The Qur'an and the rigorously authenticated hadith checked for this record do not establish Lūṭ's birth date or birthplace. His life is placed in the Abrahamic setting because Q 29:26 states that Lūṭ believed Abraham and Q 21:71 says that Allah delivered Abraham and Lūṭ toward a blessed land. Classical Muslim genealogy commonly identifies him as Lūṭ ibn Hārān ibn Āzar and therefore Abraham's nephew; Ibn Kathīr reports this lineage while commenting on Q 29:26. Because that detail is transmitted through later genealogy rather than stated explicitly in the Qur'an, it should not be used to manufacture a precise birth chronology or birthplace.
Prophet Lot (Lut)
PER-000369
Prophet
Confirmed
Attributed place
Cross-tradition historical
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Prophet Lūṭ (Lot) is one of the messengers named repeatedly in the Qur'an. He is described as a recipient of judgement and knowledge, a righteous servant admitted into divine mercy, and a messenger who called his people to fear Allah and obey the prophetic warning without seeking worldly payment (Q 21:74-75; 26:160-164; 37:133). The Qur'an also places him within Abraham's story: Lūṭ believed Abraham, and both were delivered toward a land described as blessed for the worlds (Q 29:26; 21:71). His mission centered on confronting a society accused of grave fāḥishah, men approaching men with desire instead of women, obstruction of the road, and public wrongdoing. His people rejected his call and threatened the expulsion of him and his household.
The final Qur'anic episodes describe angelic messengers arriving at Lūṭ after their encounter with Abraham. Lūṭ is distressed for his guests because of his people's conduct, and the crisis culminates in the angels revealing their identity and ordering him to leave by night. Lūṭ and the believing members of his household are rescued, while his wife is excluded from that deliverance and the wrongdoers are destroyed (Q 11:77-83; 15:57-75; 29:31-35; 51:31-37; 54:33-39). Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3372 and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 151a preserve the Prophet Muḥammad's prayer for mercy upon Lūṭ in connection with his wish for a 'strong support' in Q 11:80. The secure outline of Lūṭ's life therefore comes above all from the Qur'an and sound hadith; details about his exact genealogy, biological children, dates, city identification, and burial belong to later or disputed traditions and must remain qualified.
The Qur'an clearly establishes that Lūṭ survived the destruction of the condemned settlement: he and the believing members of his household were rescued, while his wife was excluded from that deliverance (Q 7:83; 11:81; 29:32-33; 37:134-135). What happened at the end of his later life is not described with comparable precision. The Qur'an and the rigorously authenticated hadith checked here do not provide his death date, age at death, cause of death, or place of death. Those details therefore remain historically unknown rather than being reconstructed from later devotional, Biblical, or regional chronology.
Location type: Burial place unknown. The Qur'an and rigorously authenticated hadith do not authenticate a burial place for Lūṭ. A long-standing Muslim heritage tradition associates Prophet Lūṭ with the Maqam and Mosque of Prophet Lot at Bani Naʿim, east of Hebron. The State of Palestine's UNESCO Tentative List records the complex as a place revered as Lūṭ's resting place and refers to a tomb or cenotaph within the mosque. This confirms the existence and importance of the attribution, but it does not establish the historical identity of the buried remains. A separate official Jordanian heritage tradition associates Lot's Cave near Ghor al-Safi or Zoar with the place where Lūṭ is believed to have taken refuge after the destruction. That is a refuge tradition rather than an independently authenticated grave claim. Since neither tradition establishes burial through the Qur'an or ṣaḥīḥ hadith, no exact burial location can be asserted as historical proof.
Biography and historical profile
Lūṭ appears in the Qur'an as a prophet whose standing does not depend on later legend. He is named among divinely favoured figures in Q 6:86 and is explicitly called one of the messengers in Q 37:133. In Sūrat al-Shuʿarāʾ he addresses his people as a trustworthy messenger, calls them to fear Allah and obey him, and makes clear that he asks them for no payment (Q 26:160-164). Q 21:74-75 adds that Allah granted him judgement and knowledge, rescued him from a town whose people practised corrupt deeds, admitted him into divine mercy, and counted him among the righteous.
The Qur'an first connects Lūṭ with Abraham through faith and migration rather than through an explicit statement of blood relationship. Q 29:26 says that Lūṭ believed Abraham, while Q 21:71 says that Allah delivered Abraham and Lūṭ to a land blessed for the worlds. Classical Muslim genealogy commonly identifies Lūṭ as Abraham's nephew. Ibn Kathīr, commenting on Q 29:26, reports that he was Lūṭ ibn Hārān ibn Āzar, the son of Abraham's brother, and describes him as travelling with Abraham toward the Levant before being sent to the people of the Sodom region. That genealogy is an important part of classical Muslim memory, but it remains source-attributed because the Qur'an itself does not state the nephew relationship.
Lūṭ's prophetic mission is narrated in several sūrahs with a consistent moral core. Q 7:80-81 and Q 27:54-55 condemn his people's fāḥishah and their approaching men with desire instead of women. Q 29:28-29 adds the accusations of obstructing the road and committing munkar in their gatherings. These passages present Lūṭ not merely as a witness to social corruption but as a messenger who openly challenges it and summons his people to obedience to Allah.
His preaching meets organized rejection. Q 7:82 and Q 27:56 report that his people propose driving Lūṭ's household out because they are people who keep themselves pure, while Q 26:167 records a direct threat to expel Lūṭ himself. The recurring Qur'anic pattern is therefore one of warning followed by ridicule, social pressure, and refusal to reform. The narrative emphasizes that the conflict is not private disagreement but resistance to a prophetic demand for moral change.
The crisis reaches its height when angelic messengers come to Lūṭ after first appearing in the Abraham narrative. The messengers announce that they are proceeding against the wrongdoing settlement, and when Abraham points out that Lūṭ is there they affirm that they know whom they will save (Q 29:31-32). When they arrive at Lūṭ, he becomes distressed and feels constrained because he fears what his people may attempt against his guests (Q 11:77; 29:33).
His people then rush toward his house. Lūṭ appeals to them to fear Allah and points to the lawful alternative expressed in the words 'these are my daughters' (Q 11:78; 15:71). Those words became an important question in classical tafsīr. Al-Ṭabarī and Ibn Kathīr strongly transmit the interpretation that he was referring to the women of his community, while al-Qurṭubī also records reports that understand the phrase as referring to biological daughters. Because the exegetical record is divided, the verse cannot safely be turned into a definite list or count of Lūṭ's children.
At the most desperate point of the encounter, Lūṭ says that he wishes he had power against the mob or could take refuge in a strong support (Q 11:80). The angels then reveal themselves and assure him that his attackers will not be able to reach him. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3372 and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 151a preserve the Prophet Muḥammad's prayer for mercy upon Lūṭ in connection with this statement about a strong support, giving the episode a direct place in rigorously authenticated Prophetic commentary.
Lūṭ is instructed to leave with his household during the night. Across multiple Qur'anic passages, the same central outcome is repeated: Lūṭ and the believing members of his household are saved, while his wife is among those who remain behind and share the fate of the condemned people (Q 7:83; 11:81; 15:59-60; 27:57; 29:32-33; 37:134-135). The repetition across different sūrahs makes rescue and separation within the household one of the most firmly established elements of his story.
The punishment of the wrongdoers is described through several overlapping images. The Qur'an speaks of the settlement being overturned and struck with marked stones of baked or clay material (Q 11:82-83; 15:73-74; 51:32-34), of a destructive rain (Q 7:84; 26:173; 27:58), and in Q 54:34-38 of a storm of stones, the rescue of Lūṭ's family before dawn, the blinding or obliteration of the assailants' eyes, and a punishment that comes upon them in the morning. Q 51:35-37 says that only one household of Muslims was found there and that a sign was left for those who fear a painful punishment. Q 37:137-138 addresses its audience as people who pass by the remains morning and night.
Lūṭ's wife is treated separately in the Qur'an as a moral and theological example. Q 66:10 places her alongside the wife of Noah to demonstrate that marriage to a righteous servant does not benefit a person who rejects faith. Al-Ṭabarī and Ibn Kathīr transmit exegetical reports explaining her betrayal as religious disloyalty and, in some reports, informing the townspeople about Lūṭ's guests. The Qur'an does not provide her personal name, and the varying names found in later traditions are not secure enough to present as established biography.
The secure sources do not provide an exact birth date, birthplace, age, death date, cause of death, or authenticated grave for Lūṭ. Later Muslim, Biblical, regional, and devotional traditions offer fuller genealogies and sacred-geography identifications, but these cannot be placed on the same evidentiary level as the Qur'an or sound hadith. A major Palestinian heritage tradition associates the Maqam and Mosque of Prophet Lot at Bani Naʿim near Hebron with his resting place or cenotaph, while an official Jordanian tradition associates Lot's Cave near Ghor al-Safi or Zoar with his refuge after the destruction. These sites are important evidence for later remembrance and pilgrimage, not proof of an authenticated burial.
Lūṭ's lasting importance in Islam therefore rests chiefly on the Qur'an's repeated presentation of him as a righteous messenger who warned his people, protected the sanctity of his guests, endured rejection, and was delivered by Allah before judgement fell on the wrongdoers. His story also preserves a sharp lesson about individual responsibility: belonging to a prophet's household does not itself guarantee salvation. The result is a biography whose central events are unusually well anchored in revelation even though many ordinary biographical details—dates, complete family genealogy, and burial place—remain beyond secure historical recovery.
The Qur'an first connects Lūṭ with Abraham through faith and migration rather than through an explicit statement of blood relationship. Q 29:26 says that Lūṭ believed Abraham, while Q 21:71 says that Allah delivered Abraham and Lūṭ to a land blessed for the worlds. Classical Muslim genealogy commonly identifies Lūṭ as Abraham's nephew. Ibn Kathīr, commenting on Q 29:26, reports that he was Lūṭ ibn Hārān ibn Āzar, the son of Abraham's brother, and describes him as travelling with Abraham toward the Levant before being sent to the people of the Sodom region. That genealogy is an important part of classical Muslim memory, but it remains source-attributed because the Qur'an itself does not state the nephew relationship.
Lūṭ's prophetic mission is narrated in several sūrahs with a consistent moral core. Q 7:80-81 and Q 27:54-55 condemn his people's fāḥishah and their approaching men with desire instead of women. Q 29:28-29 adds the accusations of obstructing the road and committing munkar in their gatherings. These passages present Lūṭ not merely as a witness to social corruption but as a messenger who openly challenges it and summons his people to obedience to Allah.
His preaching meets organized rejection. Q 7:82 and Q 27:56 report that his people propose driving Lūṭ's household out because they are people who keep themselves pure, while Q 26:167 records a direct threat to expel Lūṭ himself. The recurring Qur'anic pattern is therefore one of warning followed by ridicule, social pressure, and refusal to reform. The narrative emphasizes that the conflict is not private disagreement but resistance to a prophetic demand for moral change.
The crisis reaches its height when angelic messengers come to Lūṭ after first appearing in the Abraham narrative. The messengers announce that they are proceeding against the wrongdoing settlement, and when Abraham points out that Lūṭ is there they affirm that they know whom they will save (Q 29:31-32). When they arrive at Lūṭ, he becomes distressed and feels constrained because he fears what his people may attempt against his guests (Q 11:77; 29:33).
His people then rush toward his house. Lūṭ appeals to them to fear Allah and points to the lawful alternative expressed in the words 'these are my daughters' (Q 11:78; 15:71). Those words became an important question in classical tafsīr. Al-Ṭabarī and Ibn Kathīr strongly transmit the interpretation that he was referring to the women of his community, while al-Qurṭubī also records reports that understand the phrase as referring to biological daughters. Because the exegetical record is divided, the verse cannot safely be turned into a definite list or count of Lūṭ's children.
At the most desperate point of the encounter, Lūṭ says that he wishes he had power against the mob or could take refuge in a strong support (Q 11:80). The angels then reveal themselves and assure him that his attackers will not be able to reach him. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3372 and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 151a preserve the Prophet Muḥammad's prayer for mercy upon Lūṭ in connection with this statement about a strong support, giving the episode a direct place in rigorously authenticated Prophetic commentary.
Lūṭ is instructed to leave with his household during the night. Across multiple Qur'anic passages, the same central outcome is repeated: Lūṭ and the believing members of his household are saved, while his wife is among those who remain behind and share the fate of the condemned people (Q 7:83; 11:81; 15:59-60; 27:57; 29:32-33; 37:134-135). The repetition across different sūrahs makes rescue and separation within the household one of the most firmly established elements of his story.
The punishment of the wrongdoers is described through several overlapping images. The Qur'an speaks of the settlement being overturned and struck with marked stones of baked or clay material (Q 11:82-83; 15:73-74; 51:32-34), of a destructive rain (Q 7:84; 26:173; 27:58), and in Q 54:34-38 of a storm of stones, the rescue of Lūṭ's family before dawn, the blinding or obliteration of the assailants' eyes, and a punishment that comes upon them in the morning. Q 51:35-37 says that only one household of Muslims was found there and that a sign was left for those who fear a painful punishment. Q 37:137-138 addresses its audience as people who pass by the remains morning and night.
Lūṭ's wife is treated separately in the Qur'an as a moral and theological example. Q 66:10 places her alongside the wife of Noah to demonstrate that marriage to a righteous servant does not benefit a person who rejects faith. Al-Ṭabarī and Ibn Kathīr transmit exegetical reports explaining her betrayal as religious disloyalty and, in some reports, informing the townspeople about Lūṭ's guests. The Qur'an does not provide her personal name, and the varying names found in later traditions are not secure enough to present as established biography.
The secure sources do not provide an exact birth date, birthplace, age, death date, cause of death, or authenticated grave for Lūṭ. Later Muslim, Biblical, regional, and devotional traditions offer fuller genealogies and sacred-geography identifications, but these cannot be placed on the same evidentiary level as the Qur'an or sound hadith. A major Palestinian heritage tradition associates the Maqam and Mosque of Prophet Lot at Bani Naʿim near Hebron with his resting place or cenotaph, while an official Jordanian tradition associates Lot's Cave near Ghor al-Safi or Zoar with his refuge after the destruction. These sites are important evidence for later remembrance and pilgrimage, not proof of an authenticated burial.
Lūṭ's lasting importance in Islam therefore rests chiefly on the Qur'an's repeated presentation of him as a righteous messenger who warned his people, protected the sanctity of his guests, endured rejection, and was delivered by Allah before judgement fell on the wrongdoers. His story also preserves a sharp lesson about individual responsibility: belonging to a prophet's household does not itself guarantee salvation. The result is a biography whose central events are unusually well anchored in revelation even though many ordinary biographical details—dates, complete family genealogy, and burial place—remain beyond secure historical recovery.
Historical importance and legacy
Lūṭ occupies an important place in Islamic sacred history because the Qur'an returns to his story in many different sūrahs rather than presenting it only once. Across those retellings he is consistently identified with prophetic warning, moral responsibility, rejection by his people, divine rescue, and judgement. His status is explicit: Q 37:133 calls him a messenger, Q 21:74-75 attributes judgement, knowledge, righteousness and divine mercy to him, and Q 26:161-164 presents him as a trustworthy messenger who seeks no payment for his call.
The narrative also became a major Qur'anic example of the limits of family privilege. Lūṭ's believing household is rescued, yet his wife is excluded and later cited in Q 66:10 as an example of disbelief despite her marriage to a righteous servant. This gives his story a theological significance beyond the destruction account itself: closeness to a prophet does not replace personal faith and obedience.
Lūṭ's story generated sustained classical exegetical discussion, especially around the nature of his people's offences, the meaning of his statement 'these are my daughters,' the conduct attributed to his wife, and his appeal for a 'strong support.' The sound hadith preserved in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim links the Prophet Muḥammad directly to reflection on that moment of Lūṭ's distress, while the differences among major mufassirūn show why some family details must remain unresolved rather than being flattened into a single later tradition.
His memory also extended into regional sacred geography, producing long-standing traditions connected with Bani Naʿim near Hebron and Lot's Cave near Ghor al-Safi or Zoar. These traditions demonstrate the enduring importance of Lūṭ in Muslim and wider regional memory, but they do not establish an authenticated grave. The strongest historical and religious portrait therefore remains the Qur'anic one: a messenger of Allah whose mission, opposition, rescue and moral legacy are repeatedly preserved in revelation.
The narrative also became a major Qur'anic example of the limits of family privilege. Lūṭ's believing household is rescued, yet his wife is excluded and later cited in Q 66:10 as an example of disbelief despite her marriage to a righteous servant. This gives his story a theological significance beyond the destruction account itself: closeness to a prophet does not replace personal faith and obedience.
Lūṭ's story generated sustained classical exegetical discussion, especially around the nature of his people's offences, the meaning of his statement 'these are my daughters,' the conduct attributed to his wife, and his appeal for a 'strong support.' The sound hadith preserved in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim links the Prophet Muḥammad directly to reflection on that moment of Lūṭ's distress, while the differences among major mufassirūn show why some family details must remain unresolved rather than being flattened into a single later tradition.
His memory also extended into regional sacred geography, producing long-standing traditions connected with Bani Naʿim near Hebron and Lot's Cave near Ghor al-Safi or Zoar. These traditions demonstrate the enduring importance of Lūṭ in Muslim and wider regional memory, but they do not establish an authenticated grave. The strongest historical and religious portrait therefore remains the Qur'anic one: a messenger of Allah whose mission, opposition, rescue and moral legacy are repeatedly preserved in revelation.
Family relationships
Sources
Qur'an | Divine revelation; online text via Quran.com | Q 6:84-90; Lūṭ named among divinely favoured/guided figures | https://legacy.quran.com/6/84-86 | prophetic standing and divine favourQur'an | Divine revelation; online text via Quran.com | Q 7:80-84 | https://legacy.quran.com/7/80-84 | mission to his people, condemnation of fāḥishah, threatened expulsion, rescue of household except wife, punishment
Qur'an | Divine revelation; online text via Quran.com | Q 11:77-83 | https://legacy.quran.com/11/77-83 | angelic guests, Lūṭ's distress, 'my daughters', strong-support statement, night departure, wife excluded, destruction
Qur'an | Divine revelation; online text via Quran.com | Q 15:57-75 | https://legacy.quran.com/15/57-75 | angels' mission, rescue of Lūṭ's family except wife, guest crisis, punishment
Qur'an | Divine revelation; online text via Quran.com | Q 21:71-75 | https://legacy.quran.com/21/70-76 | Abraham-Lūṭ migration context, judgement and knowledge, rescue, righteousness and mercy
Qur'an | Divine revelation; online text via Quran.com | Q 26:160-175 and Q 27:54-58 | https://legacy.quran.com/26/160-178 ; https://legacy.quran.com/27/54-58 | trustworthy messengership, no-payment preaching, moral rebuke, expulsion threat, rescue and punishment
Qur'an | Divine revelation; online text via Quran.com | Q 29:26-35 | https://legacy.quran.com/29/26-69 | Lūṭ believes Abraham, mission details including road obstruction/public evil, angelic announcement, rescue and sign
Qur'an | Divine revelation; online text via Quran.com | Q 37:133-138; Q 51:31-37; Q 54:33-39 | https://legacy.quran.com/37/133-139 ; https://legacy.quran.com/51/31-37 ; https://legacy.quran.com/54/33-39 | explicit messenger status, household rescue, surviving sign, destruction and warning
Qur'an | Divine revelation; online text via Quran.com | Q 66:10 | https://legacy.quran.com/66/10 | explicit existence of Lūṭ's wife and theological meaning of her disbelief
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī | Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī | Hadith 3372, Book of Prophets | https://sunnah.com/bukhari/60/46 | authenticated Prophetic comment on Lūṭ seeking a strong support
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim | Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj | Hadith 151a, Book of Faith | https://sunnah.com/muslim:151a | independent canonical transmission of the Prophetic comment on Lūṭ and the strong support
Jāmiʿ al-bayān (Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī) | Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī | Tafsīr entries on Q 11:78 and Q 66:10; pagination varies by edition | https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/tabary/sura11-aya78.html ; https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/tabary/sura66-aya10.html | early Sunni exegesis on 'my daughters' and wife's betrayal/disbelief
Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm | Ismāʿīl ibn Kathīr | Tafsīr entries on Q 29:26, Q 11:80 and Q 66:10; pagination varies by edition | https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/katheer/sura29-aya26.html ; https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/katheer/sura11-aya80.html ; https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/katheer/sura66-aya10.html | attributed genealogy/Abraham relationship, strong-support interpretation, wife traditions
Al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān (Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī) | Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Qurṭubī | Tafsīr entry on Q 11:78; pagination varies by edition | https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/qortobi/sura11-aya78.html | records competing classical interpretations of 'my daughters', showing child-count uncertainty
Ethics of the Prophets, 'The Ethos of Lot' | Mohammad Mehdi Taj Langaroodi; hosted by Al-Islam.org | thematic chapter; modern Imami-oriented compilation | https://al-islam.org/ur/ethics-prophets-mohammad-mehdi-taj-langaroodi/8-ethos-lot | Imami reception and Qur'an-based thematic treatment; not used to override primary evidence
Maqāmāt (Shrines) in Palestine | State of Palestine submission to UNESCO World Heritage Centre | Tentative List entry 6952 | https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6952/ | verifies Bani Naʿim Maqam/Mosque of Prophet Lot as a major attributed resting-place/cenotaph tradition, not historical burial proof
Lot's Cave | Jordan Tourism Board | official faith-tourism site; current institutional page | https://biblical.visitjordan.com/en/BiblicalSite/62 | verifies Ghor al-Safi/Zoar cave as a distinct refuge tradition and archaeological pilgrimage site, not a tomb claim
Lot and His Offer: 2016 IQSA Presidential Address | Farid Esack, Journal of the International Qur'anic Studies Association | Vol. 2 (2017), published 2019 online; DOI page | https://lockwoodonlinejournals.com/index.php/jiqsa/article/view/299 | modern academic evidence for the continuing interpretive importance and debate around the Lūṭ narrative; reception history only
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