Muslims who say that differences in the Gospels are evidence of their unreliability rarely ever consider that the Qur'an contains parallel accounts of the same event that differ in detail, order, and content.
What did Lot say to the people of Sodom? Well that depends on which Surah we read:
Surah 7:80 - Will you commit foulness such as no creature ever did before you? For you come with lust to men instead of women; you are indeed a transgressing people!
26:165-166 - What! Of all creatures do you come unto the males? And leave the wives your Lord created for you? No, but you are people who transgress.
27:54 - Will you commit abomination knowingly? Must you practice lust with men instead of women? No, you are but a people that are ignorant.
29:28-29 - You commit obscenity such as no creature did before you. Do you come unto men, and rob on the highway, and practice wickedness in your meetings?
The literary nature of our primary translation, The Majestic Qur'an, means that the same Arabic terms sometimes are translated by English synonyms. The nature of the one word fahishat, rendered as "foulness," "abomination," and "obscenity," is defined here as "come unto the males," i.e., homosexual behavior. Buy in Surat 7 and 27 the Qur'an uses an interrogative, "Will you commit?" and in 29 add a reference to the sin's uniqueness, "as no creature did before you," yet one uses the decorative and the other the interrogative.
Surah 27 adds "knowingly" (literally, "while you see"); 29 includes further sins (robbery and wickedness). Surah 7 records the condemnation as "you are a transgressing (mus'rifuna) people"; 26 says you are a people who transgress" using a different term, aduna. Surah 27 moves further from both by saying they are ignoring (tajhaluna).
With the Gospels, we can see for instance why Matthew or Mark would use different terminology, as they drew from a common oral translation and sought to reach differing audiences in differing contexts. But how, in the Islamic view, can those three Qur'anic statements be harmonized? Did Lot say this three times?
On a simple literary level, these texts are very similar, yet we are looking at the Qur'an and specifically at the belief that these are the very words of Allah without human intermediation. The less conservative Muslim could suggest Muhammad used different terms and cadence and phraseology to produce a pleasing poetic form for his recitations. But Muslim orthodoxy has concluded that none of this can enter into the analysis of these parallel texts.
The heavenly Qur'an has nothing to do with Muhammad's thoughts, knowledge, or even means of expression. So why would Allah recite Lot's words in different ways? Did Lot speak of other sins, as in Surah 29, or not? Did he say "knowingly," as in Surah 27, or not? Islamic orthodoxy's demands as to the nature of the Qur'an revelation require answers to these questions.
What did the people of Sodom say to Lot?
7:82 - Drive them out of your city! They are people who keep themselves pure!
26:167 - If you cease not, O Lot, you will soon be of the outcast.
27:56 - Expel the house hold of Lot from your city, for they are people who purify themselves!
29:29 - Bring Allah's torment upon us if you are truthful!
There is wide variation as to the people of Sodom's response among these four accounts, all narrated, we are told, by Muhammad. It is easier to note the connections than the differences (with Surah 29 being even more "different" than the other three) Surat 7 and 27 refer to Lot and his people as those who "keep themselves pure" or "purify themselves" and include a command to expel or drive them out (with only a slight difference in forms). One could easily assume that each text gives a selection of many shouted-out replies borne of anger against Lot, but this does not mesh with the Islamic belief in the nature of the Qur'anic revelation.
How did Allah punish the City of Sodom?
7:84 - And We rained a rain upon them. See how was the end of the criminals!
26:173 - And We rained on them a rain. Zsnf dreadful is the rain of those who have been warned.
27:28 - And We rained a rain upon them. Dreadful is the rain if those who have been warned.
29:31 - We are about to bring down upon the people of this city punishment from the sky because of their corruption. And We have left a clear sign for people who understand.
In the fifth parallel account, Surah 11, that final judgment is styled, "So when Our commandment came to pass, We overthrew [that city], and rained down on them stones of baked clay, one after another." This provides a parallel with Surat 29 leaving 7, 27, and 26 closely parallel, again with slight differences in wording and phraseology. Surah 7 directs people to "see" how their end came about, while 29 refers to this judgment as a "clear sign people who understand," and 26 also speaks of if as a sign, yet which did not bring belief.
Note here the precisely identical Arabic text of Surat 26 and 27 in phraseology. Why is this significant? Because it shows the author could provide exact duplicate narration if he wished. In the majority of the parallels we can identify in the text, he does not. Though thus raises the question of why, the orthodox Islamic view of inspiration and revelation does not allow us to pursue the matter, for it denies that the author's intentions can be discerned-the author is not Muhammad or a later reactor, but Allah himself.
