The Status of Sexual Diversity & Islam today

Homosexuality is still regarded by many as something you do and immediately when thinking about
homosexuality, the picture of anal penetration comes to the fore for many people.

And when the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (the people of Lut A.S) is related regarding men who
approach other men sexually, without understanding the context of this sexual approach, it becomes so
easy to conclude that they were destroyed for homosexuality.

Homosexuality as a sexuality, should not be confused with sexual immoralities such as pedophilia, rape,
orgies, swinging etc. These are sexual deviancies that run across the spectrum of sexuality and should
not just be attributed to homosexuality. And this is exactly what happened with the interpretation of the
story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Because two of the atrocities committed was a sexual interaction
between people of the same sex in the form of raping men (angels) and public indecency, it is not to be
automatically assumed that homosexuality (whether active of passive expression of it) is haraam.

Now because of this fundamental misunderstanding, innocent people whose sexual orientation is other
than of hetero-normativity, becomes alienated, resulting in these people loosing faith in Allah as the God
of love, loosing faith in Islam as a system that can support their spiritual and social advancement as well
as resulting in them negotiating this dilemma with recklessness when it comes to sex, alcohol, drugs and
other forms of social vices.

Many, including myself, have also taken to marriage, as a way of negotiating this dilemma, only to
discover a few years later that you have drawn into the problem an innocent woman and children and
caused the situation to be exacerbated. So encouraging queer Muslims to marry is not a solution.

The Inner Circle is not an organization that promotes homosexuality, sexuality is innate, it can‟t be
promoted. On the contrary The Inner Circle though our programs encourage members to take
responsibility for their actions and choices, make informed decisions about lifestyle by helping them to
thinking outside the box, and reimbracing both Islam and their sexuality which are two intrinsic parts of
their biological and spiritual makeup.

A lot of the feelings of alienation from family and friends, marginalization from society and homophobia
come from the religious sector….. we are taught these things in our Islamic institutions.

We have many cases of people who were given azeemats, medicine and surahs to recite by our Ulema to
make them straight…..

This is not a way of to cure homosexuality if we feel it is something that should be cured. We need to
come up with more pro-active approaches in seeking an answer to this…..and I would suggest that the
first place to start, is to engage intelligently and wisely with this subject, seek to understand the dilemma
queer Muslims are faced with and then draw informed conclusions on this subject.
 The Quran & Sexual Diversity
Firstly, we need to understand that the word homosexuality does not appear in the Quran. So the only
association orthodox Islamic scholars make with homosexuality is in story of Sodom and Gomorrah in
the Quran.

Any scholar of Quran would agree that in order to interpret a particular story related in the Quran, one
needs some historical background to that story.

So we need to specifically look the socio-economic and religious structures of Sodom and Gomorrah,
because the forms of sexual extravagance which included sex of a homosexual nature were related to
economic exploitation and practices of idolatry. So for this already one cannot equate a homosexual
whose need is to be loved by the same sex, with economic exploitation and idolatry.

We would also be doing a disservice to the Quran if we single out one or two verses from this story
amongst the 72 verses I calculated relating to this story.

So when the Quran says for example:

You approach men lustfully in preference to women: nay, you are

people given to excesses!"
7:81

…..we need to ask a lot of questions first. Who were these men, were they gay or were they straight men
behaving badly(26:166), what was the nature of this sexual approach, was it consensual or non-
consensual (15:67-68), where there were cases of consensual sex, was it a private or publicly exposed
(27:54 and 29:29), who were these women, is it a reference to all women in the world or is it a reference
to the aristocratic wives of these men.

(29:29), why does most translators translate “min dooni” as „instead of‟ when „min dooni‟ in this case
means “with the exclusion of”, refer to your Hans Wehr Arabic dictionary for this. But if we correctly
translate “min dooni” as “with the exclusion of” it makes it historically correct, because these men
actually cast their wives aside to go after „strange flesh‟. So clearly……nothing to do with the anal sex,
but the injustice to their spouses.

We must also remember that Sodom & Gomorrah was not only destroyed for the abuse of sexual power
where men were the objects of lust and women the objects of injustice, but also for;

1) idol-worshipping – 26:160-161
2) highway robbery – 29:29
3) economic exploitation and inhospitality – 15:70
4) attempted rape of the angels – 15:67-68

So to merely write off the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as a blanket condemnation for homosexuality is
actually shows lack of interpretational skills and short-sightedness.
So does Allah mention anything in the Quran about people who are naturally not attracted to the opposite
sex: Certainly…. In Surah 24:31

AND SAY TO THE BELIEVING WOMEN that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty;
that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that
they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their
fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or
their sisters' sons, or their women, or the followers (citizens / subordinates) who have no desire / need
for women amongst the men, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they
should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! turn
ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss.

24:60 Such amongst the women as are inactive and have no desire for marriage,- there is no blame on
them if they lay aside their outer garments, provided they make not a wanton display of their beauty: but
it is best for them to be modest: and Allah is One Who sees and knows all things.

Regarding people having different disposition and natures Allah says:

“Say: Everyone acts according to his own disposition: but your Lord knows best who it is that is best
guided on the way.”
Surah Bani Isra-eel 17:84

Glory be to Allah, who have created all the pairs from what the earth produces and from themselves
(humans) and from that of which they possess no knowledge.
Surah Yaseen : 36
 Hadith & Sexual Diversity
Allah says in Surah 6:114 – 115 that this Quran is fully detailed, complete in truth and justice.

Allah also says in Surah 77-50:

Then what hadith, after it, will they believe in?

And I find this no co-incidence that Allah is using the word “hadith” in this verse.

There are many authentic hadith which clearly points out that the Prophet Muhammad (s) did not want
his hadith to be recorded and his Sahaba followed through with this.

Sahih Muslim , Sahih Ahmad

Ibn Saeed Al-Khudry reported that the messenger of God had said:
“Do not write anything from me EXCEPT QURAN. Anyone who wrote anything other than the
Quran shall erase it.”

The famous book, "Ulum Al-Hadith" by Ibn Salah, reports a hadith by Abu Hurayra in which
Abu Hurayra said the messenger of God came out to us while we were writing his hadiths and said;
"What are you writing?" We said, "Hadiths that we hear from you, messenger of God." He said,
"A book other than the book of God ?!" We said, "Should we talk about you?" He said, Talk about
me, that would be fine, but those who will lie will go to Hell. Abu Hurayra said, we collected what
we wrote of Hadiths and burned them in fire.

Zayd ibn Thabit (The Prophet's closest revelation writer) visited the Khalifa Mu'aawiyah (more
than 30 years after the Prophet's death), and told him a story about the Prophet. Mu'aawiyah liked
the story and ordered someone to write it down. But Zayd said. “The messenger of God ordered us
NEVER to write anything of his hadith," Ibn Hanbal

The Khalifa Omar Ibn Abdul-Aziz in 2nd Century AH, issued an order to permit the writing of Hadith
and Sunnah thinking that he would put an end to the widespread lies about the Prophet Muhammad.

There is approximately 4-5 generation gaps between the revelation of the Quran and the compilation of
Hadith which in fact already discredit hadith as a divinely inspired source of law.

After studying homosexuality in hadith, we note the following:

1) There were no persecutions of homosexuals (mukhanatthun - ta‟bin ghaira ulil irba minar rijaal)
during the time of the Prophet and no order for persecutions were given by the Prophet. On the
odd occasion when mukhanathun were banned from Medina was because of the immoral and
irreligious behaviour of the individual and not because of his sexual orientation.
2) The 6 authentic compilations of hadith only makes reference to the act of the people of Lut (and
this we have now confirmed has nothing to do with sexual orientation). While the other non-
authentic compilations record hadith that are either weak or dates back to the 11th century after the
prophet passed away, that‟s 400 years after the Prophet passed away……God knows where these
hadith came from and they mostly speak about the persecutions of homosexuals, but funny
enough, the persecutors are never mentioned.

Then we also find in At-Tirmidhi: 1376: the famous hadith quoted for the justification of the killing of
homosexuals.

„Whoever you find committing the sin of the people of Lut, kill the one who does it and the one to whom
it is done.‟

Firstly it‟s not quite clear why the person to whom it is being done must be killed, what if he did not
consent to the act.

Now this has clearly been a controversial statement if we look at the contradiction in Abu Dawood‟s
compilation:
In the authentic compilation of

Abu Dawood Book 38, 4449: Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:

The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: If anyone has sexual intercourse with an animal, kill him and
kill it along with him. I (Ikrimah) said: I asked him (Ibn Abbas): What offence can be attributed to the
animal/ He replied: I think he (the Prophet) disapproved of its flesh being eaten when such a thing had
been done to it.

Abu Dawood Book 38, 4450: Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:

There is no prescribed punishment for one who has sexual intercourse with an animal.

So as we can see from this, the ahadith used to condemn homosexuality is in fact hadith condemning the
act of the people of Lut, which was male to male molestation and public indecency, and not the
condemnation of homosexuality as a sexual orientation.

It‟s also narrated by Ayesha and Salama, two wives of the Prophet that they had mukhanathun working in
their house and the prophet never had a problem with them, but he had a problem with one of them who
were forbidden to return to the female courters because of his immoral description of a woman‟s figure to
a straight man….. and he was not thrown out because of his sexual orientation.

So I would conclude by saying that the Prophet Muhammad (s) was not homophobic!
 Attendance of Sexual Diverse individuals at mosques
The word „masjid‟ comes from the root „sajada‟ meaning to prostrate….. if an atheist want to come to a
mosque to prostrate to Allah, who gives us the right to stop him/her.

Lets be honest, how many examples of “moet troue” don‟t we have in our community. According to the
orthodox Islamic thinking, these people should be stoned to death….. do we forbid them to come to the
mosques.

This also reminds me of “abasa wa tawallaa….”

Similarly, when any person comes to the mosque of Allah and puts his head down in prostration, we have
no right to question his intentions or judge him.

2:114 And who is more wrong than those who prevent people from entering the mosques of Allah and whose intention
is to remember His name in it , they strive for their ruin, [although] they have no right to enter them save in fear [of
God]? [95] For them, in this world, there is ignominy in store; and for them, in the life to come, awesome suffering.

In terms of where gay people must stand in the mosque….. I am against throwing women on the upstairs
or in basements of mosques. If men cant concentrate on his prayers because a woman is prostrating in
front of him, then I question how sincere he is in his prayers. So you may well figure out from this that I
have no objections to gay people standing in the mosque where they feel comfortable.

Imamat by a sexual diverse person

This should not be a complicated issue. We simply need to look at what the functions of an Imam is and
we need to also remember that there is no hierarchy in Islam when it comes to the Imam and the
congregation.

The Imam‟s primary is to lead people to Allah-consciousness and helps to guide people with the Quran as
his constitution, he knows how to interpret the Quran, he‟s skilled in beautiful recitation and the art of
lecturing and he‟s loved by the people.

This job can be done by anyone irrespective of cast, gender, sex and sexual orientation. But I think while
we are still struggling with the issue of accepting homosexuality, we should park this one and first ask
ourselves whether we are prepared to allow a woman to lead men in prayers. And we as a community are
still struggling to wrap this around our brains, when Umm Waraqah, a female companion of the prophet
were allowed by the prophet to lead prayers in her location for men, women and children and the Grand
Mufti of Egypt, Sheikh Ali Guma' would agree that there is nothing wrong Quranically for a woman to
lead prayers for men.

The Quran also makes mention of this equality between men and women in

33:35 For Muslim men and women,- for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women,
for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who
give in Charity, for men and women who fast (and deny themselves), for men and women who guard their chastity, and for
men and women who engage much in Allah's praise,- for them has Allah prepared forgiveness and great reward.
So until we do not allow capable women to take up their rightful positions in society, we will not be able
to even come to accept that a capable gay Imam can lead prayers too.

And just to reiterate 17:84 in which Allah mentions that irrespective of the different dispositions, only
Allah can be the judge of who is guided and who is not.

Sex Change
Sex change nowadays is allowed in Iran, simply because Iran wants to stick to a social construction of
who is male and who is female. So if you‟re male and want to act like a female you can rather change
your sex, but no moffies allowed. So in a sex Iran can be a heaven for trangender people.

On the other had, the authorities have failed to understand that gender is a social construction (boys play
with cars and girls with dolls) and forcing people into a mold is destructive. Some people prefer to
acknowledge that their sex is one thing and their gender another and do not necessarily want to do a sex
change.

We also need to distinguish between gender and sex. While a penis determines the biological sex of a
man, it does not naturally follow that his gender is male too. Gender is something either defined by
biology or the environment or a fusion between the two and as the man grows, he might grow into
identifying with the female gender, which is pretty normal and to attempt to reverse that process can
cause major psychological damages.

In terms of sex change, its not an easy process, there is lots of counseling involved and a close look at
what it entails to change the sex. But ultimately, my opinion is that if you can serve Allah better in
another body, it‟s a personal choice and a responsible one to be taken if I may add.

There is nothing in the Quran that prohibits an individual from making such a choice.

Same-sex Unions
Allah says in the Quran:

30:21 And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that you may co-habit with
them and he has placed love, affection and mercy between you: verily in that are Signs for those who reflect.

This verse is a general statement, its not gender specific and its support Surah Yaseen:36 in which Allah
mentions about the different natural partners He created.

This verse also dispels the notion that marriage is for procreation. Procreation does happen outside
marriages as well, so marriage is not needed for procreation, but love, affection and mercy is necessary in
order for partners to live together. A marriage contract is also needed to make a wholesome sexual
contact with the partner. Muta (temporary) marriage at some stage was allowed by the Prophet purely for
the sake of sexual gratification and not for procreation.

The reality is that men do fall in love with other men, and so do women and transgendered persons and
their relationships that do work has worked because of the qualities of “mawaddah” and “rahma” that
they have between them.

Same-sex unions is a means whereby the licensiousness within the gay world can be minimized (not that
licensciousness does not happen in the straight world), Same-sex unions is a means whereby we can
breed faithfulness between partners and we can also minimize the spread of AIDS if that is a concern.

So the argument that same-sex couples do not procreate is lame, because marriage according to the Quran
is not for procreation and also the general terms of zauj (partner) in the Quran is not gender specific.

So I would argue that it would be better for Muslims to promote same-sex marriages than to allowing
them to have casual sex in society.

Tolerance vs Acceptance of Sexual Diverse Individuals

With tolerance comes a certain amount of broadmindedness, understanding, sensitivity and kindness and
that‟s welcoming.

But we need to check our level of tolerance and make sure it‟s not avoidance of the issue or of gay
people. There are many gay Muslims around us, I‟m sure everyone at least know of one or two. Simply
avoiding them, preventing them for coming to mosque and in our circles is not going to provide long
term solutions. We need to consciously engage with something in order to understand in completely, and
that to me is tolerance.

On the other hand, acceptance means to agree, to acknowledge the existence thereof and to approve.
That might be a bit of a bitter pill for many Muslims to swallow, but if we can develop an understanding
of inclusivity vs exclusivity in terms of who is Muslim and who has the right to worship Allah and who
has the right to heaven, then we will be closer Isha-allah to accepting that these are merely souls on a
journey and we are but instruments to assist that soul in his path towards Allah.

As I mentioned previously the Prophet Muhammad (s) accepted the Mukhanathun and never expelled
them on the basis of sexual orientation, but on the basis of impiety and bad behaviour. So this should be
the approach to anyone regardless of sexual orientation. And we should follow the Quran injunction in
17:84 that we should accept the disposition and leave the judging to the Master of judges.