The Qur'an as the Criterion · The Prophets Restored
Lot and his daughters
Handle with care. Handle with care: state the biblical passage briefly and without detail, especially in mixed company or where children can hear.
In short
- 1.The Bible: on two consecutive nights the daughters make their father drunk and lie with him (Gen 19:32-36).
- 2.The Qur'an: Lut is a messenger, delivered with his family, and named among the righteous (Q 26:160-170, 21:74-75).
- 3.The passage in Genesis exists to explain the origin of the Moabites and Ammonites.
The claim being examined
Genesis 19:30-38 ends the account of Lot with his two daughters getting him drunk and conceiving children by him.
The Islamic position
The Qur'an calls Lut, peace be upon him, a messenger of God, one of the righteous, saved along with his family except his wife — and carries nothing of that ending.
Analysis
Genesis 19:30-38 is an aetiological passage — its function in the text is to explain where two neighbouring peoples, Moab and Ammon, came from, and the explanation is incest by a drunken prophet. Even within biblical scholarship this is widely read as a polemic against those nations rather than sober history. The Qur'an narrates the destruction of Lut's people at length — in Q 7, 11, 15, 26, 27, 29 and 54 — and consistently presents Lut as a messenger who warned his people, was mocked, and was delivered at dawn along with his household, except his wife who was among those who stayed behind. Q 21:74-75 states directly that God gave him judgement and knowledge, saved him from the town that practised wicked deeds, and admitted him into His mercy among the righteous. Nothing in the Qur'anic corpus attributes drunkenness or incest to him, and Islam prohibits both absolutely. Here the difference is not a detail of chronology. It is the difference between a prophet who ends his story delivered by God and a prophet who ends it degraded in a cave.
Side by side
| The Bible | Genesis 19:30-38 | Lot's daughters make him drunk on two nights and conceive children by him; the passage explains the origin of the Moabites and Ammonites. |
|---|---|---|
| The Qur'an | 21:74-75; 26:161-170 | Lut is a trustworthy messenger who warns his people, is given judgement and knowledge, is delivered from the town, and is admitted into God's mercy among the righteous. |
From the Qur'an
وَلُوطًا آتَيْنَاهُ حُكْمًا وَعِلْمًا وَنَجَّيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْقَرْيَةِ الَّتِي كَانَت تَّعْمَلُ الْخَبَائِثَ وَأَدْخَلْنَاهُ فِي رَحْمَتِنَا إِنَّهُ مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ
And to Lot We gave judgement and knowledge, and We saved him from the town that practised wicked deeds. Indeed he was of the righteous.
إِذْ قَالَ لَهُمْ أَخُوهُمْ لُوطٌ أَلَا تَتَّقُونَ إِنِّي لَكُمْ رَسُولٌ أَمِينٌ
When their brother Lot said to them: will you not fear God? Indeed I am a trustworthy messenger to you.
From the Bible
Hebrew
Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father. So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father.
Read it in their BibleSources
Qur'an 21:74-75; 26:160-175 · Genesis 19:30-38 · Qur'an 21:74-75; Genesis 19:30-38
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