And He, exalted is He, says in Sūrat al-Qamar:

“The people of Lot rejected the warnings;
We unleashed upon them a storm of stones, except for the family of Lot—We delivered them at the break of dawn,
as a mercy from Us; thus do We reward those who give thanks.
He had already warned them of Our might, yet they disputed the warnings.
They even sought to violate him concerning his guests, so We blotted out their eyes. ‘Taste My punishment and My warnings!’
And early next morning an abiding punishment overtook them:
‘Taste My punishment and My warnings!’
We have indeed made the Qur’an easy to remember; is there, then, anyone who will take heed?”
(54:33–40)

We have dealt with these narratives in their proper places within the commentary on the relevant sūrahs. Allah has also mentioned Lot and his people in other passages of the Qur’an—earlier cited alongside the stories of Noah, ʿĀd, and Thamūd—but our present purpose is to bring together what befell them and the collective signs and reports concerning them. In Allah alone we seek aid.

When Lot—peace be upon him—called his people to worship Allah alone with no partner and forbade them the abominations Allah has described, they would not answer him or believe in him—not a single man. They refused to abandon what they had been forbidden; rather, they persisted in their state, unwilling to turn from their error and misguidance, and even plotted to expel their Messenger from among them.

The whole of their reply, devoid as they were of reason, was merely to say:
“Drive the family of Lot out of your town; they are people who keep themselves pure!” (27:56)

Thus they turned the height of praise into a reproach warranting expulsion, driven by nothing but stubborn defiance and obstinate hostility.

So Allah purified Lot and his household—save for his wife—and delivered them in the best of ways, while leaving their own people in their very dwellings for all time, after He had transformed that land into a foul, malodorous lake with rolling waves. In truth, for them it is a blazing fire, searing heat, and water bitterly saline.

Their only answer to his prohibition of the gravest calamity—the monstrous obscenity that no one on earth had ever committed before—was such obstinacy; hence they became an infamous example in that regard and a lesson for all who dwell upon the earth.

Moreover, they used to waylay travellers, betray companions, and in their assemblies—their meeting-places for conversation and evening entertainment—they perpetrated every form of reprehensible speech and deed. It is even said that they would noisily break wind in their gatherings without the slightest shame before those present, and might commit the very abomination itself in public, without any scruple or heed for the admonition of a preacher or the tattling of a gossip. In this and other matters they were like cattle—indeed, even further astray. They did not desist from their present deeds, nor regret what had passed, nor contemplate any change for the future; so Allah seized them with a grievous seizure.

They said to him, among other things:
“Bring us Allah’s punishment if you are one of the truthful.” (29:29)
Thus they demanded that he bring upon them the very torment he had warned them of—the painful chastisement and the mighty calamity. At that point