LGBTQ people and Islam

For age-structured homosexuality, see Pederasty in the Middle East.

Islamic views on homosexuality are as varied as those of most other major religions and have changed throughout history.

Pre-Islam Arabia

Some scholars cite the following regarding Islam condemning homosexuality:

And Lut, when he said to his tribe: "Do you commit an obscenity not perpetrated before you by anyone in all the worlds? You come with lust to men instead of women. You are indeed a depraved tribe." The only answer of his tribe was to say: "Expel them from your city! They are people who keep themselves pure!" So We rescued him and his family—except for his wife. She was one of those who stayed behind. We rained down a rain upon them. See the final fate of the evildoers! ” — Qur'an, 7:80–84

And verily! Your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful. The people of Lout (Lot) (those who dwelt in the towns of Sodom in Jordan) belied the Messengers. When their brother Lout (Lot) said to them: "Will you not fear Allah and obey Him? "Verily! I am a trustworthy Messenger to you. "So fear Allah, keep your duty to Him, and obey me. "No reward do I ask of you for it (my Message of Islamic Monotheism), my reward is only from the Lord of the 'Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists). "Do you go in unto the males of the 'Alamin (mankind), and leave those whom Allah has created for you to be your wives? Nay, you are a trespassing people!" They said: "If you cease not. O Lout (Lot)! Verily, you will be one of those who are driven out!" He said: "I am, indeed, of those who disapprove with severe anger and fury your (this evil) action (of sodomy). "My Lord! Save me and my family from what they do." So We saved him and his family, all, Except an old woman (his wife) among those who remained behind. Then afterward We destroyed the others. And We rained on them a rain (of torment). And how evil was the rain of those who had been warned. Verily, in this is indeed a sign, yet most of them are not believers. And verily! Your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful. ” — Qur'an 26:159–175

Author Jonathan Margolis claims Islam has always shown a "homosexual predilection" and cites a poem by a 12th century poet in Spain, Muhammad ibn Malik:

Friday/ in the mosque/ my gaze fell upon a slim young man/ beautiful/ as the rising moon./ When he bent forward in prayer/ my only thought was/ oh, to have him/ stretched out/ flat before me,/ butt-up,/ face-down./

Legal status in modern Islamic nations

Homosexuality is a crime and forbidden in most Islamic countries, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc. In other countries, this is not the case, Turkey being an example.

Same-sex intercourse officially carries the death penalty in several Muslim nations: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mauritania, Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen. It formerly carried the death penalty in Afghanistan under the Taliban. The legal situation in the United Arab Emirates is unclear. In many Muslim nations, such as Bahrain, Qatar, Algeria and the Maldives, homosexuality is punished with jail time, fines, or corporal punishment. In some Muslim-majority nations, such as Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, or Mali, same-sex intercourse is not specifically forbidden by law. In Egypt, openly gay men have been prosecuted under general public morality laws. (See Cairo 52.) On the other hand, homosexuality, while not legal, is tolerated to some extent in Lebanon, and has been legal in Turkey for decades.

In Saudi Arabia, the maximum punishment for homosexuality is public execution, but the government will use other punishments—e.g., fines, jail time, and whipping—as alternatives, unless it feels that homosexuals are challenging state authority by engaging in LGBT social movements. Iran is perhaps the nation to execute the largest number of its citizens for homosexuality. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, the Iranian government has executed more than 4,000 people charged with homosexual acts. In Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, homosexuality went from a capital crime to one that it punished with fines and prison sentence.

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 Committee has also ruled that such laws violated the right to privacy guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. However, most Muslim nations (except for Turkey, which has been ruled by secular law since 1923 and recently has modernized its laws in order to meet the requirements of entry to the European Union) insist that such laws are necessary to preserve Islamic morality and virtue. Of the nations with a majority of Muslim inhabitants, only Lebanon has an internal effort to legalize homosexuality.

Pederasty in Islam

Main article: Pederasty in the Middle East

The valorization of youthful male beauty is found in the Qurʾān itself: "And there shall wait on them [the god fearing men] youths of their own, as fair as virgin pearls." (Qurʾān 52:24; 56:17; 76:19).

It is related that the Prophet Muhammad enjoined his followers to "Beware of beardless youth for they are a greater source of mischief than young maidens."

LGBT Muslim organizations

Some liberal Muslims, such as the members of the Al-Fatiha Foundation, accept and consider homosexuality as natural, either regarding these verses as obsolete in the context of modern society, or pointing out that the Qu'ran speaks out against homosexual lust, and is silent on homosexual love. However, this position remains highly controversial even amongst liberal movements within Islam, and is considered beyond the pale by mainstream Islam. The Imaan is a social support group for Muslim LGBT people and their families in the UK. [1]

There are also a number of Islamic ex-gay groups. The StraightWay Foundation is a UK based ex-gay organization which works with homosexual Muslims to eliminate their same-sex attractions and convert them to heterosexuality. Al-Tawbah is an internet based ex-gay group, and The Straight Struggle is an ex-gay blog for Muslims.

LGBT Movements Within Islam

In addition to the aforementioned groups, various Muslim writers such as Irshad Manji have expressed the view that homosexuality is permissible within Islam, however, this remains a minority viewpoint. Note that since Islam has no priestly class, the opinions of individual scholarly Muslims within Sunni Islam is a valid expression. Within Shi'a Islam, thinkers such as Ayatollah Khomeini have argued for the legality of sex-change operations if a man is homosexual, and feels effeminate. . The law remains in force in Iran, where the state will pay a portion of the cost for a sex-change operation.

Within the Muslim community homosexuality is a highly controversial topic and those advocating LGBT views are generally fairly out of the mainstream.

See also

People

• Afdhere Jama, editor of Huriyah
• Irshad Manji, Canadian lesbian and human rights activist
• Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni
• Malik Ayaz
• Usman Sani
• Waheed Alli, Baron Alli, British gay politician
• Yusuf Kabir
• Arsham Parsi, Iranian LGBT activist

Other

• Criticism of the Qur'an
• A Jihad for Love, documentary about devout gay Muslims
• Festival of Muslim Cultures
• Gay Muslims, documentary
• Ghilman
• Nazar ill'al-murd

References

• Khaled El-Rouayheb, Before Homosexuality in the Arab–Islamic World, 1500–1800 Chicago, 2005
• Everett K. Rowson, J.W. Wright (eds.), Homoeroticism in Classical Arabic Literature New York, 1997
• Arno Schmitt and Jehoeda Sofer (eds.), Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies Harrington Park Press 1992
• Arno Schmitt and Gianni de Martino, Kleine Schriften zu zwischenmännlicher Sexualität und Erotik in der muslimischen Gesellschaft, Berlin, Gustav-Müller-Str. 10 : A. Schmitt, 1985

External links

• Homosexuality: What is the real sickness? Illustrative Article from AbdurRahman.org
• Queer Sexuality in Qur'an and Hadith liberal interpretation
• Intolerant cruelty This special edition of Diabolic Digest explores the question of homosexuality in the Middle East.
• Islamic law: (much) Theory and (just enough) Practice
• Safra Project — Sexuality, Gender and Islam
• Sodomy in Islamic Jurisprudence (article in German; engl. Summary )
• Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies by Arno Schmitt and Jehoeda Sofer (eds.), Harrington Park Press 1992
• The StraightWay Foundation (UK)
• Pro-LGBT Muslim Group in the UK