In the Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire

A church built in the sixth century to commemorate the cave beside the Dead Sea where Lot was believed to have taken shelter after the destruction of Sodom. The episode is first mentioned in the Bible, but is also alluded to in the Qur’an. One verse implies something puzzling: that the Prophet and his audience lived within easy reach of the petrified remains of the Sodomites. “You pass by them morning and night; will you not understand?” (Tom Holland)