Assalam Alaikum,
Over the weekend I attended an excellent course on Islam & Homosexuality, lead by a brilliant Muslim scholar, Shaykh SM Hasan al-Banna, organised by the Islamic Institute of Development & Research.
It is beyond the scope of this brief article to deal with this matter comprehensively. I just wanted to benefit people with some of the most interesting key learnings:
- The term ‘homosexuality’ was only coined in the 1860’s
- The Islamic frame of reference doesn’t use that term or focus on labelling people according to their sexual orientation. (There is a unique, more sophisticated Quranic vocabulary and frame of reference used to talk about sexuality).
- The debate around nature or nurture is kind of irrelevant if we accept the testimony of virtually every gay person that they do not have a choice in who they are attracted to.
- Generally speaking: Attraction is not a choice. What we do with those feelings is. (This is true for everyone.)
- Islam & the Shariah do not pass judgment about thoughts, feelings, desires & attraction. It does judge the external behaviour as a sin, which usually only occurs in private, and is not therefore a public (or state) concern.
- The idea that this kind of thinking is a psychological dysfunction is completely foreign to Islam.
- Just as Muslims are accused of homophobia today, just over a hundred years ago in the West, Muslims were actually accused of being too open and accepting of people with same-gender attraction. #irony
- Muslim men, who were scholars and great thinkers, as early as the 3rd generation, openly wrote poetry about being attracted to men, and talked about the depth of their love, and the struggle of feeling attraction & not acting on it.
- Any form of discrimination against someone based on their orientation is completely forbidden in Islam. (In other words, what we would now call “homophobia” is haram).
- Islam does not see people as ‘gay’ or ‘straight’ or anything in between, but as human beings, with souls, whose ultimate purpose is to serve, and gain a deeper knowledge of, Allah the Most Loving, Most Forgiving. Who you are (or are not) attracted to does not change, or in the least bit affect, this noble purpose.
- Revisionist attempts to re-read the sources to allow for homosexual intercourse have not gotten very far, and probably won’t, as they depend on ignoring Prophetic sayings.
- The Prophet, peace & blessings upon him, never punished anyone for being gay or engaging in the act. There is no hadd (physical) punishment for this sin prescribed by the Quran. The hadith which mention physical punishments are considered by many hadith specialists as being too unreliable to enact*.
Here’s why this is relevant:
If you are (or know of) a gay Muslim who, like some of the course’s attendees, have been trying to not act on your desires, and feel like it’s unfair or too hard to be celibate, or like you have to choose between being gay & being Muslim…
… then you’ve probably had a lot of self-defeating, hurtful, negative, conflicted thinking about this issue, for a very long time.
If you’d like to finally end such psychological suffering, and let go of self-harmful thinking patterns, you’ll benefit from The Paradigm Shift, Instant Ihsan & Effortless Transformation courses. You can get them as part of The Ocean membership program, by clicking here.
Peace, Love & Blessings.
Mamoon
P.S. My courses so far have not addressed the issue of homosexuality directly. However, by quietening our minds, connecting more deeply with Allah, and having insight, we can’t help but find more peace, and be positively transformed.
Just to be clear: by going through my trainings, your situation (and orientation!) will not change. You will change, internally. And that changes everything. Insha’Allah.
*Original edited, due to ambiguous phrasing.
