The Holy Qur’ān tells us that Allah has created man with His own hands in the best of stature, endowed him with some of his own attributes and has given him the power to think, reason and exercise his own free will. Thereafter, Allah commanded the angels to prostrate before man, appointed him His vicegerent on earth and bestowed upon him countless blessings. Such honour! Such a high position! Each of these honours and privileges makes man unique in His realm of creation and all these combined together make him the most dignified of them all. Allah himself says in Surah Bani Israil: ayat 70, ‘And We have certainly honoured the children of Adam… and preferred them over much of what We have created, with (definite) preference.’

The messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) has made this point very clear when he – as narrated by Abdullah ibn Abbas (May Allah be pleased with them) – once looked at the Ka’aba and said, “La ilaha illallah. How pure you are, and how sweet is your fragrance, and how great is your honour! However, the honour of a believer is greater than yours. Indeed, Allah subhana wa ta’ala has made you respectable; (likewise) the wealth, the blood, and the honour of a believer have been made respectable; and Allah has forbidden us to suspect Him of wrongdoing.” (Tabarani, Majma uz-Zawaid)

 

Marital Union

Allah created for man a mate, and instilled love and attraction in their hearts for each other; made the two a source of coolness for each other’s eyes, a means of comfort and sexual gratification. The 21st ayat of Surah ar-Rum says: “And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquillity in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for those who give thought.” This union was regulated through the institution of marriage to grant it sanctity and to imbibe in it a desire for chastity instead of lust (Surah an-Nisa, ayat 24 and Surah al-Maidah, ayat 5). The basic purpose of this union, as enshrined in Surah ash-Shura ayat 11, was propagation of the human race: “He made for you from yourselves mates… He multiplies you thereby.”

Marriage has been classified as an act of worship by Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) which completes half of a man’s deen. Anas bin Malik (May Allah be pleased with him) narrates that Allah’s messenger has said, “Whomever Allah has blessed with a righteous wife, He has helped him with half of the deen, so let him fear Allah regarding the remaining half.” (Haakim, Tabrani and Bayhaqi)

The Prophet encouraged the youth to marry at the earliest and those who could not find the necessary resources were asked to fast regularly in order to rein in their sexual desires, as is mentioned in a hadith related by Abdullah ibn Masood (May Allah be pleased with him) and agreed upon by both Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim. It says that the Messenger of Allah said, “O young people! Whoever among you can afford it, let him get married, for it is more effective in lowering the gaze and guarding chastity. And whoever cannot afford it, then let him fast (regularly), for it will be a restraint for him.”

A disciplined control over one’s private parts was told to be a gateway to Paradise. Imam Bukhari has recorded a hadith related by Sahl ibn Saad (May Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet said, “Whoever guarantees me (the chastity of) what is between his legs (i.e. his private parts) and what is between his jaws (i.e. his tongue), I guarantee his paradise.”

All this was done in order to keep the society pure of lewdness and obscenities and to make sure that man’s sexual energies are positively harnessed in the development of humanity.

 

Homosexuality

However, down the years, there came people with perverted sexual tendencies who vented out their carnal desires on people of the same gender. These are men who cohabit with men (Gays), women with women (Lesbians), some with both (Bisexuals) and some who prefer behaving like people of the opposite gender (Transgender). These people are called Homosexuals in general and more euphemistically, LGBT.

 

Qur’ānic View on Homosexuality

The earliest documented evidence of homosexuality dates back 4000 years from now, prevalent in the twin towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Qur’ān refers to this ignominious act in a number of places (Surah al-A’raf, Surah Hud, Surah al-Hijr, Surah ash-Shu’ara, Surah an-Naml, Surah al-Ankabut and Surah al-Qamar) wherein homosexuality has been denounced as being shameful, lewd, immoral and disgraceful. Homosexuals are also rebuked for being transgressors, criminals, ignorant, evil doers, corrupt, wrongdoers and being defiantly disobedient. So despised were these homosexuals in Allah’s eyes that their entire cities were turned upside down and showered with stones, leaving not a single resident alive except for Prophet Lut (May Allah be pleased with him) and his daughters who were evacuated beforehand.

 

Ahadith dealing with LGBT

Homosexuality has also been severely condemned by Allah’s messenger, Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him).

The Prophet has, in a hadīth reported by Tabarani, equated Lesbianism with adultery, thus paving the way for capital punishment for this crime.

He is also reported to have said: “Whoever you find doing the action of the people of Lut, kill the one who does it and the one to whom it is done” (Tirmizi, Ibn Majah and Abu Dawood). This rule is applicable even in those cases where the culprit is unmarried, as is mentioned in the very next hadÄ«th in the Sunan of Abu Dawood. Abdullah ibn Abbas is the narrator of both these ahadÄ«th.

In yet another hadÄ«th narrated by Abdullah ibn Masood and Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with them) and recorded by Ibn Hibban, the Prophet has cursed the ones who do what Lut’s people did.

So anxious was the Prophet over the repercussions of homosexuality that he once said, as narrated by Jabir ibn Abdullah (May Allah be pleased with him), “The thing I fear most for my people is what Lut’s people did.” (Ibn Majah)

The Prophet has also addressed modes of preventing homosexuality before it gets entrenched in the psyche of a person. In this regard, we come across a narration in Sahih Muslim by Abu Saeed al-Khudri (May Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah has said: “A man should not look at the private parts of another man, and a woman should not look at the private parts of another woman. A man should not lie with another man under one covering, and a woman should not lie with another woman under one covering.”

Nipping the profanities of Transgenders in the bud, Prophet Muhammad has been reported by Imam Bukhari to have said, “Allah has cursed those men who imitate women (dress-up and behave like them) and also cursed those women who imitate men.” Abu Dawood has recorded a narration by Abu Hurairah wherein the Prophet has also pronounced a similar curse on those who dress up like people of the opposite sex.

Once Ayesha (May Allah be pleased with her) was told of a woman who wears men’s sandals, upon which she remarked that the Messenger of Allah has cursed those women who behave in a masculine manner. (Abu Dawood)

Can anyone imagine the intensity of the crime when the Messenger of Allah, and moreover, the Mercy to humanity himself pronounces a curse on someone? What hope can such a person harbour then, except eternal doom?

 

The LGBT Argument

Proponents of homosexuality present it as a human rights issue. They argue that it’s their body, their personal life and they have the absolute right to decide what to do with it – be it in the private or public domain. This argument of theirs is both ill-informed as well as selfish.

• Ill-informed- because our bodies and lives do not belong to us. Rather, they are part of a trust which has been granted to us by Allah and we would be held accountable for it in the hereafter.

• Selfish- because the fallouts of our actions have a bearing on society as a whole, which cannot be dismissed. The utter and despicable boldness with which homosexuals are coming out of their closets these days and spreading their filth through all forms of media is creating a devastating influence on the as-yet-unaffected youth. Under the garb of freedom of choice and expression, homosexuals are dishevelling our social structure. It is for this reason that homosexuality has never ever been accepted by mainstream society and has always been looked down upon as a social stigma, crime and embarrassment.

 

Homosexuality – a Crime

Homosexuality is a crime because it defeats both the purposes of sexual union – chastity has been replaced by unmasked lust and propagation of species is just out of question. Homosexuality is a crime because it disrupts the family system, throwing society into chaos. Homosexuality is a crime because it goes against the law of nature. It is a crime because it transgresses upon Allah’s laws; because it spreads serious diseases in the community, because it creates a base-driven and materialistic society; because it can lead to mass divine punishments as has happened in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah. Over and above all, homosexuality is a crime because it pulls out man from the Mercy of his Lord and subjects him to infernal punishments.

CONCLUSION

Man has been promised eternal Paradise and felicitation if he abides by Allah’s commands. Now does it behove man, Allah’s vicegerent on earth and the crème de la crème of creations, to descend from the ladder of dignity and become a recipient of Allah’s wrath? Homosexuality is one such major sin that snatches man away from the zenith of honour and plunges him in the abyss of moral destitution, making him the ‘lowest-of-the-low’. Besides, man should think twice before committing an act that goes against his own dignified position… an act as grotesque, reprehensible and degrading as homosexuality.