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"Then travel in a part of the night with your family, and you go behind them in the rear, and let no one among you look back, but go on to where you are ordered." (Qur'an 15:65)
Why was Lot (PBUH) told not to look back when the angels were destroying Sodom and Gomorrah?
Why was it so important not to look back?
According to the tafsir of Imam Al-Qurtoby they have been told not to look back for the reason that they should do their best (hurry) to leave the place before the morning as it said in an other Verse in Suart Hud (11:81)
Then the angels said, "O Lot, We are messengers sent by your Lord. They shall not be able to do you any harm. So depart from here with the people of your household in the last hours of the night. And look here: none of you should turn round to look behind; but your wife (who will not accompany you) shall meet with the same doom as they. The morning has been appointed for their destruction-the morning has almost come."
قَالُواْ يَا لُوطُ إِنَّا رُسُلُ رَبِّكَ لَن يَصِلُواْ إِلَيْكَ فَأَسْرِ بِأَهْلِكَ بِقِطْعٍ مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ وَلاَ يَلْتَفِتْ مِنكُمْ أَحَدٌ إِلاَّ امْرَأَتَكَ إِنَّهُ مُصِيبُهَا مَا أَصَابَهُمْ إِنَّ مَوْعِدَهُمُ الصُّبْحُ أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ
And don't forget that for people who leave the place they usually used to live in it's the most normal thing to look back while leaving. For this reason and to prevent them to look back Lot (peace be upon him) has also been walking as the last man in the group of his people.
So maybe if they looked back and stood watching they might have been also captured by the sight and wanted to help their people or just wouldn't have enough time to flee from the doom which met the people who didn't believe and rejected Lot (peace be upon him).
The prophet Lut (May peace be upon him) was leaving his people as Allah ordered him to do:
"The angels said, "O Lot, indeed we are messengers of your Lord; [therefore], they will never reach you. So set out with your family during a portion of the night and let not any among you look back - except your wife; indeed, she will be struck by that which strikes them. Indeed, their appointment is [for] the morning. Is not the morning near?" So when Our command came, We made the highest part [of the city] its lowest and rained upon them stones of layered hard clay, [which were] Marked from your Lord. And Allah 's punishment is not from the wrongdoers [very] far." (Quran 11:81-83)
So, here you can see "and let not any among you look back except your wife; indeed, she will be struck by that which strikes them". The order to not look back was given as the one who had looked back that day may have had the same fate as Lut's (May peace be upon him) Wife.
Lut's (May peace be upon him) Wife was converter into a statue and to prevent the same fate for the Lut (May peace be upon him) and his family this order may had been given.
Allah knows the best
Let me quote Islahi. His exegesis (Urdu) of Surah Al-Hijr is available here. The following translation is mine as I could not find its English translation.
To look back again and again while leaving a place is an indication of love and affinity for it. It is quite natural in normal circumstances and manifestation of such instincts cannot be barred or purged. But while leaving a settlement about which God's punishment has been decided after Itmam al-Hujjah*, the believers should detach themselves from it in such a way that there is not even an iota of love for it in their hearts. It has been reported about the Prophet (pbuh) that when he sometimes had to pass through the settlements of destroyed nations he would hurry up and guide others to do the same.
* the communication of truth to the direct addressees of a Messenger in such a way that they are left with no excuse to deny it
I have a different angle on this.
According to some science and research done on the destroyed city Tall el-Hammam (maybe Sodom Gomorrah) they found evidences such as structures on sand caused by extremely high pressure and products that were melted on the outside but was fine on the inside. The conclusion that came that could be the cause behind the immense heat was a exploding space rock.
The exploding spacerock was 1000 times more powerful than an atomic bomb. It exploded above the city which leveled buildings to the ground and setting fire on everything. After the explosion, the stones began to rain down on the city.
An exploding atomic bomb creates and immense light and UV rays. When the scientists back in the day was testing the atomic bomb they first needed to be in a safe distance and secondly wear certain type of glasses so their eyes don't get damaged.
Now imagine the eye-damage one would get when looking at an explosion that is 1000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb. I think that the messenger Angels told Prophet Lut not to look back due to safety precautions.
Allah knows best ofcourse.
