Read ONLY, IF AND WHEN you have time and mood for:
“An Ayah for 30 Days” — October 2012
PRELUDE
From the Pen and Perspective of a self-styled PPK Muslim (Proud, Practicing, Knowledgeable) with a humble submission that Islam totally rejects Blind Following BUT vigorously focusses on the Limitations of Pure Human Reasoning…………..and clearly and comprehensively ALLAH knows best.
In the beginning of the seventh century C.E., the folks of Mecca and Medina had a fascinatingly unique window: they had direct access to the Heavens through one of their own. They were blessed with a regular stream of Divine counseling and guidelines. Question and answer sessions were part of the program. Even individual questioner was graced by an answer. In the short Introduction to this scheme they were assured that at the end of this twenty-two year project, Divine Directions and Admonitions will continue through the agency of the PEN. The whole discourse has been preserved and archived till eternity under the guarantee of our Lord and Creator. This record in known as the Quran.
It should sound unbelievable but factually appears to be true: Many of our prevalent, widespreadand important concepts and opinions about religious matters do not have a basis in the Quran and sometimes even appear to be in obvious conflict with the teachings of the Quran. It would bevery educative and helpful to discuss an Ayah once a month to see if it supports or rejects ourviews and actions in our daily life. I wish and hope this generates a fruitful interactive discussion.
What follows is not a sermon; I do not feel qualified to give one, anyhow. Hopefully, it will provide some food for thought.
AYAH
Surah Ash-Shu`arā, Ayah 165-173
“Do you go to the males from the creatures of the world, and leave that which your Lord has created for you in your wives? You have indeed transgressed all limits.” They said, “O Lot, if you do not desist from this, you will surely be included among those who have been expelled from our towns.” He said, “I am certainly one of those who abhor your wickedness. My Lord, deliver me and my people from their wicked deeds.”At last, We delivered him and all his people except an old woman who was of those who were left behind. Then We destroyed all the rest of them, and rained on them a horrible rain, which fell on those who had been warned”. Abul Ala Maudoodi:
Going in the reverse gear, let me start with my concluding remarks:
- The Quran refers to homosexuality many times as the practice of People of Lot living in 2000 BC and squarely condemns it.
- There is no direct commandment for Muslims about homosexuality.
- There was no occasion for indictment or punishment for this vice during the life span of the Holy Prophet.
- The Hadith literature is replete with very harsh punishment for this practice.
- Hence most of us Muslims have grown up with an innate disgust for this practice.
- There is no reliable and authentic scientific evidence to prove that homosexuality is a normal occurrence in the spectrum of human sexual orientation. If ever there is one, a Muslim is obliged to consider it.
- It remains controversial, if this practice can be altered or “cured.”
- It is a wrong approach to make homosexuality an issue of Human Rights or Individual freedom. It is a religious and philosophical problem for the civilised society.
- The attitude and response of the individual and society as a whole — Muslim and non-Muslim — to this problem seems to be complex, diverse and uncertain.
- ONE topic is CERTAIN, though. The LGBT should not be allowed to destroy the sacred, basic and fundamental Institution of Marriage recognised since known human history.
I am sorry; instead of “an ayah” I am discussing seven ayahs. This is the beauty of our Holy “Book.” A part of an ayah may mean volumes; on the other hand a group have to be taken together to bring the full meaning out. The Quran is not a book as is commonly understood, with a narrative and a plot and divided into chapters and separate headings. It is a message from and a conversation with our Creator.
I have included here five other references to homosexuality in the Quran comprising additional twenty-six ayahs.
[1]
All these thirty-three ayahs are about “people of Lot” also known as the people of Sodom and Gomarrah. These cities are mentioned in the Book of Genesis, the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament besides the Quran. These cities, were situated on the Jordan River plain in the southern region of the land of Canaan. The Jordan River plain (which corresponds to area just north of the modern day Dead Sea) has been compared to the garden of Eden in Genesis, being a land well-watered and green, suitable for grazing livestock. Sodom and Gomorrah have become synonymous with impenitent sin, and their fall with a proverbial manifestation of God’s wrath. The name of these cities have been used as metaphors for vice and homosexuality, viewed as a deviation. The story has created the English word sodom; even the Arabic words for homosexual behaviour (liwat) and for a person who performs such acts (luti) both derive from this name.
Prophet Lot was the nephew of Prophet Abraham. He lived in Iraq along with his uncle and traveled with him over Syria, Palestine and Egypt to gain experience for the propagation of the Message. Then he was appointed as a Messenger by Allah and sent to reform the wicked tribe, which has been called `his people’ because he might have had some blood relation with it.
In these ayahs the Quran denounces the act of homosexuality clearly and forcefully as an heinous act in a people living in 2000 BC and were under the Shari’ah of Prophet Ibrahim/Lot. The Quran has condemned this act in strong words as:
transgressed all limits wicked deeds shameless indecent acts as no one committed before you in the world evil indecent deeds wicked, perverse and disobedient steeped in ignorance mischief makers and very wicked.
Two additional criminal acts of these people are referred to as “commit robbery and indulge in indecencies.” Divine judgement was therefore passed upon them and they were completely consumed by fire and brimstone; and their destruction by Allah is associated explicitly with their sexual practices.
It is noteworthy that all the references to this act in the Quran — and there are many of them — are related to the People of Lot. The Quran does not mention any clear commandment on this subject for the Muslims under Shari’ah-e-Mohammadi. The renowned scholar Maudoodi states in his Tafheem ul Quran “ Here and at other places the Qur’an merely declares that sodomy is such a heinous sin that it brought the wrath of Allah on a people.” However two minor evidence in the Quran which could be regarded as relevant to our times.
[2]
We therefore have to turn over to the second source of our Shari’ah — the practice and preaching of our Holy Prophet — for the the Islamic opinion on homosexuality. According to one source the Prophet took a lenient attitude toward sex between males. The Prophet viewed this vice with a philosophic indifference. Not only is the punishment not indicated — it was probably some public reproach or insult of a slight nature — but mere penitence sufficed to escape the punishment. Maudoodi confirms this when he declares “But no definite and specific punishment was prescribed for the criminals because during his time, no case of sodomy was ever brought before the Holy Prophet.” Mohamed El-Moctar El-Shinqiti, a contemporary Mauritanian scholar, has argued that “(even though) homosexuality is a grievous sin.
a) no legal punishment is stated in the Qur’an for homosexuality.
b) it is not reported that Prophet Muhammad has punished somebody for committing homosexuality.
c) there is no authentic hadith reported from the Prophet prescribing a punishment for the homosexuals.
However Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid of Saudi Arabia quotes the Prophet of Islam (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) as saying: “Whoever you find committing the sin of the people of Lut (Lot), kill them, both the one who does it and the one to whom it is done” – i.e. if it is done with consent. (This hadeeth was narrated by al-Tirmidhi in his Sunan, 1376).” However it is generally agreed that there is no authentic hadith reported from the Prophet prescribing a punishment for the homosexuals. Hadith scholars such as Al-Bukhari, Yahya ibn Ma`in, An-Nasa’i, Ibn Hazm, Al-Tirmidhi, and others have impugned them. Bakr Al-Jassas (d. 981 AD/370 AH) argued that the two
hadiths on killing homosexuals “are not reliable by any means and no legal punishment can be prescribed based on them.”
The four schools of Shari’ah (Islamic law) disagreed on what punishment is appropriate for homosexuality. Many scholars of Islamic law, interpret homosexual activity as a punishable offense as well as a sin. There is no specific punishment prescribed, however, and this is usually left to the discretion of the local authorities on Islam. The Hanafi school held that it does not merit any physical punishment; the culprit should be punished according to the circumstances of the crime with an exemplary punishment. There is also a saying of Imam Shafi`i to this effect. As against this the Hanbali school held that sodomy is a form of adultery and must incur the same penalty,
I grew up with an innate disgust and revulsion for homosexuality without ever thinking about about it. I am sure most of you feel the same because homosexuality is almost universally regarded by Muslims as:
shameless, wicked and immoral filthy and detestable an evil and immoral deviation of man neither natural nor a disease but a deviation of one’s nature
an absolute abomination in the Sight of the Creator stands for all the perversions a depravity of depravities absolutely forbidden in Islam
an abomination and a grave sin deserving death in the life of this world and eternal punishment in the Hereafter.
Why? Why this almost consensus on it? I think this is because the hadith literature, which for most of us is the only source of religious knowledge is full of most severe and extra ordinary punishments for it:
Hadrat ‘Ali believed that the criminals should be killed with sword and the dead bodies should not be buried but burnt to ashes.
Hadrat Abu Bakr also agreed with it.
Hadrat `Umar and Hadrat `Uthman thought that they should be taken under the roof of a dilapidated building, which should be pulled down on them.
lbn `Abbas has decreed that they should be thrown down headlong from the top of the highest building of the habitation and then stoned to death. Imam Shafi`i says that both the criminals involved in sodomy should be killed, whether married or unmarried.
According to Shi`ibi” Zuhri, Malik and Ahmad they should be stoned to death.
Said bin Musayyib, ‘Ata, Hasan Basri, Ibrahim Nakh`i, Sufyan Thauri and Auza`i are of the opinion that the punishment is the same as for adultery, that is, one hundred stripes and exile for the unmarried, and stoning to death for the married. The description until now is a good example of the not infrequently seen total disconnect between the teachings of the Quran and the practice of our beloved Prophet on the one hand and the writings in the Hadith literature on the other.
What are the facts on the ground about homosexuality? How common is it? Hard to say. There are not many statistics out there. I am indebted to Wikipedia for the following information. In the US, the LGBT sources claim it to be 10%. Other sources put it at about 2.8% or between 1.3 % to 4%. I do not think there are figures available for Muslim Countries. It would be a fair assumption that it is not insignificant. There are reasons for that. A strong emphasis on male virility leads adolescent males and unmarried young men to seek sexual outlets with boys younger than themselves. It is regarded as a temptation and to some anal intercourse is not seen as repulsively unnatural so much as dangerously attractive. Not all sodomy is homosexual: one Moroccan sociologist, in a study of sex education in his native country, notes that for many young men heterosexual sodomy is considered better than vaginal penetration, and female prostitutes likewise report the demand for anal penetration from their (male) clients. In Afghanistan though illegal, there was a tradition of such relationships in the country, known as “bache bazi” or boy play, and that it was especially strong around Kandahar. Raphael Patai in The Arab Mind, has argued that among some Arabs and Turks homosexuality can be justified as an expression of power. The active homosexual act is considered as an assertion of one’s aggressive masculine superiority.
I was surprised to find that there are some LGBT movements in Islam as well. The Al-Fatiha Foundation is an organization which advances the cause of gay, lesbian, and transgender Muslims. It was founded in 1998 by Faisal Alam, a Pakistani American, and is registered as a nonprofit organization in the United States.The Foundation accepts and considers homosexuality as natural, either regarding Qur’anic verses as obsolete in the context of modern society, or stating that the Qu’ran speaks out against homosexual lust and is silent on homosexual love. Al-Fatiha has fourteen chapters in the United States, as well as offices in England, Canada, Spain, Turkey, and South Africa. In addition, Imaan, a social support group for Muslim LGBT people and their families, exists in the UK. Both of these groups were founded by gay Pakistani activists. The UK also has the Safra Project for women (WikipediA).
The legal status of homosexuality in the Muslim World is variable. The death penalty is currently in place in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mauritania, northern Nigeria, Sudan, and Yemen. In Saudi Arabia, while the maximum punishment for homosexual acts is public execution, the government will generally use lesser punishments e.g. fines, jail time, and whipping. Iran is perhaps the nation to execute the largest number of its citizens for homosexual acts. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, the Iranian government has executed more than 4,000 such people. The Taliban enforced the death penalty in Afghanistan. The legal situation in the United Arab Emirates is unclear. In many Muslim nations, such as Bahrain, Qatar, Algeria, Uzbekistan and the Maldives, homosexuality is punished with jail time, fines, or corporal punishment. In Egypt, openly gay men have been prosecuted under general public morality laws. On the other hand, homosexuality, while not legal, is tolerated to some extent in Lebanon. In some Muslim-majority nations, such as Albania, Turkey, Jordan, Indonesia or Mali, same-sex intercourse is not forbidden by law, and in Albania there has been discussions of legalizing same-sex marriage. Lebanon also is considering to legalize homosexuality.
It seems, despite the legal strictures on homosexual activity, the positive expression of male homeoerotic sentiment in Muslim literature was accepted, and probably assiduously cultivated, from the late eighth century until modern times. First in Arabic, but later also in Persian, Turkish and Urdu, love poetry by men about boys more than competed with that about women. Anecdotal literature reinforces this impression of general societal acceptance of the public celebration of male-male love.
Most international human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, condemn laws that make homosexual relations between consenting adults a crime. Since 1994, the United Nations Human Rights Committeehas also ruled that such laws violate the right to privacy guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Homosexuality is forcefully promoted as a human rights or individual freedom issue with very frightening and deleterious effects on the sacred and honorable Institution of Marriage. Marriage is strongly recommended in our Deen. Based on physiological, anatomical, emotional, psychological, social and religious grounds it is fundamentally a heterosexual union. It is imperative for continuation of the human species. It is the natural foundation for the formation of the family which is the UNIT of our civilised society. The newborn has the fundamental and basic right to have a biological father and a biological mother to ensure a healthy and robust development. Marriage, in its age old definition should be preserved and protected at all costs.
The modern “liberal” thinking views homosexuality as normal and natural sexual orientation for a minority of adults. It is stated as a proof that children who will grow up to be gay can generally be detected before the age of five. Neurological and neuroanatomical changes have been reported in the brains of homosexuals. There is reportedly evidence of a genetic basis. There is however no convincing evidence to support it. On the other hand there are similar and definite evidences to prove that diseases like Schizophrenia, Autism and Psychopathic behavior are also genetic. On the basis of the theory of neuroplasticity the changes seen in the brans of homosexuals may be consequential rather than causative. As a Muslim I do feel that my religious beliefs cannot and should not be contrary to proven scientific truths and modern knowledge delivered to mankind through the agency of the “PEN” which Allah Ta’aala has promised in the second part of the VERY FIRST Wahee. (Surah 96 Ayah 3-5)

Recite, and your Lord is the most Generous

Who taught by the PEN

Taught man that which he knew not. (Sahih International)
Bari Ta’aala had decided that the direct communication by revelation will be discontinued after twenty-two years and PERMANENTLY so that our Holy Prophet is the LAST in the series. The Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds has therefore assured mankind in the first Wahee that thereafter he will be guided and taught by his Lord — Rub — till the Day of Judgement by the “PEN”. We, the Muslims wielded this Pen for seven centuries and reigned as the Torch Bearers of Civilization. Later we slumped into intellectual stagnation so the PEN was taken over by the non-Muslims who are now the source of all knowledge and progress. We seem to be so fossilized that we have even lost the realisation that Revelation has ceased with the demise of our Holy Prophet but the ever-lasting medium of Directions and Guidance by the “PEN” for knowledge and progress from our Allah Ta’aala Subhanahoo has not. However there is no reliable or authentic evidence to suggest that homosexuality is different but a normal phenomena. So, for us it remains a deviation if not a perversion. If, say in the next century there is incontrovertible evidence to this effect then Muslims will have to revisit the ayahs of the Quran for fresh guidance.
Finally, to the real issue: As a Muslim how do I deal with homosexuality and homosexuals in my social circle or, God forbid in my family? What do I advise if one looks up to me for help? Is there a “cure” for them. Frankly speaking, I am confused. “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” seems to be the path of least resistance available. I have collected some current opinions on this problem. Perhaps this may help you and me to form an opinion.
[3]
To repeat the conclusions, I started with:
- The Quran refers to homosexuality many times as the practice of People of Lot living in 2000 BC and squarely condemns it.
- There is no direct commandment for Muslims about homosexuality.
- There was no occasion for indictment or punishment for this vice during the life span of the Holy Prophet.
- The Hadith literature is replete with very harsh punishment for this practice.
- Hence most of us Muslims have grown up with an innate disgust for this practice.
- There is no reliable and authentic scientific evidence to prove that homosexuality is a normal occurrence in the spectrum of human sexual orientation. If ever there is one, a Muslim is obliged to consider it.
- It remains controversial, if this practice can be altered or “cured.”
- It is a wrong approach to make homosexuality an issue of Human Rights or Individual freedom. It is a religious and philosophical problem for the civilised society.
- The attitude and response of the individual and society as a whole — Muslim and non-Muslim — to this problem seems to be complex, diverse and uncertain.
- ONE topic is CERTAIN, though. The LGBT should not be allowed to destroy the sacred, basic and fundamental Institution of Marriage recognised since known human history.
…..and Allah knows best.
May Allah Ta’aala bless us with true understanding–“fahm”–of our Deen, Aameen.