Astonishing Experience: Lake of Prophet Lut as

The northern tip of the Dead Sea or Lake of Prophet Lut alaihisalam (a.s.) named by many Islamic scholar, is about 20 kilometers from the Mount Nebo. At around 11:20 hours, we started descending the winding highway entertained by the amazing scenery of the Jordan Valley. The weather was splendid; however, as we were approaching the Lake, the temperature was a little warm, about 20 degrees centigrade. Around 11:40 hours, the skyline of the Lake was clearly visible from our coaster and finally reached the beach line around 11:45 hours. Despite the foggy scenery (for whatever reasons, the view above the Lake was not that clear), the WOW feeling aroused. Stunned and amazed with what we saw in front of us, we decided to stop at Amman Beach Tourism Resort, which was 26 km away from the Mount Nebo. You are not allowed to stop for swimming along the beach line; therefore, for you to experience the water, one must go through any resorts along the beach line. Harir advised us to spend two hours on the beach to enjoy what the resort has to offer. I said, “We will see, probably we will spend only one hour or so.” After paying the entrance fees, 15 JD for adults and 10 JD for kids below 15 years old, here we are, on the beach of the famous Dead Sea – Lake of the Prophet Lut as. The resort was awesome; there were big swimming pool, gift shops, restaurant, superb changing room, a Prayer room and on top all, the staffs were reliable and hospitable.
Stretching out 67 kilometers along the Jordan-Israel border and 18 kilometers wide, its surface and shores are 422 meters below sea level, the lowest elevation on the earth’s surface on dry land. The depth is 378 meters, said to be the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. Its salinity is 33.7% makes for the harsh environment that no living organism could flourish, hence its name.
Many Muslim scholars called it the Lake of Prophet Lut a.s because it is believed that this was the place where the Prophet Lut a.s and his people lived thousands of years ago before they were punished by the Almighty Allah swt. The water and the beach was not that charming as compared to the Marsa Matrouh beach line in the Northern part of Egypt, but the history and the uniqueness of the whole scenery astonished me. That was one of the main reasons why we visited the Lake - a place that I must visit before I die – to see and experience the Greatness of Allah swt.
Allah swt explained in Chapter 54, Al Qammar – The Moon, Verses 33-36: “The people of Lut rejected (his) warning. We sent against them a violent Tornado with showers of stones, (which destroyed them), except Lut's household: them We delivered by early Dawn,- As a Grace from Us: thus do We reward those who give thanks. And (Lut) did warn them of Our Punishment, but they disputed about the Warning.”
Prophet Lut a.s was sent as a messenger to one of Prophet Ibrahim's as neighboring communities. These people, as the Qur’an tells us, practiced a perversion unknown to the world up to then, namely sodomy (sodomy probably came from the place called Sodom where these people lived). When Prophet Lut a.s. told them to give up this perversion and brought them Allah's warning, they denied him, refused his prophethood, and carried on with their perversion. In the end, these people were destroyed by a dreadful disaster.

It was a lifetime experience for Afi, Afiq, Asri and Afiqah, swimming or rather floating in the Lake. Nana, Aiman and I were just enjoying the beach, studying the layers of salt formation and soaking our legs along the fringe of the Lake.
There were many European people, group of Japanese and a family of nice Jordanian on the beach during that sweet memorable day.
The place reminded us of how the disobedient people been punished by Allah swt. The lessons learnt are, we should put out great and sincere to obey Allah swt Rules as shown by His Messengers in which our case, Prophet Muhammad saw. Having said, as long as it does not contradicts the Islamic decrees, children should conform to their parents command, wife/wives should be humble to their husband, a husband should play his roles as a leader of the family, and a community should follow their leaders.

The above photo and few photos below show the salt crystal precipitation, resulting from evaporation that entails the salinity of the water, however enticed people to visit this ‘dead’ environment.

Harir was right, one hour was not sufficient to experience the amazing fact of the Lake of Lut a.s. We left the Resort at around 13:45 hours heading towards a place called Mount Sodom, about 33 km away. This was a place said to be the last point where Prophet Lut a.s’s wife turned away from and spelled by Allah swt. Allah hu ‘alam.

I will share the story of the Prophet Lut a.s. and what happended to his people later - under the title Mount Sodom!