Aida Masuri Mustafa بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us that He has created us upon fitrah.
“So set your face towards the Religion (of pure Islamic Monotheism) Hanif (i.e. worship none but Allah Alone); Allah's Fitrah with which He has created mankind. Let there be no change in this creation of Allah — that is the straight religion, but most men know not.” [Surah Ar-Room 30 : 30]
In regard to this ayah, Rasulullah salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said: “No child is born, but upon fitrah.” [Sahih Muslim 2658d]
Our natural, pure state is to have this fitrah, among which is to have the tendency towards believing in the Oneness of Allah (Tawheed), and to be able to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong without having anyone teaching us. It’s pre-built inside of us, and it is one of the ayaat (signs) of the existence of Al-Khaaliq (The Creator).
All fitrah leads to goodness and to what is pure. With fitrah, we know that men and women are different.
“And the male is not like the female.” [Surah Ali Imran 3 : 36]
With fitrah, we know that men and women are naturally attracted to their opposite gender.
“He is the One Who created you from a single soul, then from it made its spouse, so he may find comfort in her.” [Surah Al-A’raf 7 : 189]
With fitrah, we have a sense of hayaa’ (shyness, modesty, shame).
“So they both (Prophet Adam and Hawa) ate from the tree, and then their nakedness was exposed to them, prompting them to cover themselves with leaves from Paradise.” [Surah Ta-Ha 20 : 121]
But this fitrah can change.
“And indeed, I (shaytan) will order them (mankind) to change the nature created by Allah.” [Surah An-Nisa’ 4 : 119]
Until a man becomes a woman, and a woman becomes a man.
Until men and women tie their knots with the same gender.
Until hayaa’ is termed as oppressive and regressive.
Until the level of modernization is gauged by how little clothing people wear.
One thing about history is that it often repeats itself. When we read the Qur’an, we learn that what is happening today has happened in the times of Prophet Lut ‘alayhis-salaam. In fact, his people were the first to commit that grave sin.
“And ˹remember˺ when Lut rebuked ˹the men of˺ his people: You certainly commit Al-Faahishah (the worst sin) that no man has ever done before you. Do you really lust after ˹other˺ men, abuse the travellers, and practice immorality ˹openly˺ in your gatherings?
His people’s only response was to say ˹mockingly˺: Bring Allah’s punishment upon us, if what you say is true!” [Surah Al-Ankabut 29 : 28-29]
How did this particular Al-Faahishah come about, when nothing similar to it ever happened before? Because shaytan is patient in his scheming. His waswas (whisper) often begins with something small, benign, and harmless, but continues to grow in severity, until that sin eventually becomes normal and ordinary in the eyes of society. The ones who speak against it are condemned and humiliated instead.
“And (remember) Lut when he said to his people: Do you commit Al-Faahishah while you see (one another doing evil without any screen)? Do you practise your lusts on men instead of women? Nay, but you are a people who behave senselessly!
There was no other answer given by his people except that they said: Drive out the family of Lut from your city. Verily, these are people who want to be clean and pure!” [Surah An-Naml 27 : 54-56]
Prophet Lut’s ‘alayhis-salaam crime in society's eyes was because he wanted them to return to the correct fitrah, and this was offensive to his people. What is haqq (true) was now seen as strange and baatil (false).
And so, because his people twisted their fitrah, they were thus punished in a similar manner. The Dead Sea is a living witness to the collapse of a nation that put things upside down.
“Thus As-Saihah (torment, awful cry) overtook them at the time of sunrise. And We turned (the towns of Sodom in Palestine) upside down, and rained down on them stones of baked clay. Surely in this are signs for those who contemplate.” [Surah Al-Hijr 15 : 73-75]
Imam Ibn Kathir rahimahullah wrote in his tafsir that Ibn 'Abbas radhi Allahu ‘anhu said: “As for the wife of Prophet Lut, she used to inform the people of the city who committed the awful sexual act (Al-Faahishah), whenever a guest was entertained by her husband.”
While the wife of Prophet Lut ‘alayhis-salaam didn’t directly participate in the evil action, she advocated it, encouraged it, supported it, promoted it, facilitated a way for them to act on their desires — and thus she was one of them. This is why Allah says:
“Allah sets forth an example for those who disbelieve, the wife of Nuh and the wife of Lut. They were under two of our righteous servants, but they both betrayed them (their husbands) So they (Prophets Nuh and Lut) availed them (their respective wives) not against Allah, and it was said: Enter the Fire along with those who enter!” [Surah At-Tahrim 66 : 10]
And so, I remind myself and then others: Let us not be mesmerised by what people term as progressive and modernity if they go against the fitrah and path of Allah. Regardless of the number of supporters and followers a person may have, remember that we will all one day stand alone before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and we will be held accountable for every single action that we did, and every single thing that we advocate. Don’t sell our eternal happiness in the akhirah for the measly price of this temporary, fading dunya.
We ask Allah ta'ala to make us believers who are upon the correct fitrah, of modesty and purity, who do not turn their desires into false gods. May Allah guide us, and protect us from anything that deters us from His Straight Path.
“Islam began as something strange, and it will return to being strange (meaning, only a small number of believers will adhere to its teachings), so give glad tidings to the strangers (i.e. the ones who truly adhere to the Deen).”
Your sister in Deen,
Aida Msr
