THE DEAD SEA
- Located between Jordan and Palestine, the Dead Sea is one of the most unique places on earth. At 430m below sea level, its shores rank as the lowest land point on earth. It is fed by the Jordan River with no connection to the world’s oceans making it more of a lake than a sea. As the fresh water evaporates, the salt remains which leaves it with salt concentration seven times greater than that of the ocean.
- According to Islamic traditions, the Dead Sea is the site of the ancient city of Sodom, home of the Prophet Lut AS. The Quran describes the people of Sodom as ignorant, wicked evildoers who rejected Allah’s call to righteousness and who openly practiced homosexuality.
- Due to their evildoings, Allah severly punished the Sodomites and decribed their torment in the Holy Quran. The punishment was to “turn the cities upside down, and rain down on them brimstones hard as baked clay, spread layer on layer, marked from your Lord” (Quran 11:82–83).
- The site of this punishment is now the Dead Sea, which stands as a symbol of destruction. The Prophet SAW dissuaded people from visiting the sites of Allah’s punishment: “Do not enter the place of those who were unjust to themselves, unless you are weeping, lest you should suffer the same punishment as was inflicted upon them.”
- For this reason, Muslims have an aversion to the Dead Sea region and when they do pass by, they do so by reflecting upon the wrath of Allah and how it afflicts those who transgress His commands.
