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
وَلَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ لَهُمْ نَصْرًا وَلَآ أَنفُسَهُمْ يَنصُرُونَ
And they [i.e., the false deities] are unable to [give] them help, nor can they help themselves.
۞ وَوَٰعَدْنَا مُوسَىٰ ثَلَـٰثِينَ لَيْلَةً وَأَتْمَمْنَـٰهَا بِعَشْرٍ فَتَمَّ مِيقَـٰتُ رَبِّهِۦٓ أَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً ۚ وَقَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِأَخِيهِ هَـٰرُونَ ٱخْلُفْنِى فِى قَوْمِى وَأَصْلِحْ وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ سَبِيلَ ٱلْمُفْسِدِينَ
And We made an appointment with Moses for thirty nights and perfected them by [the addition of] ten; so the term of his Lord was completed as forty nights. And Moses said to his brother Aaron, "Take my place among my people, do right [by them], and do not follow the way of the corrupters."
وَكَم مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَـٰهَا فَجَآءَهَا بَأْسُنَا بَيَـٰتًا أَوْ هُمْ قَآئِلُونَ
And how many cities have We destroyed, and Our punishment came to them at night or while they were sleeping at noon.
وَلَمَّا رَجَعَ مُوسَىٰٓ إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِۦ غَضْبَـٰنَ أَسِفًا قَالَ بِئْسَمَا خَلَفْتُمُونِى مِنۢ بَعْدِىٓ ۖ أَعَجِلْتُمْ أَمْرَ رَبِّكُمْ ۖ وَأَلْقَى ٱلْأَلْوَاحَ وَأَخَذَ بِرَأْسِ أَخِيهِ يَجُرُّهُۥٓ إِلَيْهِ ۚ قَالَ ٱبْنَ أُمَّ إِنَّ ٱلْقَوْمَ ٱسْتَضْعَفُونِى وَكَادُوا۟ يَقْتُلُونَنِى فَلَا تُشْمِتْ بِىَ ٱلْأَعْدَآءَ وَلَا تَجْعَلْنِى مَعَ ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ
And when Moses returned to his people, angry and grieved, he said, "How wretched is that by which you have replaced me after [my departure]. Were you impatient over the matter of your Lord?" And he threw down the tablets and seized his brother by [the hair of] his head, pulling him toward him. [Aaron] said, "O son of my mother, indeed the people overpowered me and were about to kill me, so let not the enemies rejoice over me and do not place me among the wrongdoing people."