By Your Life

Allah (swt) says: wa jāʾa ahlu al-madīnati yastabshirūn. And the inhabitants of the city came rejoicing: happy, celebrating, and rioting, and demonstrations were outside of the house of Lūṭ. And there was a crowd. Imagine a huge crowd of men celebrating, and dancing, and singing: yastabshirūn, they're happy. Allah (swt) describes this evil scene.

And Allah (swt) says: laʿamruk, by your life. Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the only person whom Allah (swt) makes an oath by his life. Allah (swt) makes an oath by anything of His creation; we can only make an oath by Allah. Allah (swt) has made an oath by no other human being in the Qur'an except Muhammad (peace be upon him): laʿamruk, by your life. Allah is making an oath by the life of Muhammad (peace be upon him).

What does Allah say? Laʿamruka innahum la-fī sakratihim yaʿmahūn. Allah (swt) says: verily, by your life, they are in their wild intoxication, wandering blindly. Sakrah: they were drunk, but they were not drunk because of alcohol. They were not intoxicated because of alcohol; they were intoxicated by their lust. Desires, and especially sexual desires, they can blind a person. They can literally blind the heart. It can make a person drunk, obsessed, blind: aʿmā al-baṣīrah. And that was the situation of the people of Lūṭ.