Ibn Tayyar

My argument wasn't even based on any hadiths, leave the hadiths to the side for now. I am arguing based on the linguistics of the Verse itself, it is obvious Lut (عليه السلام) was referring to sodomy - I'll explain below. So my belief is actually based on the Qur'an itself alone - linguistically, even if there were no hadiths regarding this incident. What do you mean by this? And this is where your argument fails, forgive me for being this blunt. The reason why I can't "strongman" your argument is because it fails the linguistic test. Lut (عليه السلام) wasn't creating a paradigm between two evil actions and making a point out of which one is worse (male rape vs female rape), for a very simple reason. The Verse says: You lust after men instead of women! You are certainly transgressors. [7:81] Which means he was calling them transgressors (fasiqeen) due to their actions and doings. If the Verse was comparing evil actions and sins, it wouldn't sense at all - as they would be called fasiqs either way. This would be like me saying to someone who drinks alcohol the following: You drink alcohol instead of eating haram meat! You are certainly a transgressor! But such a person would be considered a fasiq either way, even though/if drinking is a worse sin, it would be a nonsensical statement that doesn't make sense linguistically. Same way, rape of a woman is fisq even if raping of a man was to be worse (which you tried to prove). In addition to that, the following Verse makes it clear the paradigm was between good and evil, not bad and worse: Why do you lust after fellow men, leaving the wives that your Lord has created for you? In fact, you are a transgressing people [26:165-166] Not really trying to "relativize" any principle, I'm making the case that marriage between a mushrik fasiq and a believing woman was halal before Islam, and even in the early stages of Islam before the Verses that forbade it were sent down. It is, in fact, something exceptional, but something that has happened to Prophets and believing women before, so to try to question why Lut (عليه السلام) offered his daughters for marriage to evil people while such forms of marriage were already mentioned in the Qur'an is pointless.

You may think of it as far-fetched, but that is a literal tafsir and one that would make sense linguistically. The two Verses together: And ˹remember˺ when Lot scolded ˹the men of˺ his people, ˹saying,˺ “Do you commit a shameful deed that no man has ever done before? You lust after men instead of women! You are certainly transgressors.” [7:80-81] Like I said before, if it was about rape, then Lut (عليه السلام) would essentially be saying "you rape men instead of women". Nonsense. The Prophets (عليه السلام) - before our Prophet (saww), did not follow the same Shari'ah, which is why they were married to mushrik women, something which would be haram in our Shari'ah, this is in addition to the example of Asiyah (عليه السلام) who was married to Pharoah, a tyrant kafir. Lut (عليه السلام), by offering his daughters, would mean the lust of the men of his people, may Allah curse them, would be satisfied in a halal way rather than in a haram way. In essence he was inviting them to halal and this was a form of Daw'ah to purity. You may ask that; wouldn't this be unfair to his daughters? That they marry clearly fasiq, kafir and violent individuals? The answer is simple: this would be considered a form of balaa and their takleef and jihad would be to be patient, just as Asiyah (عليه السلام) was when it came to her marriage with Pharoah (la), a tyrant that ordered the stomach of babies to be cut open and eventually killed her, and just as Lut (عليه السلام) and Nuh (عليه السلام) were patient with their kafir wives that sided with the people against them. Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) tests his believers in different ways. Lut (عليه السلام) offering his daughters does not contradict any tenets of Islam.

It seems to me that you @kadhimyou are misreading the Verses completely. First of all no one claims that the people of Lut (عليه السلام) were the first people to commit homosexual acts or that they are the first homosexuals, - the claim is that they are the first to practice to sin of sodomy, and this is backed by a literal reading of the Verse and supported by hadiths from Ahlulbayt (عليه السلام), which states that Iblees (la) was the first sodomite. Secondly, as I pointed out earlier, if the crime they were committing was "rape" and not merely sodomy, then why did Lut (عليه السلام) say: You lust after men instead of women! You are certainly transgressors. [7:81] If we go by the "story was about rape" nonsensical tafsir, then Lut (عليه السلام) would essentially be saying: "You rape men instead of women! You are certainly trangressors" The fact that their preference in gender is pointed out is enough to expose the faultiness of this so-called tafsir. Thirdly, and while you seem to be fascinated as to why the Prophet Lut (عليه السلام) had offered his daughters to them, a simple reading of the hadiths of the Imams (عليه السلام) has answered this question. One which is that he offered them as a marriage, he wasn't simply offering them for zina (wal iyadhu billah) and secondly which was he was inviting them to halal. This was a form of daw'ah - an attempt to turn them away from their fisq and to stop them from harming his guests, who were actually the Angels that had visited Ibrahim (عليه السلام) earlier. There is nothing really complex about this story, the attempts at revisionism is something of a brand new conjecture, that anyone with a basic understanding of Arabic will look passed.

The argument that the Prophet (saww) and the Imams (عليه السلام) are dead and therefore cannot hear us is rejected, as the hadiths and ziyarat, aswell as the views of the classical and current scholars are in agreement when it comes to this issue. This is especially true when it comes to being in the presence of their graves. The following ziyarah for example: My father and Muĥammad ibn Ĥasan, both narrated to me from Ĥusain ibn Ĥasan ibn Abān, from Ĥusain ibn Sa’ǐd, from Faďālah ibn Ayyūb, Šafwān, and Ibn Abǐ ‘Umayr, from Mu’āwiyah ibn ‘Ammār, who said: Abū ‘Abdillāh (Imam Šādiq ((عليه السلام).)) said: Before going to Madǐnah or prior to entering it, perform a GHUSL. Then proceed to the grave of the Messenger of Allāh (s.a.a.w.) and say Salām to him. Move to the pillar which is located on the right side by the head of the grave. Stand there with your left shoulder toward the grave, your right shoulder toward the pulpit of the Prophet (s.a.a.w.), and face QIBLAH, for this is the (closest) location to the head of the Prophet (s.a.a.w.). Then recite (the following): (s.a.a.w.) I testify that there is no god but Allāh; He is alone and He has no partners, and I testify that Muĥammad (s.a.a.w.) is His slave and messenger. I testify that you are the Messenger of Allāh and you are Muĥammad, son of ‘Abdillāh. I testify that you announced the messages of your Lord, you advised your nation, you fought in the way of Allāh, and you worshipped Allāh with wisdom and by giving good counsel until that which is certain (death) came to you. You fulfilled your obligations. You were kind toward the believers and harsh toward the disbelievers. Therefore, Allāh granted you the highest honoured position of the honourable ones. Praise be to Allāh who, through you, saved us from polytheism and from going astray. O Allāh! Send Your blessings, the blessings of Your high-ranked angels, the blessings of Your righteous slaves, the blessings of Your prophets who were sent as messengers, the blessings of (all of) the inhabitants of the heavens and the earths, and the blessings of everyone from the first to the last who sanctifies the Lord of the Worlds, on Muĥammad, Your slave, Your messenger, Your prophet, Your trustee, Your confidant, Your love, Your chosen one, Your special (slave), and the best of Your creation. O Allāh! Grant him the ladder and the WASǏLAH in Paradise, and resurrect him in the Praised Position which will be envied by everyone from the first to the last. : O Allāh! You said, “And had they, when they were unjust to themselves, come to you and asked forgiveness of Allāh and the Messenger had (also) asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allāh Oft-returning (to mercy), Most Merciful” (4:64). And I have come to Your Prophet, repenting and asking for forgiveness for my sins, and I have turned to You through Your Prophet, the Prophet of Mercy, Muĥammad (s.a.a.w.). O Muĥammad! I have turned to Allāh, Your Lord and mine, through you, so that He forgives my sins. Then Imam ((عليه السلام).) continued: If you have a request, face the Qiblah with your back toward the grave. Raise your hands and ask for your request. (If you do this) your request will more likely be granted In-Shā`allāh. https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/24/2/3/1 This is similar to the case of whether the Prophet (saww) recieves our salam or not, which the entire ummah agrees that he does, whether from near his grave or afar. How does it reach him from afar?Perhaps by way of an Angel, but the fact is that it does, and therefore there is no issue with this belief at all. This does not make the Prophet (saww) "All-Hearing", as this was all the Doing of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) who allowed the salam to reach the Prophet (saww) in the first place.

This is an incorrect translation. The Imam (عليه السلام) is saying that if you aren't able to find a witness (shahid) for that person's hadith from the Qur'an or the hadith of the Prophet (saww), then the person who narrated it is more suited/befitted of following it - in essence, keep it with him.

I don't see why the matn would be considered strange, since we have a similar hadith that would be graded as reliable. Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Sa`eed narrated. He said: `Ali b. al-Hasan narrated from al-`Abbas b. `Amer b. Rabbah ath-Thaqafi from `Abdillah b. Bukayr from Zurara b. A`yan. He said: I heard Abu `Abdillah عليه السلام say: A Caller will call from the sky: “Verily, fulan is the ruler (amir)”, and a Caller will call: “Verily, `Ali and his Shi`a are the victorious”. I said: So who would fight the Mahdi after this? So he said: Satan will certainly call: “Verily, fulan and his Shi`a are the victorious” – a man from Banu Umayya. I said: So who will distinguish the truthful from the liar? He said: Those who relate our narrations and say it will happen prior to its occurrence will know; and know that they are rightly and righteous. (Nu`mani’s Ghayba) http://www.imamiyya.com/hadith/qiyam/the-uprising-of-the-imam So another hadith explains that the other caller would be the Shaytan, may Allah curse him.

The idea that the story of Lut (عليه السلام) is condemning rape and not homosexuality is a fantasy in the minds of either liberal Muslims or Muslims that want to sugarcoat what their religion really teaches. Look at this Verse for example: You lust after men instead of women! You are certainly transgressors. [7:81] If the Ayah was talking about rape, then the Prophet Lut (عليه السلام) would be essentially telling them "you rape men instead of women, you are certainly trangressors". Nonsense. Anyone with a basic understanding of Arabic - or even English, mind you - would laugh this interpretation.

There is a deconfliction mechanism between Israel and Russia in Syria, - according to both the Russians and Israelis - and the Israelis have been bombing in Syria for over 5 years now under Russia's watchful eye. Russia has a relationship with both Iran and Israel, and it tries to balance it with both, and sometimes it leans with one side and then sometimes with the other. The world isn't usually divided into rock solid foundations and alliances, sometimes even enemies cooperate with eachother if there is a common goal, sometimes friendships are temporary, sometimes the enemy of today is the ally of yesterday. This is the world of politics.

Well they didn't make it up, that's what Russian official media had quoted from the mouth of Putin himself. See here: https://tass.com/politics/880608 Russia will strengthen cooperation with Israel in anti-terrorism fight, Putin added. "We spoke about the necessity to pool efforts to counter international terrorism," Putin told journalists. "Israel knows only too well what it means and it is fighting against terrorism. In this sense, we are unconditional allies.".