“Can one be gay and Muslim?” is one of those loaded questions that I am certainly not fond of. I believe that it is a meaningless question except in the vulgar context of efforts to alter traditional attitudes towards homosexuality and recast it as acceptable both morally and legally.
The very posing of such a question imposes on the one being asked the assumption that, at the very least, homosexuality or the notion of “gayness” is morally and legally neutral. Otherwise, asking the question would itself be objectionable.
The fact that most who publicly pose this question (like journalists and activists) are fully aware that Islamic teachings censure and reprimand people to varying extents for homosexual inclinations and activities gives it an insidious, manipulative character.
Indeed, given the tacit moral approval of homosexuality implicit in “Can one be gay and Muslim?”, it is in fact the very moral integrity of the religion and its adherents that is being questioned. I therefore maintain that those who pose this question to Muslims out of other than genuine ignorance do so as actors who are part of a wider context and agenda.
And that wider context that surrounds the discourse of which this question is part is dominated by the imposing presence of powerful special interest groups and organizations (including those in the third world directly and indirectly funded by agencies of the U.N and the governments of select industrialized nations). Those groups, through sustained public awareness campaigns; popular entertainment; legal and political activism; and the like, have brought the matter of homosexuality and traditional attitudes towards it conspicuously into the center stage of public discourses virtually everywhere in the globalized world.
This heavily influenced and charged discourse simply cannot be ignored when addressing this question.
Now that discourse is characterized by themes and indeed its related activism is propelled to a great extent by incidents of illegal violence, discrimination, and other forms of morally reprehensible conduct directed at real or perceived homosexuals.
I believe it is of the utmost importance for Muslims to make it clear that illegal abuse; violence; and discrimination against innocent parties are all repugnant and unacceptable and should not be condoned.
Yet we must also point out that deliberately conflating those matters with the matter of the legality and morality of homosexuality itself in order to foster societal acceptance of it is likewise repugnant and objectionable.
While violence, discrimination and so forth merit their own consideration, using them (along with “Science”) as rhetorical and emotional tools to effect pro-homosexual social engineering is shameful and manipulative conduct where the suffering of individuals is used for the furtherance of socio-political goals. I view any group or movement that is guilty of such as being morally challenged.
To be specific, it is to the LGBT movement that I thereby refer. That movement is made up of establishments that market themselves as human rights or anti-discrimination advocacy groups. In reality they exist in order to further their widely acknowledged goal of “Gayism” that entails the “full acceptance of LGBT people in society” which is just a clever, personable way of saying that they want to change society such that homosexuality is no longer regarded as evil but is accepted as neutral or good. Their daily work concerns pursuing the political, legal, and moral steps necessary to effect that goal.
With that in mind, I maintain that the question, “Can one be gay and Muslim?” is part of an effort to perpetuate a, what I would regard as unhealthy, discussion about the legal and moral status of homosexuality in society. That discussion, which seeks to legitimize homosexuality and has its roots in post French Revolution anti-religion sentiment, is being brought now to the shores of Islam and Muslim minds.
Obviously the question is not intended at face value. It is not asking the obvious: is it physically possible for a person who self identifies as gay to also self identify as Muslim. Rather, what is really being asked is this: can homosexuality become legally and morally acceptable to Muslims given Islamic teachings regarding it?
The answer to that question is simply no.
The only way homosexuality can become legally and morally acceptable to Muslims is if they depart, in a grossly unprincipled manner, from both the letter and spirit of the teachings of the prophet Muhammad and indeed all other prophets (peace be upon them all) regarding it.
Those teachings are clear and definitive. The fact that homosexuality in general and sodomy in particular are deemed vile, morally abhorrent, and legally criminal in the corpus of Islamic teachings is evident and is among the things necessarily known of the religion. As a matter of scholarship, to deny that fact betrays a thorough disregard for demonstrable historical and anthropological truth that could only be the result of a lack of scholarly integrity or competence.
As a matter of faith, Muslim theology and law are unambiguous: denial, in principle, of anything that is necessarily known of the religion is disbelief (kufr) – it being effectively the same as denying or opposing a direct instruction of the Prophet of God (peace be upon him). Failing to abide by something necessarily known in action (without denying it in principle) is deprivation and corruption of the highest order though not outright disbelief.
Thus to attempt to legitimize homosexuality morally and legally among Muslim believers despite the foregoing is profoundly unprincipled and disingenuous to say the very least. And yes, it could entail apostasy depending on the particulars. For there is no definition of integrity or uprightness, let alone faith, that permits one to simply deny in principle undeniable realities of one’s professed belief system while insisting on being nevertheless ascribed to that system.
It being the case that matters of faith, integrity, and morality are at stake here, talking about whether, for example, scientific research establishes that homosexuality is genetic or chosen, or even about the types of criminal abuse faced by those perceived as being homosexual represents something of a distraction.
I say that because the fact is that LGBT groups are insidiously advocating the right to choose to engage in homosexual, bisexual, or transgender activity and forms of expression on a whim and with “pride” regardless of factors related the scientific data, or whether abuse or discrimination are present or not.
If I am mistaken on that point I would love to be corrected but that is what the conduct and results of the activity of groups attached to the LGBT movement suggest to me.
The libertine position advocated by such groups is not based fundamentally on the espoused high ideals of justice and equality, rather it is based simply on those activists’ belief, contrary to every revealed scripture, that homosexuality and Gayism with their various attending moral deprivations are perfectly acceptable. It is only after that premise is accepted that justice and equality take on their relevance.
Now it is that type of advocacy, grounded, as was mentioned, in post French Revolution rejection of faith, that should be brought to the forefront of the discussion by Muslims. And it is that kind of wicked ungodly activism that should be untangled from the emotional web of legitimate grievances such as illegal violence and abuse. It should then be exposed and opposed, not through violence; boorishness; and raw uninformed emotion, but by all lawful, intelligent and upright means.
That is the Sunna and that is what those without a moral compass need to see from the Muslims in this and indeed all other matters.
Source: http://muslimvillage.com
