The Destruction of the Homosexuals of Lut

Describing the horrible destruction that befell the homosexuals from the people of Lut, Ibn Kathir narrates:

“…And when the Sun rose, the punishment descended upon them.

Allah Said: {“So when Our Commandment came, We turned them upside down, and rained on them stones of sijjil mandud (piled up, baked clay); marked from your Lord, and it is not far from the wrong-doers.”} [Hud; 82-83] They (the People of the Book) say that Jibril uprooted their dwellings by plucking them with the edge of his wing, and they were seven cities filled with people in total. They say that they were 400 people total, and it is said that they were 400,000 along with their animals and the surrounding cities and areas and dwellings. So, he lifted all of this until it was piled up to the level of the clouds, to the point that the Angels could hear the sounds of their roosters and the howling of their dogs. He then flipped all of this over, causing what was on the bottom to be on top and vice versa.

The Scholars’ Love for Baghdad

“…Yunus bin ‘Abd al-A’la as-Sadfi said that ash-Shafi’i said to him: “Have you ever seen Baghdad?” He replied: “No.” So, ash-Shafi’i said: “Then you have not seen the world.”

ash-Shafi’i also said: “I never entered a land except that I considered myself a visitor except Baghdad, for whenever I enter it, I consider it my home.”

Some of them said: “The whole world is wilderness, and Baghdad is civilized.”

Ibn ‘Alyah said: “I never saw anyone more intelligent in studying Hadith than the people of Baghdad, or anyone as friendly as they are.”

Ibn Mujahid said: “I saw Abu ‘Amr bin al-’Ala’ in a dream, and asked him: “What did Allah do with you?” He replied: “Enough of this. Whoever remains in Baghdad and is from Ahl as-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah and died will be moved from one paradise to another.”

Abu Bakr bin ‘Ayyash said: “Islam is in Baghdad, and it is like a hunter that hunts men, and whoever has not seen it has not seen the world.”