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Thursdays Quranic" was released

We start from where we left you last Friday and here are ayahs 50 to 53 of Surah Naml:

ومکروا مکْرًا ومکرْنا مکْرًا وهمْ لا یشْعرون

فانظرْ کیْف کان عاقبة مکْرهمْ أنّا دمّرْناهمْ وقوْمهمْ أجْمعین

فتلْک بیوتهمْ خاویةً بما ظلموا ۗ إنّ فی ذٰلک لآیةً لّقوْمٍ یعْلمون

وأنجیْنا الّذین آمنوا وکانوا یتّقون

“They devised a plot, and We [too] devised a plan, but they were not aware.”

“So observe how was the outcome of their plotting, as We destroyed them and all their people.”

“So there lay their houses, fallen in ruin, because of their wrongdoing. There is indeed a sign in that for a people who have knowledge.”

“And We delivered those who had faith and were Godwary.”

Last week we said that a group of 9 roguish disbelievers swore to kill Prophet Saleh. As is clear from the ayahs we recited to you now, this group of intransigence sinners hatched a plot to ambush the Prophet when he would be worshipping God Almighty in solitude in the nearby mountains, away from his family and companions. Divine Providence, however, foiled their murderous plot which backfired upon them and resulted in their own destruction. As a result of landslides, huge boulders crushed to death the plotters. God Almighty, Who is aware of all things and nothing could be concealed from Him, including the thoughts that flash across human minds, annihilated the disbelieving nation of Thamoud which had endorsed the killing of Prophet Saleh. The massive mountain rocks which they had hewn to serve as their homes could not protect from Divine Wrath, and served to this day as a sign for people of conscience. Of course, God the All Merciful ensured that the believers would be safe and delivered them from destruction because of their firm faith.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. If the faithful are firm in belief and dutifully fulfill their obligations, God will thwart the plots of the infidels and ensure their safety.
2. The fate of all sinful disbelievers is annihilation in the world and punishment in afterlife, because they waste the respite given to them by God for repentance and reform, and misuse for further mischief the opportunities and talents provided to them.
3. Monuments and relics of the past should be preserved in order to serve as lesson for the coming generations regarding the fate of the destroyed nations of the past.
4. Faith and piety brings benefits in life as well for the believers.

Now we listen to ayahs 54 and 55 of Surah Naml:

ولوطًا إذْ قال لقوْمه أتأْتون الْفاحشة وأنتمْ تبْصرون

أئنّکمْ لتأْتون الرّجال شهْوةً مّن دون النّساء ۚ بلْ أنتمْ قوْمٌ تجْهلون

“And Lot, when he said to his people: ‘What! Do you commit this indecency while you see [with your own eyes]?”

“Do you approach men with [sexual] desire instead of women?! Rather you are a senseless lot!”

Here God Almighty draws our attention to the mission of Prophet Lot to a sinful nation that indulged in the abominable sin of sodomy. The Prophet spared no efforts to awaken their conscience, telling them to leave this unnatural practice and to return to their wives in lawful and legal manner, but he was ridiculed by the majority which scoffed at his words of guidance. Just like the horribly deteriorating situation today in some of the industrially advanced countries of the West where, contrary to the teachings of the scriptures, sodomy and lesbianism have become widespread with the Godless governments passing laws to permit same-sex marriages, the people to whom Prophet Lot was sent, had similarly exceeded all bonds of decency and transgressed the laws of nature. 

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. The Prophets, Imams, Saints and even Social Reformers are duty bound to campaign against evil and abominable ways in society, so as to save them from eventual destruction.
2. God has decreed healthy and lawful sexual relations between man and woman, and has warned of the destructive consequences of sexual deviations or indulgence in such unnatural habits as sodomy and lesbianism, by citing accounts of the nations of the past that were destroyed because of such abominably sinful behaviour.

Now we listen to ayah 56 of Surah Naml:

فما کان جواب قوْمه إلّا أن قالوا أخْرجوا آل لوطٍ مّن قرْیتکمْ ۖ إنّهمْ أناسٌ یتطهّرون

“But the only answer of his people was that they said, ‘Expel Lot’s family from your town! They are indeed a puritanical lot.”

This ayah means to say that the sinful disbelievers, instead of heeding the words of guidance, accused Prophet Lot and his companions of being old-fashioned conservatives unaware of modern ways of deriving sexual and sensuous pleasures from same-sex relations. They called for expulsion of the Prophet and his followers from their land, since piety, chastity, and moral values are considered crimes and offences in societies that have lost their way and are immersed in depraved sins.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. The principles of Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil should be implemented in order to save the societies from perversion, even if it means the expulsion and exile of Godwary people.
2. Sodomy and Lesbianism can never be considered progressive patterns of sexual relations, since such practices are against the nature and constitution of mankind.