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What does the Arabic term liwat have to do with Lot?
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Sodom and Gomorrah
Landscape with the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, oil on wood by Joachim Patinir, c. 1520; in the collection of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
The Arabic term liwāṭ is etymologically derived from the name of the biblical and Quranic figure Lot, known in Arabic as Lūṭ.12
In Islamic interpretive traditions, this term is commonly used to refer to the act of sodomy. This linguistic connection stems from the narrative of Lot’s mission as a prophetic messenger sent to the people of Sodom. According to the Qur'ān, Lot condemned the men of Sodom for their sexual practices, specifically for lusting after men rather than women. Because Lot is the central figure who warned against these specific acts in the Islamic account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, his name became the root for the terminology used to describe such behavior in Islamic legal and moral discourse.12