Sharia & The Gays

In hadiths attributed to Muhammad's wives , a mukhannath in question expressed his appreciation of a woman's body and described it for the benefit of another man. According to Everett Rowson, none of the sources state that Muhammad banished more than two mukhannathun , and it is not clear to what extent the action was taken because of their breaking of gender rules in itself or because of the "perceived damage to social institutions from their activities as matchmakers and their corresponding access to women".

According to traditional Islamic law, homosexual activity cannot occur in a legal manner because it takes place outside of marriage and between partners of the same sex. The paucity of concrete prescriptions to be derived from hadith and the contradictory nature of information about the actions of early authorities resulted in lack of agreement among classical jurists as to how homosexual activity should be treated. For unclear reasons, the treatment of homosexuality in Twelver Shia jurisprudence is generally harsher than in Sunni fiqh, while Zaydi and Isma'ili Shia jurists took positions similar to the Sunnis.

Since a hadd punishment for zina requires testimony from four witnesses to the actual act of penetration or a confession from the accused repeated four times, the legal criteria for the prescribed harsh punishments of homosexual acts were very difficult to fulfill. Documented instances of prosecution for homosexual acts are rare, and those which followed legal procedure prescribed by Islamic law are even rarer. In her book, Kecia Ali observes that "contemporary scholars disagree sharply about the Qur'anic perspective on same-sex intimacy.

Many Muslim scholars have followed a "don't ask, don't tell" policy in regards to homosexuality in Islam, by treating the subject with passivity. Kutty, who teaches comparative law and legal reasoning, also wrote that many Islamic scholars [60] have "even argued that homosexual tendencies themselves were not haram [prohibited] but had to be suppressed for the public good".

He claimed that this may not be "what the LGBTQ community wants to hear", but that, "it reveals that even classical Islamic jurists struggled with this issue and had a more sophisticated attitude than many contemporary Muslims". Kutty, who in the past wrote in support of allowing Islamic principles in dispute resolution, also noted that "most Muslims have no problem extending full human rights to those—even Muslims—who live together 'in sin'". He argued that it therefore seems hypocritical to deny fundamental rights to same-sex couples. Moreover, he concurred with Islamic legal scholar Mohamed Fadel [61] in arguing that this is not about changing Islamic marriage nikah , but about making "sure that all citizens have access to the same kinds of public benefits".

Islamist journalist Muhammad Jalal Kishk found no prescribed punishment for homosexuality in Islamic law [62] [ full citation needed ] [63] Several modern day scholars, including Scott Kugle, argue for a different interpretation of the Lot narrative focusing not on the sexual act but on the infidelity of the tribe and their rejection of Lot's Prophethood. In Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle's book on homosexuality in Islam, he addresses the teaching of sacred texts including the Qur'an about homosexuality.

Kugle notes the Islamic "tolerance for diversity of interpretation of sacred texts. Kugle quotes the Qur'an: Then Kugle continues, "the implication of this verse is that no Muslim is better than another," even "a gay or lesbian Muslim. Regarding interpreting the Qur'an, Kugle notes that "it is always human beings who speak for the Qur'an" and "they always interpret its words" and "interpretation is always ambiguous and contested. Regarding the Qur'an's treatment of same-sex acts, Kugle says that "where the Qur'an treats same-sex acts, it condemns them only so far as they are exploitive or violent.

One level is "genetic inheritance. One the basis of this reading of the Qur'an, Kugle asserts that homosexuality is "caused by divine will," so "homosexuals have no rational choice in their internal disposition to be attracted to same-sex mates. Regarding the story of Lot, Kugle observes that if the "classical interpreters" had seen "sexual orientation as an integral aspect of human personality," they would have read the narrative of Lot and his tribe "as addressing male rape of men in particular" and not as "addressing homosexuality in general.

A critique of Kugle's approach, interpretations and conclusions was published in by Mobeen Vaid. In a book, Aisha Geissinger [73] writes that there are "apparently irreconcilable Muslim standpoints on same-sex desires and acts," all of which claim "interpretative authenticity. The Lot story is interpreted as condemning "rape and inhospitality rather than today's consensual same-sex relationships. Abdessamad Dialmy [75] in his article, "Sexuality and Islam," addressed "sexual norms defined by the sacred texts Koran and Sunna. Societies in Islam have recognized "both erotic attraction and sexual behavior between members of the same sex.

Accordingly, the Arabic language had an appreciable vocabulary of homoerotic terms, with a dozens of word just to describe types of male prostitutes. There is little evidence of homosexual practice in Islamic societies for the first century and a half of the Islamic era. The conceptions of homosexuality found in classical Islamic texts resemble the traditions of classical Greece and those of ancient Rome , rather than modern Western notions of sexual orientation.

During the early period, growth of a beard was considered to be the conventional age when an adolescent lost his homoerotic appeal, as evidenced by poetic protestations that the author still found his lover beautiful despite the growing beard.

• La Cour Galante de Charles II (French Edition)?
• Everything you need to know about being gay in Muslim countries | World news | The Guardian.
• Lyrical Pieces Op.62 No. 6 - Hjemad (Homeward) - Piano.
• Anti-Islam march by Gays Against Sharia called off due to millions of snowflakes in Bristol.

During later periods, the age of the stereotypical beloved became more ambiguous, and this prototype was often represented in Persian poetry by Turkish soldiers. Other famous examples of homosexuality include the Aghlabid Emir Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya ruled — , who was said to have been surrounded by some sixty catamites , yet whom he was said to have treated in a most horrific manner. Caliph al-Mutasim in the 9th century and some of his successors were accused of homosexuality. Mehmed the Conqueror , the Ottoman sultan living in the 15th century, European sources say "who was known to have ambivalent sexual tastes, sent a eunuch to the house of Notaras, demanding that he supply his good-looking fourteen-year-old son for the Sultan's pleasure.

When he refused, the Sultan instantly ordered the decapitation of Notaras, together with that of his son and his son-in-law; and their three heads … were placed on the banqueting table before him".

‘Gays Against Shariah’ Confounds UK Media Narratives | Al Bawaba

However, Turkish sources deny these stories. Whatever the legal strictures on sexual activity, the positive expression of male homeoerotic sentiment in literature was accepted, and 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, it overwhelmed it. Anecdotal literature reinforces this impression of general societal acceptance of the public celebration of male-male love which hostile Western caricatures of Islamic societies in medieval and early modern times simply exaggerate.

European travellers remarked on the taste that Shah Abbas of Iran had for wine and festivities, but also for attractive pages and cup-bearers. A painting by Riza Abbasi with homo-erotic qualities shows the ruler enjoying such delights. As was customary everywhere until the nineteenth century, homosexuality was not viewed as a congenital disposition or 'identity'; the focus was on nonprocreative sexual practices, of which sodomy was the most controversial.

Evidence includes the behavior of rulers. Few literary works displayed hostility towards non-heterosexuality, apart from partisan statements and debates about types of love which also occurred in heterosexual contexts. El-Rouayheb suggest that even though religious scholars considered sodomy as an abhorrent sin, most of them did not genuinely believe that it was illicit to merely fall in love with a boy or expressing this love via poetry. The medical term ubnah qualified the pathological desire of a male to exclusively be on the receiving end of anal intercourse.

Physician that theorized on ubnah includes Rhazes , who thought that it was correlated with small genitals and that a treatment was possible provided that the subject was deemed to be not too effeminate and the behavior not "prolonged". The Ottoman Caliphate "ruled the Sunni Muslim world for centuries. During the Ottoman Empire , homosexuality was decriminalized in , as part of wider reforms during the Tanzimat. Before the modern era, Islamic nations were not so opposed to same-sex relations. For example, a ruler in Persia in the 11th century advised his son "to alternate his partners seasonally: The modern rejection and criminalization of "homosexuality in Islam gained momentum through the exogenous effects of European colonialism.

Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle has argued that, while "Muslims commemorate the early days of Islam when they were oppressed as a marginalized few," many of them now forget their history and fail to protect "Muslims who are gay, transgender and lesbian. While friendship between men and boys is often described in sexual ways in classical Islamic literature, Khaled El-Rouayheb and Oliver Leaman have argued that it would be misleading to conclude from this that homosexuality was widespread in practice.

In modern times, despite the formal disapproval of religious authority, the segregation of women in Muslim societies and the strong emphasis on male virility leads adolescent males and unmarried young men to seek sexual outlets with boys younger than themselves—in one study in Morocco, with boys in the age-range 7 to Liwat can therefore be regarded as "temptation", [] and anal intercourse is not seen as repulsively unnatural so much as dangerously attractive.

They believe "one has to avoid getting buggered precisely in order not to acquire a taste for it and thus become addicted. It is not so much the penetration as the enjoyment that is considered bad. The report stated that 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 North Afghanistan. Homosexuality was accepted for a long time in the Muslim world This Turkish miniature shows ten men engaging in anal sex in the Ottoman Empire.

Two men engaging in anal sex in Safavid Iran. Human rights groups have questioned the awarding in of the right to host the competition, due to the possibility that gay football fans may be jailed. He later withdrew the remarks after condemnation from rights groups.

Same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Chad since August 1, under a new penal code. Homosexuality between consenting adults had never previously been criminalized prior to this law. In Muslim-majority countries, open gay life rarely exists, but "the closet is spacious. In Bahrain , police in Bahrain arrested scores of men in February at a "gay party". In Egypt , openly gay men have been prosecuted under general public morality laws.

However, the Law on the Combating of Prostitution, and the law against debauchery have been used to imprison gay men in recent years. Islamic state has decreed capital punishment for gays. They have executed more than two dozen men and women for suspected homosexual activity, including several thrown off the top of buildings in highly publicized executions.

In India , which has the third-largest Muslim population in the world, and where Muslims form a large minority, the largest Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has vehemently opposed recent government moves [] to abrogate and liberalize laws from the British Raj era that banned homosexuality. In Iraq, homosexuality is allowed by the government, but terrorist groups often carry out illegal executions of gay people.

Saddam Hussein was "unbothered by sexual mores. In Jordan , where homosexuality is legal, "gay hangouts have been raided or closed on bogus charges, such as serving alcohol illegally. In Pakistan , its law is a mixture of both Anglo-Saxon colonial law as well as Islamic law, both which proscribe criminal penalties for same-sex sexual acts. The Pakistan Penal Code of , originally developed under colonialism , punishes sodomy with a possible prison sentence and has other provisions that impact the human rights of LGBT Pakistanis, under the guise of protecting public morality and order.

Yet, the more likely situation for gay and bisexual men is sporadic police blackmail, harassment, fines, and jail sentences. In Saudi Arabia, the maximum punishment for homosexual acts is public execution by beheading.

In Turkey, homosexuality is legal, but "official censure can be fierce". The report found that thirteen countries or parts of them impose the death penalty for "Same-sex sexual acts".

Of these thirteen countries, four are in Africa: Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, and Mauritania. Nine are in Asia: None are in the Americas , Europe , or Oceania. The Ottoman Empire predecessor of Turkey decriminalized homosexuality in In Turkey , where In Albania and Turkey, there have been discussions about legalizing same-sex marriage. The report found that "same-sex sexual acts" are legal in countries. Of these countries, twenty-one are in Africa , nineteen are in Asia , twenty-four are in the Americas , forty-eight are in Europe , and seven are in Oceania.

Navigation menu

In there was a gay party in the Moroccan town of al-Qasr al-Kabir. Rumours spread that this was a gay marriage and more than people took to the streets, condemning the alleged event and protesting against leniency towards homosexuals. In France there was an Islamic same-sex marriage on February 18, I believe that the right to marry someone who you please is so fundamental it should not be subject to popular approval any more than we should vote on whether blacks should be allowed to sit in the front of the bus.

In eight men were jailed for three years by a Cairo court after the circulation of a video of them allegedly taking part in a private wedding ceremony between two men on a boat on the Nile. Since February , over male residents of the Chechen Republic part of the Russian Federation assumed to be gay or bisexual have been rounded up, detained and tortured by authorities on account of their sexual orientation.

The men are held and allegedly tortured in concentration camps. Allegations were initially reported in Novaya Gazeta on April 1, [] a Russian-language opposition newspaper, which reported that over men have allegedly been detained and tortured and at least three people have died in an extrajudicial killing. The paper, citing its sources in the Chechen special services, called the wave of detentions a "prophylactic sweep.

The Muslim community as a whole, worldwide, has become polarized on the subject of homosexuality. Some Muslims say that "no good Muslim can be gay," and "traditional schools of Islamic law consider homosexuality a grave sin. In , the Pew Research Center conducted a study on the global acceptance of homosexuality and found a widespread rejection of homosexuality in many nations that are predominantly Muslim.

In some countries, views were becoming more conservative among younger people. The coming together of "human rights discourses and sexual orientation struggles" has resulted in an abundance of "social movements and organizations concerned with gender and sexual minority oppression and discrimination. The Al-Fatiha Foundation was an organization which tried to advance the cause of gay, lesbian, and transgender Muslims. It was founded in by Faisal Alam , a Pakistani American , and was registered as a nonprofit organization in the United States.

The organization was an offshoot of an internet listserve that brought together many gay, lesbian and questioning Muslims from various countries. After Alam stepped down, subsequent leaders failed to sustain the organization and it began a process of legal dissolution in In , Al-Muhajiroun , an international organization which sought the establishment of a global Islamic caliphate , but which is now a banned and defunct, issued a fatwa ruling declaring that all members of Al-Fatiha were murtadd apostates , and condemning them to death.

Because of this threat and their conservative familial backgrounds, many Al-Fatiha members chose anonymity to protect their identity. There are also a number of Islamic ex-gay groups, that is, those composed of people claiming to have experienced a basic change in sexual orientation from exclusive homosexuality to exclusive heterosexuality []. These groups, like those based in socially conservative Christianity , are aimed at attempting to guide homosexuals towards heterosexuality.

A large body of research and global scientific consensus indicates that being gay, lesbian, or bisexual is compatible with normal mental health and social adjustment. Because of this, major mental health professional organizations discourage and caution individuals against attempting to change their sexual orientation , and warn that attempting to do so can be harmful. It was described by the press as the first gay-friendly mosque in Europe. The reaction from the rest of the Muslim community in France has been mixed. The opening has been condemned by the Grand Mosque of Paris.

He founded Marhaba, a support group for queer Muslims in Melbourne , Australia. It aims "to increase the acceptance of gender and sexual diversity within Muslim communities. Muslims for Progressive Values , based in the United States and in Malaysia, is "a faith-based, grassroots, human rights organization that embodies and advocates for the traditional Qur'anic values of social justice and equality for all, for the 21st Century. The Safra Project for women is based in the UK. The Safra Project's "ethos is one of inclusiveness and diversity.

Salaam is the first gay Muslim group in Canada and second in the world. The religious conflicts and inner turmoil with which Islamic homosexuals struggle have been addressed in various media. The goals of Channel 4 include 1 stimulate public debate on contemporary issues, 2 reflect cultural diversity of the UK, and 3 champion alternative points of view. It can be viewed on YouTube in six parts: UPF films have been seen by approximated million people. UPF has "partnered with prominent Jewish, Muslim, Christian and interfaith groups to run dialogues nationwide.

The Muslim Debate Initiative MDI made up of Muslims "with experience in public speaking, apologetics, polemics, research and community work. In , the documentary film A Jihad for Love was released. As of the film has been shown in 49 nations to four million plus viewers. In , the documentary film A Sinner in Mecca was released. It was directed by Parvez Sharma.

It started publication online in In Chapter Eight of the book, Progressive Muslims: In addition to the Qur'an, Kugle refers to the benediction of Imam Al-Ghazali the 11th-century Muslim theologian which says. Kugle goes a step further in his argument and asserts that "if some Muslims find it necessary to deny that sexual diversity is part of the natural created world, then the burden of proof rests on their shoulders to illustrate their denial from the Qur'anic discourse itself. In , an anthology Islam and Homosexuality was published.

The answer, for me, is an unequivocal no. Cultivating Identities and Communities of Affirmation," says that "Queer Muslims employ a few narratives to enable them to reconcile their religious and sexual identities. Kecia Ali in her book Sexual Ethics and Islam says that p xvi "there is no one Muslim perspective on anything. Regarding homosexuality, Ali, says that the belief that "exclusively homosexual desire is innate in some individuals" has been adopted "even among some relatively conservative Western Muslim thinkers. Regarding "medieval Muslim culture," Ali says that "male desire to penetrate desirable youth.

She says that "same-sex sexual expression has been a more or less recognized aspect of Muslim societies for many centuries. In Islam, the term mukhannathun is used to describe gender-variant people, usually male-to-female transgender.

How the Middle East views the entire gender spectrum

Neither this term nor the equivalent for "eunuch" occurs in the Quran, but the term does appear in the Hadith, the sayings of Muhammad, which have a secondary status to the central text. Moreover, within Islam , there is a tradition on the elaboration and refinement of extended religious doctrines through scholarship. This doctrine contains a passage by the scholar and hadith collector An-Nawawi:. A mukhannath is the one "male" who carries in his movements, in his appearance and in his language the characteristics of a woman. There are two types; the first is the one in whom these characteristics are innate, he did not put them on by himself, and therein is no guilt, no blame and no shame, as long as he does not perform any illicit act or exploit it for money prostitution etc.

The second type acts like a woman out of immoral purposes and he is the sinner and blameworthy. While Iran has outlawed homosexuality, Iranian Shi'a thinkers such as Ayatollah Khomeini have allowed for transgender people to change their sex so that they can enter heterosexual relationships. This position has been confirmed by the Supreme Leader of Iran , Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , and is also supported by many other Iranian clerics. Iran carries out more sex change operations than any other nation in the world except for Thailand. It is regarded as a cure for homosexuality, which is punishable by death under Iranian law.

The government even provides up to half the cost for those needing financial assistance and a sex change is recognized on the birth certificate. On the 26th of June , clerics affiliated to the Pakistan -based organization Tanzeem Ittehad-i-Ummat issued a fatwa on transgender people where a transwoman born male with "visible signs of being a woman" are allowed to marry a man , and a transman born female with "visible signs of being a man" are allowed to marry a woman.

Muslim ritual funerals also apply. Depriving transgender people of their inheritance, humiliating, insulting or teasing them were also declared haraam. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Part of a series on Islam Beliefs. Profession of faith Prayer Fasting Alms-giving Pilgrimage. Islamic view of Lot. LGBT rights by country or territory. Up to life in prison. Religious views on same-sex marriage. Liberal and progressive Muslim movements. Islam portal LGBT portal. For those caught, the effect on their lives is catastrophic but the law is not much of a deterrent and for those who are discreet about their sexuality the risk of arrest is small.

For the vast majority who identify as gay, lesbian or transgender the attitudes of family and society are a much bigger problem. The one issue that affects all gay people — everywhere — at some point in their lives is coming out. For Muslims this can be an especially difficult decision. The pressure to marry is much greater in Muslim countries than in most western countries.

Remaining single is usually equated with social disaster and once young people have completed their studies, organising their marriage becomes a priority for the family. The more traditional kinds of family take on the task of finding them a partner; arranged marriages are still very common. For those who are not attracted to the opposite sex, this presents a major problem.

1. Radical Transformation Gods Way:Godly Principles to Know Who You Are In Christ!
2. Prince Daddy & the Nanny (Mills & Boon Cherish) (Reigning Men, Book 5).
3. Au bonheur des dames (Classiques t. 228) (French Edition)!

Some give in to the pressure and accept a marriage for which they are ill-suited. A few of the more fortunate ones find a gay or lesbian partner of the opposite sex and enter a pretend marriage. Some bite the bullet and decide to come out. How families respond to a coming out depends on several factors, including social class and their level of education. In the more extreme cases, coming out results in the person being ostracised by their family or even physically attacked. Following the Orlando massacre — perpetrated by a man from an Afghan family background — it has been noted that all the countries where the death penalty for sodomy still applies justify it on the basis of Islamic law.

But to blame this entirely on Islam is an oversimplification. In Egypt and Lebanon — predominantly Muslim countries with a large Christian population — attitudes towards homosexuality among Christians are not very different from those among Muslims. So far, though, there have been only a few Muslims willing to reappraise it. The key point here is that while the words of scripture are fixed and unchangeable they are always subject to human interpretation, and interpretations may vary according to time, place and social conditions. This, of course, is something that fundamentalists, whether Muslim or Christian, prefer to deny.

The patriarchal system plays a major part in this too, with strongly defined roles for men and women. Gay men, especially those who show feminine traits, may thus be regarded as challenging the social order. Although state law and traditional Islamic law view the penetrator and penetrated in anal sex as equally culpable, popular opinions of the penetrator tend to be less hostile: The receptive or passive partner, on the other hand, is viewed with disgust.

Traditional ideas about gender roles cause particular problems for transgender people, especially in places where segregation of the sexes is more strictly enforced and cross-dressing is criminalised. Within a couple of weeks at least 14 people were thrown into prison for the new offence.

Since there is no mechanism in Kuwaiti law to register a change of sex, even trans people who have had surgery are at risk of arrest for cross-dressing.

‘Gays Against Shariah’ Confounds UK Media Narratives

As it happens, Islam has case histories in this area which make it accommodating in some ways, though not in others. There were eunuchs castrated men and mukhannathun effeminate men to whom the rules of gender segregation did not apply: Eunuchs often acquired influential positions administering wealthy Muslim households. The mukhannathun were less respectable, with a reputation for frivolity and loucheness, though they seem to have been broadly tolerated during the earliest years of Islam.

A third type — the khuntha , who today would be called intersex — proved more complex theologically. The question this raised was what to do about children born with ambiguous genitalia since, according to the doctrine, they could not be sex-neutral. The issue then was how to discover it, and the jurists devised elaborate rules for doing so. In that connection, a remark attributed to the prophet about urine and the differing inheritance rules for men and women proved especially helpful.

On that basis, operations have been carried out in Sunni Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The case became public when Al-Azhar University refused to readmit her either as a male student or a female student. There were also many who found the concept of gender dysphoria difficult to grasp and some characterised her as a gay man who was trying to game the system. Basically, this left the question of surgery for gender dysphoria unresolved, allowing both supporters and opponents to interpret the fatwa as they chose.

In practice, however, obtaining surgery is not necessarily the biggest hurdle — those who can afford it often go abroad. Gaining social acceptance and official recognition of a change of sex subsequently can be more difficult. Theologically, Shia Iran seems to have fewer problems with gender dysphoria than the Sunni Arab states. There have been repeated claims that Iran now performs more reassignment operations than any country other than Thailand.

Although at first sight the Iranian approach to transgender might look remarkably liberal, it does have a darker side. One concern is that people may be pressurised into operations they do not actually want. Organised activism for gay rights began to develop in the Middle East in the early s.