspired to injure him, girded their loins of diligence to do so, and said: ‘Verily the punishment of God will fall on us, if thou be one of the righteous.’ Then Lôt once more harangued them as follows: ‘O my people, be mindful of God, w. n. b. e., and fear His displeasure, because the chastisement of the Lord—whose magnificence be glorified—will be great and excruciating!’ The people became excited at the words of Lôt, began to use insulting language, raised the standard of enmity upon their breasts, and determined in their unhallowed minds to expel and drive him away. At that time Lôt disregarded their impertinent machinations, continued to perform the duties of his mission, and, imitating the example of his august uncle Ebrahim, considered it his duty to entertain strangers. Accordingly, he always kept the door of hospitality open, until those wretches attempted to injure his guests by persecuting everyone who went to his house, and preventing him from enjoying Lôt’s kindliness. They never left the path of aberration and unrighteousness, wherefore Lôt elevated the hands of petition towards the palace of the Victorious Sovereign, saying: ‘O Lord, deliver me and my family from their wicked doings!’ The word ‘family’ here used means the daughters of Lôt and their daughters, because none except these were adorned with the nobility of religion. The Lord of Unity responded to Lôt’s prayer, and sent Jebrâil with a company of superior angels to destroy and exterminate that nation. These angelic personages were necessarily all handsome, beardless youths; they first alighted at the house of Ebrahim, brought him the glad tidings of the future birth of Esahâq—which will, if it pleaseth Allah, be narrated by-and-by—and of the deliverance of Lôt from the hypocrites.
When the great angels were proceeding from the house of the Lord Ebrahim towards the Mutafakât, they arrived near the outskirts of the town in which Lôt dwelt, where they met his daughters, with whom they entered his house. One of these ladies entered the habitation first, and apprised her father of the approach of several guests, who, she said, were the most beautiful youths she had ever seen. Afterwards the angels also came and greeted Lôt, u. w. b., etc., but when he beheld their beauteous physiognomies he was much distressed, and concluded that on this day of trial it would be necessary to conceal them from the people. Accordingly he locked the door of his house and prohibited ingress and egress into or from it to his followers, lest the news of these guests being in the house might become public. His unbelieving wife, however, watched her opportunity, and informed the rakes of the presence and of the superior beauty of the guests, in consequence whereof the chiefs of the people sent ten individuals to Lôt, who told the latter that, despite the prohibition to harbour strangers, he had just now several in his house, and that he must deliver them of his own free will, or that else they would act in conformity with the orders they had received, and would take them by force. When these ten men had delivered their message to Lôt, he replied that he would give his own daughters in marriage to the people, that they ought to fear God, and not put him to shame before these guests. Then the messengers went back and reported the answer of Lôt to the people, but they soon returned and informed him that they had no wish for his daughters, and that he was fully aware of their desires. Then Lôt told them that if they knew he could offer resistance, they would not have dared to speak words of this kind. After that two of these men wanted to carry off Jebrâil; he, however, breathed a wind upon them that struck them with blindness,* and when they returned to their people they said that the guests of Lôt were sorcerers, because they had made two of their friends blind. The people again sent persons to Lôt, with the message that he had hitherto dwelt among them in the manner he liked best, but that as he had at present brought sorcerers to his house to strike their companions with blindness, he was forthwith ordered to leave their city, or else the people would come that very night and blind him with his adherents. At these words the Lord Lôt became very sorry, and imagined that the angels might really be sorcerers. Therefore he said to them: ‘Ye are iniquitous.’ When the angels perceived that Lôt had been intimidated by the threats of the idolaters, and had manifested a bad opinion about their own selves, they informed him of the reason of their coming and their persons, stating that they were the ambassadors of the Omnipotent Nourisher, and sent to destroy this rebellious and sinful race. They likewise quieted the fears of Lôt concerning the threats of the infidels, whereon he became joyful and anxious for the extirpation of those evildoers. Jebrâil then informed him that the predestined time for their chastisement was morning, and that it was near. Lôt accordingly packed up his baggage, and departed from the town by the command of the angels and the aid of Jebrâil, in the middle of the night, with his family, which amounted to ten, and according to the tradition of Muhammad Bin Jarir Tabari, to twelve or fourteen persons. When the morning dawned they had passed out of the Mutafakât and were travelling to the abode of Ebrahim; some of them, however, hastened towards Safar, which is also called the tribe Safira, because the inhabitants of that locality had not committed wicked acts, and were therefore spared the chastisement. When the true morn dawned Jebrâil spread out his blessed wing, and, fixing his feathers in the earth, uprooted the four towns of the Mutafakât from their places, lifting them towards the sky with all their inhabitants and cattle, to such a height that the crowing of their cocks and the barking of their dogs was heard by the angels. Then he turned them all upside down according to the verse, ‘And when our mandate arrived, we turned those cities upside down.’* It is related in the ‘Jâmi’ ao’zim’ that scholars and philosophers believe sulphurous matter to have ascended from the earth, and that a heavy smoke descended from the skies. These two substances having met in mid-air and filled it, the atmosphere began to move like the waves of the ocean, enveloped the country with its inhabitants, and a general conflagration ensued, which burnt everything. The earth also quaked so that everything fell to pieces, and praised be He who made this chastisement an example to the beholders!
Let it not be hidden to the minds of the noble and the perfect, which are world-embracing mirrors, that whatever has been recorded in these pages concerning the arrival of the angels in the house of Lôt, and the coming of messengers from the people, was written according to the tradition of Muhammad Bin Jarir Tabari and Hâfez Abru. But in some histories, the statements of which are here quoted separately, it is recorded that when Jebrâil arrived at the Mutafakât, they met Lôt outside the city in a field, and saluted him. Lôt thought them to be men, and spent a day with them; but when the evening set in and the stay of the angels had become protracted, he would not invite them to his house on account of his wicked fellow-townsmen, who had prohibited him to entertain strangers. He was sorry for the circumstance, and interrogated the angels whether they had any knowledge of those evil-doers, and of the degree of wickedness they had reached; he also told the celestial messengers that, in his opinion, nowhere more depraved people than these were in existence. Hereon Jebrâil said to the angels: ‘This is the first wickedness of which we have heard about these people.’ Lôt put their minds at ease, they walked together, and when they arrived at the gate of the town, he repeated his former declaration, and Jebrâil said, ‘This is the second.’ When they reached the door of Lôt’s house he again uttered the same words, and Jebrâil said, ‘This is the third.’ Lôt then entered the house, told his wife to prepare a repast, and not to inform anyone of the presence of the guests, whom he had brought to the house by way of hospitality. That woman, however, left the house secretly and gave the news to the people, at the same time describing the persons and qualities of the guests. The infidel fornicators then went to Lôt’s dwelling, the porch of which became full of them. When Lôt saw this he sent Jebrâil into the house and stood himself at the door to keep off the intruders. Some have related that Lôt had twelve daughters, whom he offered in his confusion to the infidels, invited them to marry the girls, and to let go the strangers. They, however, replied: ‘Thou knowest verily that we want not thy daughters; and thou art aware of what we want.’* At last the people prevailed and entered that part of the house in which Jebrâil was, and intended to drag him out; but he breathed a wind upon them, which immediately struck them with blindness. Hereon the infidels accused the angels of sorcery, and threatened Lôt, but departed from his house. Lôt was so frightened by the menaces of the people, that he likewise imagined the angels to be sorcerers; but when they beheld his terror they reassured him, saying: ‘Fear not; we are the messengers of thy Lord. They shall not injure thee.’ The angels also informed him of what was to come, whereat he was highly rejoiced. When a portion of the night had elapsed, Jebrâil seated Lôt with his adherents on his own wings, and conveyed them out of the city towards the town of Safar, but the people of Lôt were annihilated by the act of Jebrâil, as has been already described.
It is related in all chronicles and histories, as well as confirmed by the word of God in the Qurân, that when Lôt departed from the ungodly people, Jebrâil enjoined him that during the journey no one was to cast a glance towards the Mutafakât, as God had said: ‘Walk away with thy family during a part of the night, and let none of you look about, except thy wife, for the same thing will happen to her which will happen to them. Indeed, their punishment is for the morning. Is not the morning near?’* Lôt and his followers acted according to the mandate, travelled, and looked not about like his wife, who cast every now and then a glance to the rear at the Mutafakât, on account of the amity and kinship that subsisted between her and the infidels and their religion. When she was thus wistfully looking back to see what would take place with the people, a burning rock struck her head, and she went the same way with her clansmen, all of whom, either travelling just then or engaged abroad in some business, met the same fate and were despatched to hell. Allah—whose name be blessed—has said: ‘And we rained upon them stones of baked clay, one following another, and being marked from the Lord; and they are not far distant from those who act unjustly.’* It is related that one of their number was in the sanctuary of Mekkah, when a stone was suddenly coming towards him, but the angels exclaimed: ‘O stone, injure him not, because in the sanctuary of the Lord he is protected from every affliction.’ That stone returned, and remained stationary in mid-air until the said obdurate individual came out from the sanctuary, when it fell on his head and killed him. Let us fly for refuge to Allah from his wrath!
According to the most correct tradition, Lôt joined the Lord Ebrahim without delay and dwelt with him. When seven years had elapsed after the destruction of the people, he was received to the propinquity of the mercy of God on Wednesday, the second day of the month Rabi’ the first. ‘We belong to Allah, and to him we return.’*