To Be Or Not To Be – Gay/Lesbian Culture Forbidden In Islam
The Islamic law prohibits illicit sexual practices including homosexuality, pre marital sex and extra marital sex otherwise known as Zina. Islamic Shari’ah laws are extracted from Qur’an and the famous hadiths. Expansion of laws contained within them by relevant authorities falls within Islamic jurisprudence and are considered as laws of Allah. The Qur’an records instance of occurrence of homosexuality that were dealt with harshly by Allah.
Qur’an surah 15:73 and 26:165 records the story of the people of Loot otherwise known as quam Lut. Surah 26:165-175 brings it clearly this way
“Of all the creature in the world, will ye approach males, and leave those Allah has created for you to be your mates? Nay, ye are a people of transgressing (all limits)! They said: ‘If thou desist not, O Lut! Thou wilt assuredly be cast out!’He said:’I do detest your doings: ’’O my God deliver me and my family from such things as they do! So we delivered him and his family,-all except an old woman who lingered behind. But the rest we destroyed utterly. We rained down on them a shower (of brimstone): and evil was the shower on those who were admonished (but headed not)! Verily in this is a sign: but most of them do not believe. Verily thy Lord is He, the exalted in Might, Most Merciful.”
Homosexuality is dealt with today differently a bit by the two major mainline Sunni jurisprudence schools, but all agree that a severe penalty should be administered to homosexuals. The Hanafi school of thought punishes homosexuality through harsh beatings followed with death penalty in the event the person repeats the act again. On the other hand, the Shafi’i school of thought compares homosexuality to fornication and adultery. That is, if the accused is married, the homosexual act is treated as adultery punishable by stoning to death and if he/she is single, whipping 100 times is administered. Paramount, the Islamic faith does not condone Homosexuality in totality.
With the advancement in information technology and ease of accessing websites containing sexually illicit material and pornography gay and lesbian culture is being promoted throughout the world. It may be unfair to say that homosexual culture prevails in the western society only because the bad impact of these easily available means of getting introduced to forbidden acts have shaken many Muslim countries as well. Muslims with weak faith and belief and lack of religious education are involved in such shameful acts. Whereas, the influence of western media and their constant struggles to make Gay/Lesbian rights acceptable by the people has resulted in impacting the minds of ignorant Muslims. Truth can never be kept hidden for long or the lies presented in a new wrapper are still the same. In the name of humanity or human rights, homosexuality can never be acceptable and hosted by illuminated hearts and brains.
