What is the reason for the disagreement over the prescribed punishment (hadd) for the act of the people of Lot?

There are several jurisprudential opinions regarding the punishment for sodomy, as scholars have differed in determining its prescribed penalty. This disagreement stems from reasons including:

- The weakness of the narrations reported on this matter according to some scholars, and their authenticity according to others. - Their differing views on analogy with adultery (zina).

Some Companions and jurists held that the prescribed punishment for sodomy is stoning for both the perpetrator and the recipient, whether they are muhsan (previously married) or ghair muhsan (not previously married), such as the view of Ali, Ibn Abbas, Malik, Ahmad, and one of Al-Shafi'i's two opinions.

Others held that its punishment is the same as that of an adulterer, meaning stoning for the muhsan and flogging and banishment for the ghair muhsan, such as the view of Saeed ibn al-Musayyab, Ata, and Al-Shafi'i's other opinion.

There are also those who believed in burning the sodomite with fire, such as the view of Abu Bakr, Ali, and Ibn al-Zubayr.

While Abu Hanifa held that sodomy does not entail a specific prescribed punishment, but rather its penalty is discretionary (ta'zir), because he does not consider the reported narrations on this matter to be authentic.