Ala-Maududi
(26:173) and We sent upon them a rain, an evil rain that fell on those who had been
warned.[114]
114. This was not a rain of water but a rain of stones. According to the details given at other
places in the Quran, when Prophet Lot (peace be upon him) had left the place along with the
people of his household in the last hours of the night, there occurred a terrible explosion at
dawn and a violent earthquake, which turned all their habitations upside down and rained on them
stones of baked clay as a result of a volcanic eruption and a strong blast of wind.
Below we give a resume of the Biblical account and of ancient Greek and Latin writings and modern
geological researches and archaeological observations about the torment and the place where it
occurred:
The hundreds of ruins found in the waste and uninhabited land lying to the south and east of the
Dead Sea indicate that this must have been a prosperous and thickly populated area in the past.
The archaeologists have estimated that the age of prosperity of this land lasted between 2300
and 1900 B.C. According to historians, Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) lived about 2000 B.C.
Thus the archaeological evidence confirms that this land was destroyed in the time of Prophet
Abraham (peace be upon him) and his nephew Prophet Lot (peace be upon him).
The most populous and fertile part of the area was the vale of Siddim as mentioned in the Bible:
And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered
everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like
the land of Egypt (Gen. 13: 10). The present day scholars are of the opinion that valley is now
under the Dead Sea and this opinion is supported by firm archaeological evidence. In the ancient
times, the Dead Sea did not so much extend to the south as it does today. Opposite and to the
west of the present Jordanian city of Al-Karak, there is a small peninsula called Al-Lisan. This
was the end of the sea in ancient days. The area to the south of it, which is now under sea
water was a fertile valley, the vale of Siddim, in which were situated Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah,
Zeboim, Zoar, the famous cities of the people of Lot. In about 2000 B.C. this valley sank as a
result of a violent earthquake and was submerged in sea water. Even today this is the most
shallow part of the Sea. In the Roman period it was more so and was fordable from Al-Lisan to
the western coast. One can still see submerged jungles along the southern coast and there might
as well be submerged buildings.
According to the Bible and the ancient Greek and Latin writings, the region abounded in pits of
petroleum and asphalt and at places inflammable gas also existed. It appears from the geological
observations that with the violent earthquake shocks, petroleum, gases and asphalt were thrown
up and ignited, and the whole region exploded like a bomb. The Bible says that when Prophet
Abraham (peace be upon him) got the news and went from Hebron to see the affected valley, he saw
that the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. (Gen. 19: 28).